Born in Madrid in 1891, he was the son of the writer Juan Zorrilla de San Martín, who served in the court of Alfonso XIII as Ambassador of Uruguay.

He won the International Competition to erect the monument Andalusia Gaucho (1922) and already married to Guma Muñoz del Campo, moved with their two daughters (Inés and Concepción) to Paris soon after, where he set up a workshop and studied under the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle.

The monument should be based in Brussels, as the best casting workshop of the French capital was occupied in the works of Antoine Bourdelle, who later would be linked as a disciple and friend.

He won the international competition for the equestrian monument to Argentine General Julio Roca (1937) and opened a workshop in Buenos Aires for its completion.

Following lengthy proceedings, on 24 September 1997, the Uruguayan Ambassador Julio Pombo and New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani unveiled a monument to General Artigas, located in SoHo, Manhattan, between Avenue of the Americas and Spring Street.

Among the personalities that attended this inauguration, the Uruguayan ambassador, Foreign Affairs minister Álvaro Ramos; the President of the Inter-American Development Bank, Enrique V. Iglesias; and NY City Parks Department Director, Henry Stern.