Leopoldo Romañach was born on October 7, 1862, in Corralillo, Villa Clara, and died on September 10, 1951, in Havana. His long life was dedicated almost entirely to painting, allowing him to develop different stages of creation, in tune with the artistic movements taking place in Cuba and around the world. After the death of his mother, Isabel Guillén, his father, Braudilio Romañach, sent him to Spain. This happened when he was only 5 years old, and until the age of 14, he lived in different cities on the peninsula: Rosas, Girona, and Barcelona.

Upon his return to Cuba, he began working in a shop in the town of Vega de Palma, the trade his father had wanted him to pursue. He then moved to Remedios, where he had free evenings to paint landscapes. He later moved to Caibarién, where he produced his first commissioned works, assisted by one of his brothers-in-law. His vocation was solidified, but he still lacked the academic training necessary to pursue an artistic career.

During this period, his father paid for his trip to New York to learn English and consolidate his business skills. Upon his return, he moved to Havana with a sales assignment for several hundred quarts of tobacco, which he failed to fulfill. Instead, he insisted on attending coloring classes at the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts, which led to the severance of the family ties.

Back in Caibarién, he would enlist the help of the Spanish Customs administrator Francisco Ducassi, whose son was also a painting enthusiast. Ducassi secured scholarships for the young men in Italy. Once in Rome, his teachers included Spaniards Francisco Padilla and Enrique Serra, and Italian Filippo Prosperi, the latter director of the School of Fine Arts in that city.

The works Nido de miseria (Nest of Misery), currently on display at the Santa Clara Museum, and La convalesciente (The Convalescent), which won a gold medal at the St. Louis Exposition in the United States in 1904, date back to this stage of his life. The latter piece was unfortunately lost when the ship that was bringing it back to Cuba sank.

In 1895, due to the outbreak of the insurrectionist movement, he lost the pension he received from the Spanish government and moved to New York. There he endured difficult hardships but eventually received help from the charitable Marta Abreu. He returned to Cuba and, with the help of several loyal friends, including the former autonomist Raimundo Cabrera, obtained a position as a professor in the Department of Color at the San Alejandro Academy.

He still had time to travel to France and other European countries, where he came into contact with other painting techniques. After this trip, he created The Promise, The Last Garment, The Girl with a Fan, and Fulfilling the Vow, among other pieces. His work was always characterized by a radical expressive sincerity, a principle he also passed on to his disciples. He received numerous awards and is considered one of the most significant Cuban painters of the transition from the 19th to the 20th century.