Poet. He received recognition as a 19th century poet, who was considered one of Spain's first modern poets. He was the younger brother of Spanish painter Valeriano Domínguez Bécquer. He and his seven brothers were orphans by 1846. Their father José María Domínguez Insausti, who was better known as Jose Dominguez Becquer, had been an artist. The family's surname was changed to Becquer by his father to recognize the family's Flemish ancestry. He attended nautical school for a short time before his mother died and after that, the only education he received was informal from his relatives. He was an avid reader, studied painting in his uncle's art studio in Seville, and was sent to study Latin when the family recognized writing was his talent. In 1854, he relocated to Madrid to pursue a literary career writing for various periodicals before obtaining a position at the newspaper, "El Contemporando," from 1861 to 1868. Many of his 100 poems, one essay, and 20 short stories were published in the newspaper and were not published as a collection until after his death. In 1871 his works were published in "Obras" Volume 2 and his writings have been described as dealing with loneliness and love and "sensitive, restrained, and deeply subjective." His stories on the other hand, were written in a dreamlike, medieval settings with mystic, supernatural characters, such as a woman changing into a deer at night. His autobiography was a series of letters "Cartas desde mi celda," and composed at a Monastery of Veruela, in northern Spain. In 1857 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which he suffered his entire life with relapses. Joining with his brother, he lived a bohemian life-style traveling about doing research for a future book, "The History of the Temples of Spain." He married, had three children, but the marriage was very unhappy and other women were in his life. His portrait was painted by his brother and later was displayed on the 100 Peseta Spanish banknote from 1965 to 1979 as well as being used as a model for the 1910 sculptures made for the Roundabout Becquer at Maria Lusia Park in Seville. At the beginning of the 1868 Glorious Revolution of Spain, he and his wife separated and for political reasons, he escaped to Paris for a year. His brother was given credit for "The Bourbons in the Buff," which is a collection of 89 satirical watercolors showing the Spanish court of Queen Isabella II in lecherous scenes. The narratives that were written with this album of watercolors were credited to him. Signed with "Sem," the album was published in 1991. The sudden death of his brother Valeriano in September of 1870 caused him to go into a deep depression, and he died three months later in the cold of winter from tuberculosis. Eventually, the brothers were buried together. In 1953 Edmund L. King published in English "Gustavo Adolfo Becquer: From Painter to Poet."