Antonio Muñoz Degrain

Antonio Muñoz Degrain studied at Real Academia de España en Roma. Nicanor Piñole, Flora López Castrillo and Fernando Labrada are recorded as having studied under Antonio Muñoz Degrain. Work by Antonio Muñoz Degrain is recorded in the collections of Museo del Prado, Carmen Thyssen Museum, Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer, Museu de Belles Arts de València and Naval Museum of Madrid.

• Name — Antonio Muñoz Degrain • Born — 18 November 1840 • Birthplace — Valencia, Spain • Died — 12 October 1924 • Place of death — Málaga, Spain • Education — Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos de Valencia.

He was born in Valencia; his father was a watchmaker. Following his parents' wishes, he began studying architecture, but soon switched to painting and enrolled at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos de Valencia. His time there was also short lived, as he soon moved to Rome and led a Bohemian life, becoming largely an autodidact. The rigors of surviving there prompted him to choose to return to Spain. In 1862, he displayed his work for the first time at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts with a painting of the Pyrenees, which gained an honorable mention. After that, he became a regular exhibition participant. In 1870, his friend Bernardo Ferrándiz Bádenes obtained a commission for him to decorate the ceiling of the Teatro Cervantes in Málaga. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III in 1878 for his painting of Queen Isabella giving her jewelry to Columbus. The following year, he became a professor at the "Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Telmo". He made a second trip to Rome in 1882, this time on a government fellowship, and remained for two years. Upon his return, he won First Prize at the National Exhibition for his depiction of a scene from the Lovers of Teruel. In 1893, as part of the Columbian Issue, his painting of Isabella was used on a $1 U.S. postage stamp. Five years later, he replaced Carlos de Haes in the chair of landscape painting at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. He became the Director there in 1901. In 1913, upon his retirement, he donated many of his works to the Academy of San Carlos and the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia. He died in Málaga, aged 83.

• Illustration — Othello and Desdemona (1880) • Illustration — Banks of the Tiber (1893) • Illustration — Washerwomen (1903) • Illustration — Seascape View of Palma de Mallorca (c.1910)