Sir Lawrence Gowing, who died in 1991, was one of the most penetrating and inspiring art-historians of his time, writing prolifically on a multitude of subjects from Masaccio, Bruegel, Goya and Turner to Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso and Francis Bacon. He was also a painter with an international reputation. No one has written more convincingly on the theme of creativity in art. He was, among other things, Slade Professor of Fine Art at University College London from 1975 to 1985 and Curatorial Chairman of the Phillips Collection in Washington from 1987 to 1989. Recent books include Lucien Freud (1982) and Paul Cezanne: the Early Years (1988). His three series of television films featuring nine great masters in all between 1984 and 1988, some of them now available as videos, brought his genius into contact with the general public.