Lorenzo Maria Guerrero

Lorenzo Guerrero (November 4, 1835 – April 8, 1904) was a Filipino painter and teacher.

Lorenzo Maria Guerrero was born on November 4, 1835, in Ermita in what was then the province of Tondo. He was the second of fourteen children of Leon Jorge Guerrero and Clara Leogardo and is an older brother of the botanist León María Guerrero.

He is the father of the poet, journalist, lawyer, politician, and polyglot Fernando María Guerrero, who was one of the most prominent Spanish-language poets of the Philippines. They belong to a prominent family in Ermita.

During the term of Nicolas Valdes y Fernandez as the head of Academia de Dibujo, he won the half of a 300-peso reward from the Junta for one of the two best paintings – the Likeness of Magellan, made by Guerrero; and the Portrait of the Queen, made by Lorenzo Rocha. Their canvases were permanently displayed at the Junta's session hall 13. The 300 pesos were equally divided between both winners.

Guerrero studied Latin at the Colegio de San José and took lessons from several Spanish painters, including Agustin Saez y Glanadell in the Academia de Dibujo art school.

Guerrero began teaching drawing at the age of sixteen and later taught at the Academia de Dibujo y Pintura as assistant to his fellow-winner Rocha, who was now its interim professor and director, together with Agustin Saez, after Nicolas Valdez went back to Spain in early 1857. He also began teaching at the Instituto de Mujeros, and several other schools.

He also gave private lessons, mainly to sons and daughters of prominent families in and around Manila. Among his students were painter Juan Luna and architects Juan M. Arellano and Andrés Luna de San Pedro.

Guerrero's home in Ermita became a gathering place for artists and writers, including Fabián de la Rosa, Epifanio de los Santos, and Jaime C. de Veyra, and students from the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Guia, a school where his sister-in-law, Corinta Ramirez, was principal. Guerrero gave them advice and criticism there.