A Spanish painter and art professor, Emilio Sala Y Frances moved to Valencia as a youth where he studied painting with his cousin, Plácido Francés at the San Carlos Academy. Then settling in Madrid, he became very interested in the painting of Diego Velazquez (1599-1660) and Eduardo Rosales (1836-1873).

Become in exhibitor in 1871 at the National Arts Exhibitions, he won first-place medals in 1878 and 1881. He had begun his career as a history painter, but in 1890 began to change to the emotional expression of mannerism, influenced by El Greco (1541-1614), and to landscapes, illustrations, and fashionable portraiture. He also did architectural decoration on Madrid palaces and ceilings of the Cantina Am...