Rafael Monleón

Rafael Monleón y Torres (1843 – 24 November 1900) was a Spanish artist (painting, engraving, ceramics), archaeologist, historian and naval pilot.

Biography

Battle of Havana

He was born in

merchant marine and became a pilot; sailing around Europe. Later, he was a student of the marine artist Paul Jean Clays in Bruges, where he also studied engraving. Upon his return to Spain, he completed his studies with Carlos de Haes.^[1]

At first, he was primarily a painter of

Museo Naval de Madrid in 1870.^[1]

His most ambitious work was never published during his lifetime: the treatise on the Historia gráfica de la navegación y de las construcciones navales en todos los tiempos y en todos los países (Graphic History of Navigation and Naval Construction...). It was illustrated with over a thousand drawings, blue prints and watercolors; completed while he was at the museum, together with hundreds of texts and vignettes on every known type of ship, European and Oriental. A small excerpt was later published as La Construcción Naval española en la obra de Rafael Monleón Torres.

He participated in every

Cross of Naval Merit and the title of Commander in the Order of Charles III

.

As an engraver, he provided illustrations on marine topics for La Ilustración Española y Americana, Nuevo Mundo (New World) [es] and other periodicals. He also created ceramics, some of which have been preserved at the González Martí National Museum of Ceramics and Decorative Arts. As a designer, he created his own office furniture. He died in Madrid, aged 57.