Eduardo Rosales

Eduardo Rosales Gallinas (4 November 1836 – 13 September 1873) was a Spanish painter. He was an adherent of the Italian-based art movement known as "Purismo" and specialized in historical scenes.

Biography He was born in Madrid. The second son of a minor official, he began his education in a private school operated by the Escolapios. He was orphaned as a teenager and enrolled in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where he studied under Federico de Madrazo in 1851.

Rosales accompanied some friends to Rome in 1857, without a fellowship or other financial support, until he received a special stipend from the government to continue his studies in 1861.

Final years He married his cousin Maximina in 1868. They had two children, one of whom, Eloisa, died in infancy and was memorialized in his painting "Primeros pasos" (First Steps). Rosales was in poor health himself, having had tuberculosis for many years, and made frequent visits to Panticosa in the Pyrenees, where the water was famous for its curative properties. In 1869, he left Rome for good and opened a studio in Madrid. The harsh criticism he received for his work "La Muerte de Lucrecia" (1871) left him discouraged and he never painted another large-scale canvas.

The following year, hoping to find a climate that would more amenable to his health, he moved to Murcia. Upon the declaration of the First Spanish Republic, he was offered positions at the Museo del Prado, which he rejected, and at the new Spanish Academy in Rome, which he accepted but never filled, due to his worsening condition. He died shortly thereafter, in Madrid.

In 1922, Madrid honored him with a memorial statue, sculpted by Mateo Inurria and placed on a street named after him, the Paseo del Pintor Rosales.

Other selected paintings