Journalist, poet, short story writer and playwright. He studied law and literature in Granada, becoming a judge in this city. Director of the Liceo Artístico y Literario (Artistic and Literary Lyceum) and full academic of Bellas Artes (Fine Arts) of Granada. Member of the Cofradía del Avellano (Brotherhood of Avellano Fountain), along with Ángel Ganivet and other intellectuals of the late nineteenth century, called “Gaudete el Viejo” (Gaudete the Old Man) (Melchor Almagro was “Gaudete el Joven [Gaudete the Young Man]”). He received, among other awards and decorations, the Grand Cross of the Catholic Queen Isabella.
He was considered one of the most prolific and important writers of his time. His peers called him El Patriarca (The Patriarch). His muse was Granada.
As a journalist he writes in publications such as La Alhambra, directs El Porvenir de Granada newspaper, participates in the founding of El Defensor de Granada (the main newspaper of Granada that will remain open until the Civil War breaks out, under the direction of Constantino Ruiz Carnero). In this last newspaper he worked under the direction of Luis Seco de Lucena. He also participated in other publications of his time, such as the literary magazine Idearium or the Catholic newspaper La Verdad.
He cultivated all literary genres. In narrative he stood out with a dozen costumbrist works such as On the Banks of the Dauro: Novels, Articles and Captions (1875) or Between Beiro and Dauro(1898); novels such as A Tense of the Verb Love (1885) and By a Hair (1885), and the short stories A Rose and a Carnation and The Donkey Pass. He was considered one of the most prolific and important writers of his time from Granada. He lived in the Albaicín and founded in his residence the so-called Academia del Carmen de las Tres Estrellas (House of the Three Stars Academy), a literary gathering that had been meeting for almost three decades. His companions nicknamed him El Patriarca (The Patriarch). His muse was Granada.
He died on September 6, 1906.
