Matthew Spender is a British painter and sculptor who has worked for most of his life in Italy. He is the author of two books: `Within Tuscany: Reflections on a Time and Place', and `From a High Place: a Life of Arshile Gorky'; and the editor of: `Il diario di Sintra', based on a diary written by Stephen Spender and Christopher Isherwood in Portugal in 1936; `Goats on the Roof', a collection of documents and correspondence about the life of Arshile Gorky; and the forthcoming Francis Bacon, an introduction to Bacon's ideas on art.