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Save for the collective work A Arte e a Natureza em Portugal [Art and Nature in Portugal], the first decade of the 20th century witnessed a bibliographic slowdown, only offset by the ongoing work of Joaquim de Vasconcelos and Francisco de Sousa Viterbo. The other 19th century scholars either ceased to be present or interrupted their historiographical activity. Art historiography in the 20th century began in 1910 with José de Figueiredo's O Pintor Nuno Gonçalves [Painter Nuno Gonçalves] and in 1916 with Vergílio Correia's Etnografia Artística [Art Ethnography], and it was consolidated immediately afterwards with the appearance of an unusual number of authors: Reynaldo dos Santos (1880-1970), José Pessanha (1865-1939), Manuel de Aguiar Barreiros (1874-1961), Aarão de Lacerda (1890-1947), Pedro Vitorino (1882-1944), Luís Chaves (1889-1975), Carlos de Passos (1890-1958), etc. While Vergílio Correia represented the erudite scholar, fond of documents and reticent towards hypothetical propositions, José de Figueiredo (Porto, 1871 - Porto, 1937), while not neglecting documentary research, preferred to emphasise intuition and a nationalist slant.
