Ricardo Balaca

Ricardo Balaca y Orejas-Canseco (31 December 1844 – 12 February 1880) was a Spanish painter and illustrator who specialized in battle scenes.

[1] His talents displayed themselves at an early age; he was only thirteen when he had his first showing at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, receiving "honorable mention".

[2] He created drawings, illustrations and numerous portraits, but is chiefly remembered for his portrayals of battles in Romantic style.

During the Third Carlist War, he served as a correspondent on the northern front with the army of King Alfonso XII.

[2] He also provided illustrations for a deluxe edition of the Miguel de Cervantes novel Don Quixote, annotated by Cervantes scholar Nicolás Díaz de Benjumea [es] and published by Montaner y Simón after Balaca's death.