Ricardo Balaca

Ricardo Balaca y Orejas-Canseco (31 December 1844 – 12 February 1880) was a Spanish painter and illustrator who specialized in battle scenes. His brother, Eduardo, was also a well-known painter.

Biography Balaca was born in Lisbon. His father was the painter, José Balaca, who was temporarily living there, having gone into exile for political reasons. He began his artistic training in the family workshop and finished at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, where he studied with Federico de Madrazo. His talents displayed themselves at an early age; he was only thirteen when he had his first showing at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, receiving "honorable mention".

He created drawings, illustrations and numerous portraits, but is chiefly remembered for his portrayals of battles in Romantic style. During the Third Carlist War, he served as a correspondent on the northern front with the army of King Alfonso XII. In a reprint, issued in 1970, Josep Lluís Pellicer also receives credit.

He died in Madrid, aged 35. None of the available sources give a cause for his early death.

Selected drawings and paintings