Morales, Luis de (lwēs dā mōrä`lās), c.1520–1586, Spanish mannerist painter. He lived and worked in Badajoz. Morales executed vivid portrayals of saints suffering and refined devotional images of the Virgin and Child. Influences of Leonardo da Vinci and of Netherlandish art may be seen in his delicate and precisely executed paintings. The Virgin with the Distaff, Holy Family, and Ecce Homo are at the Hispanic Society, New York City. Other examples of his work are in the Prado and in churches in Badajoz.

Morales, Luis de

“The Virgin and Child,” panel by Luis de Morales; in the National Gallery, London

(credit: Courtesy of the National Gallery, London; photograph, A.C. Cooper)

(born c. 1509, Badajoz, Spain—died May 9, 1586, Badajoz) Spanish painter. He lived all his life in Badajoz, leaving only for occasional commissions. He is considered Spain's greatest Mannerist painter and is known especially for his emotional religious paintings. He always worked on panels, often depicting such subjects as the Ecce Homo, the Pietà, and the Virgin and Child. His paintings show the influence of Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael and are marked by detailed execution and the anguished asceticism of 16th-century Spain.