Enrique Simonet

Enrique Simonet Lombardo (February 2, 1866 – April 20, 1927) was a Spanish painter.

Simonet was born in Valencia in a Christian household of high social standing. His father was land-registrar Enrique Simonet Baca (1830–1899) and his mother was María de los Dolores Lombardo Riera; they had five other children. His first vocation of childhood was religious studies, but, with paternal support, he abandoned it to devote himself to painting. Despite being Valencian and studying at the Saint Charles Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Valencia, he joined a circle of artists in the city of Málaga. He also attended the workshop of Bernardo Ferrándiz Bádenes, forming part of the Malaga school of painting.

In 1885, Simonet, funded by his father, made his first trip to Italy. In 1887 obtained a grant to study painting in the Fine Arts Academy in Rome, where he painted in 1890 Heart's Anatomy; a painting that would bring him international recognition and which won him several prizes and was displayed at the Paris Salon in 1895.