Antonio Maria de Reyna Manescau

The Grand Canal

Antonio María Reyna Manescau, born December 5, 1859 and died February 3, 1937, was a Spanish painter who developed most of his career in Italy. Probably a member of the Malaga School of Painting, he studied under Bernardo Ferrándiz and alongside Moreno Carbonero. He moved to Italy in his early twenties, where he was further influenced by Italian and Spanish expatriate artists, and where he lived for the rest of his life. After his first stay in Venice in 1885, he specialized in landscape painting. He is widely known for the preciousness of his Venetian vedutas, the importance he places on the precise representation of architectural detail and his mastery of color. Among his most important works are his many views of the Venetian canals and Piazza San Marco, the classic Floralia scene (disappeared during the Spanish Civil War) and Rancho Andaluz. Born in the town of Coín (Málaga), he was one of ten children (six of whom died in childhood) of Francisco Reyna Zayas (1825-1892) and Matilde Manescau y Otsman (1823-1910). His parents enjoyed good social status, being his uncle José Reyna Zayas mayor of Coín when Antonio was a child. Being still a small boy, Antonio showed a great ability for drawing. Although he continued to live in Coín for the rest of his childhood, he began his artistic training at the School of Fine Arts in Malaga, where he was taught by Joaquín Martínez de la Vega, first, then by Bernardo Ferrándiz, founder of the Málaga School of Painting. He studied alongside the future master José Moreno Carbonero, who was only a year older than him. From an early age, he regularly exhibited his works, standing out in the local artistic milieu for his use of colors, the attractiveness of his compositions and the agility of his brushstrokes. In 1880, at age 20, he sold his first important work for the town hall of Coín