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Domingos Gonçalves Lima, known as Misterio, was one of the most renowned ceramic artists in Portugal and was born in S. Martinho de Galegos, Minho Province, in 1921. He was called Misterio because as a child he was very frail, and his neighbours gave him this name; he used this name to sign his pottery. He learnt how to model figures from his grandmother because his mother, a single parent, had left home to work in Spain. He began by making whistles which he sold in the Thursday market at Barcelos. With so many people making these simple toys, pieces were never signed. At that time most figurative pottery was made by women, but Misterio passed the art to two of his sons. He married Virginia in 1944 and, adding factory produced figures to those he made himself, he sold the material in the markets in Coimbra, Figueira da Fox, Torres Novas, Setubal, Montijo and Porto. The couple had twelve sons which put an end to his life as an itinerant salesman. By the end of the 1960s, with the 'discovery' and better appreciation of Portuguese folk art, artists were given the freedom to develop personal styles. Misterio's wife painted his pieces up to his death in 1995, and continues to paint the work of their sons, Francisco and Manuel.

Born: 1921
Died: 1995