José Moreno Carbonero

José Moreno Carbonero (Spanish: [xo'se mo'reno karbo'nero]; 24 March 1858 – 15 April 1942) was a Spanish painter and decorator. A prominent member of the Málaga School of Painting, he is considered one of the last great history painters of the 19th century. He was a celebrated portrait painter who enjoyed the patronage of Madrid's high society. He also created genre scenes and some landscapes, vedutas and still lifes.

Moreno Carbonero was widely recognized, both nationally and internationally, during his lifetime. He received awards, among others, at the of Paris in 1889, the Budapest International Exhibition in 1890, the Universal Exhibition of Berlin in 1891 and the only medal at the World's Columbian Exposition of Chicago in 1893. A precocious artist, in 1868 he joined the school of fine arts in his home town and also took classes in the studio of Bernardo Ferrándiz. Moreno Carbonero obtained the gold medal in the Exhibition of the Lyceum of Málaga in 1872, being only fourteen.

In 1881 Moreno Carbonero went to study in Rome as a boarder on a stipend. After he returned to Spain, he won gold medals at the national exhibitions in 1881 with his painting The prince don Carlos de Viana and in 1884 with The Conversion of the Duke of Gandía, which he had painted during his stay in Rome. and still decorate the walls of the Conference Hall in the Senate. For this large-scale painting, that depicts the Italian mercenary Roger de Flor and his troops of Almogavar warriors entering the city to relieve the Byzantine emperor from the Turkish, Moreno Carbonero extensively researched in Paris about Byzantine architecture, clothes and decoration, and he used dozens of models to recreate the complete atmosphere in the Málaga bullfighting arena. Smaller paintings derived from this work, depicting individual Almogavar warriors, are known to exist.

In 1910, the Argentine Government asked him to execute a canvas with the theme of the founding of Buenos Aires to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the revolution of Argentina. King Alfonso XIII of Spain gave this work as a gift to the city of Buenos Aires. The king visited the studio of Moreno Carbonero during the creation of the work and kept in the bedroom of the Royal Palace of Madrid a design for the portrait of Juan de Garay, the founder of Buenos Aires, who was depicted in the canvas.

As a history painter Moreno Carbonero excelled through his clear drawing and clean brushstrokes. In his history paintings he was influenced by the genre painting on small format that he practised in his early years. He showed a preference for leaving aside the grand events of history in favour of depicting the feelings and reactions of participants in events from the past.

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