José María Romero López
José María Romero López (12 May 1815, Seville – 1894, Madrid) was a Spanish Romantic painter. The year of his death is sometimes given as 1880 or 1888, but most sources list 1894.
little is known about his early life. By 1838 he was a working artist and joined the Real Sociedad Económica Sevillana de Amigos del País after donating a painting called The Coronation of the Drunkards, for which they also praised his cabinetmaking.
In 1840 he became an assistant professor of drawing at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Sevilla, and from 1848 he taught classes in sketching. In 1849 he worked at the Palacio de San Telmo for Antoine, Duke of Montpensier. He was a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría from 1860 to 1866. He regularly participated in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts from 1840 to 1879.
In 1866 Romero López moved to Cádiz and joined the Real Academia Provincia del Bellas Artes de Cádiz, remaining there until about 1875, when he probably returned to Seville. In 1879 he settled in Madrid, where he painted portraits and some religious works. By 1889 he was in Málaga, teaching color and composition at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Telmo, and he stayed there until sometime in 1893 when health problems forced him to retire. He was buried in Madrid in 1894, possibly because he had gone there seeking clients.
His works can be found in Spanish museums and, outside Spain, in Cuba at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 12:06 (CET).