surroundings, now offers an added, and unusual attraction.

Providing a burst of brilliant colour on the softly lit, maroon walls is a remarkable collection of paintings by an artist who is considered by many to be the outstanding "naive'', or "peasant'' artist in the world today.

Josip Generalic is certainly the premier painter of his own country -- even if that country has shrunk from its status as part of the Republic of Yugoslavia to the newly independent state of Croatia.

His fellow-Croatian, Mr. Antun Duzevic, who has run Romanoff's for ten years, gradually started collecting Generalic's pictures some years ago and recently decided to put the now sizable collection on exhibition in his restaurant.

Now, customers can enjoy good food and wine and look at some outstanding original artwork at the same time.

The decision to share his collection with the public is all part of what Mr.

Duzevic calls his dedication to quality -- whether it is in providing the best of fare, or the best of surroundings and ambience -- and he feels that these paintings underline and complement that purpose.

"Even people who know nothing about art are impressed when they walk in,'' he says.

It is easy to see why. The dazzling clarity of colour attained by the artist is largely due to his perfection of the technique of painting his oil paint on to the back of glass surfaces. The colours are relatively simple, with little effort at shading and minimal use of perspective.

The attraction of his work lies in the subject matter which is explored down to the tiniest detail. The paintings of Josip Generalic may also be described as `narrative' art, depicting the daily life of his native Croatian village of Hlebine and its environs. Often bubbling with humour and sometimes a touch of the grotesque, Generalic captures the nuances of everyday life -- whether he is taking a peek at the farmer who indulges a furtive swig from his wine bottle as he rests in the corn fields, or chronicling a peasant courtship under the village tree.

The simple, fun loving pleasures of these people, so brilliantly portrayed by Generalic, has taken on a poignant twist as the rest of the world has watched the destruction and genocide that has erupted in the beautiful old Slav republic.

Mr. Duzevic was given one of Generalic's paintings by a business acquaintance some years ago and was so impressed, he asked for an introduction to meet the artist.

"I have visited him on several occasions since then, and I started buying his work as I knew it was increasing in value and would become priceless one day,'' he says.

Nowadays, Generalic's work is exhibited in the major galleries of the world and he is the subject of several lavishly produced books.

"I had the feeling I wanted to do something different. My restaurant is classical, in the European sense, and it seemed to me that the people who appreciate fine food are the people, whether they're locals or tourists, who would appreciate these lovely paintings. It is something like a gallery-restaurant, which is quite a common concept in Europe,'' he explains.

The exhibition has been carefully arranged throughout the three sections of Romanoff's and each picture is spot-lighted.

Mr. Duzevic points out that people could normally only see a collection such as this in one of the major museums of the world. Speaking of which, he says that he would be happy to loan some of the paintings to Bermuda's National Gallery. "Any time, with the greatest of pleasure,'' he smiles.

RAINBOW OF PEACE -- This is the painting which leading Croat artist Josip Generalic presented to President Ronald Reagan on the eve of the Moscow Summit in 1988.

A FEAST FOR THE EYE -- Romanoff restaurant proprietor Mr. Antun Duzevic seen with one of the pictures from his collection of art works by fellow Croat artist, Josip Generalic.