José Lázaro Galdiano

Who was José Lázaro Galdiano?

José Lázaro Galdiano was a Spanish financier, journalist, publisher and art collector, who at the time of his death owned one of the largest and most significant art collections in Spain. He was described in 1940 as "one of the greatest patrons of culture in nineteenth century Spain". At the time of his death, his collection numbered some 12,600 pieces, mostly from the Old Master and Romantic periods - he had little interest in the Modernists.