Pilars, Doloreses, Imaculadas etc catalogued at the V&A

Marjorie Trusted is a true professional in a world bedevilled by the eighth deadly sin, perfectionism. This is her third V&A catalogue in just over a decade and no doubt there are many more to come. It numbers a manageable eighty-six items, and although some of them would be better employed lighting a fire than cluttering up a great museum, there are some absolute masterpieces too. José Risueño’s “St Joseph with the Christ Child” is on the cover, but José de Mora’s haunting “Virgin of Sorrows” is perhaps even more compelling. British knowledge of—and sympathy for—Spanish painting is pretty limited, so inevitably that is true in spades when it comes to sculpture. Maybe this book will at least begin to turn the tide.