Salvador Martínez Cubells was a consummate portrait painter. He trained under his father, Francisco Martínez Yago, a restorer at the Valencia Museum and the Academy of San Carlos. He won several awards at national exhibitions, including First Place Medals in 1878 and 1887 for Education of Prince Juan (which was also entered in the International Exhibition in Paris that same year) and Doña Inés de Castro. He won a Gold Medal at the Regional Exhibition in Valencia in 1867 for a portrait of his father, and another at the Munich International Exhibition in 1909. He produced paintings for the church of San Francisco el Grande in Madrid and was also an art collector in his own right. In 1870 he secured a post by public examination as chief restorer at the Prado, where he carried out interventions that can be seen as milestones in his career, e.g., on Murillo's painting of St Anthony in 1875. He was also responsible for the transfer of the Black Paintings from the walls of Goya’s house to canvases. He taught at the School of Arts and Crafts of Madrid and joined the Academy of San Fernando in 1891. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic and was made a Commander of the Order of Charles III.

• Julián Gállego Serrano
• María José Alonso

Tomás Castellano y Villarroya came from an upper middle-class Zaragoza family. He studied Law and Philosophy and Letters, and graduated with excellent grades. In 1870 he joined the Board of Directors of the family banking house of Villarroya-Castellano, the forerunner of Banco de Aragón (1910). Politically, he was a conservative. In 1878 he was elected as Member of Parliament for Ejea de los Caballeros and held the seat until his death in 1906.

Tomás Castellano clearly represented the political influence of local oligarchies in the late 19th century. His efforts brought major economic benefits to the Aragon region, including the building of the Canfranc railway line, schools and charitable institutions, the Mezalocha and La Peña reservoirs and the El Pilar and Gallur bridges. He promoted agricultural and livestock-related businesses in Aragon (flour mills, sugar mills, vineyards, meat plants. He also set up new industrial firms such as paper mills and chemical plants, on whose boards of directors he often sat. He owned the El Diario de Zaragoza newspaper, which helped him extend his influence on public opinion.

He was a follower and close friend of Cánovas del Castillo, who made him Minister for Overseas Affairs in the government that he formed in March 1895. He became Treasury Minister in August 1897 in the cabinet led by General Marcelo Azcárraga. His appointment as Governor of the Banco de España in December 1903 reflected the prestige that he had earned in financial matters and banking in Aragon, where he had redirected operations to reduce the number of notes in circulation and promote development by expanding loans and encouraging domestic labour. He served as Treasury Minister from December 1904 to January 1905, but his mandate was so short that he had little chance to bring his experience and capabilities to bear in any visible way. He was the only member of the cabinet who was with Cánovas when the latter was assassinated at the Santa Águeda spa in 1897.

Elena Serrano García