Dióscoro Teófilo de la Puebla y Tolín studied at the San Fernando Academy, where he specialised in historical painting and portraits, which he signed with his nickname. He won a stipend from the State to study in Rome, where he lived for five years. He sent his canvases to the National Fine Arts Exhibitions, where he received different accolades, including a Third Place Medal in 1860 and a First Place Medal in 1862 for The First Landing of Christopher Columbus in America. He lived in Cadiz, where he taught Colour and Composition at the Fine Arts School in 1864; he also worked at the Madrid School of Arts and Crafts (1871) and at school in San Fernando in 1883. He went on to become the director of this last school, taking over from Luis de Madrazo. He was the Deputy Chairman of the Association of Authors and Artists, and became a member of the Academy of San Fernando in 1882.

• Julián Gállego Serrano
• María José Alonso

Antonio Romero Ortiz graduated in Law from the University of Santiago de Compostela and was a man of liberal convictions who always defended freedom of speech. He spent his youth in Galicia, where he soon embraced the activities that would shape his life: literature, the press, politics and collecting.

In 1846 Romero Ortiz took part in the Solís Uprising, which landed him with a death sentence which he avoided by fleeing to Portugal. His political career began in the ‘Progressive Biennium’ (1854-1856). He was the civil governor for the provinces of Oviedo, Toledo and Alicante. He served as a member of parliament, with a hiatus between 1866 and 1868 when he was in exile in Portugal for conspiring against Queen Isabella II. During his time there he wrote La literatura portuguesa en el siglo XIX, published in 1869, which opened the door to the most prestigious Portuguese literary societies for him. Romero Ortiz returned to Spain after the victory of the Revolution in September 1868, and accepted the post of Minister of Grace and Justice at the request of General Serrano. During his term in office he dissolved six hundred of the nine hundred monasteries and convents that existed at the time and abolished the Order of the Jesuits. These and other measures earned him the reputation of being anticlerical and the nickname of ‘Luther Ortiz’. In May 1874 he was appointed the Minister of Overseas Affairs, but resigned from the post in January 1875 when General Martínez Campos restored Alfonso XII to the throne in Sagunto.

He was elected as a member of the Academy of History in 1880 and replaced Sagasta as Grand Master of the Freemasons in Spain in November of that year. He was a prominent collector and created a museum in his house at Calle Serrano 22 on the corner of Calle Jorge Juan in Madrid. It contained coin collections, porcelain, gold work and historical mementos, all of which revealed the exquisite taste of their owner. In March 1881 he accepted the post of Governor of the Banco de Espana. During his time in office, the bank bought the Duke of Sesto’s mansion at Calle Alcalá 74, on the corner of Paseo del Prado, which was to be the site of the new Banco de España headquarters building. Romero Ortiz resigned from his post in October due to poor health. He died a year later.

Elena Serrano García