Darío de Regoyos began dedicating himself to painting in 1876, after the passing of his father. At that point, he enrolled at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, where he attended classes under master landscape artist Carlos de Haes. From that moment onward, landscape art and portraiture became his two great passions.

The Portrait of Manolito Pendás proves the artist’s interest in the human figure, characterized by his understanding of the portrait essentially as a manifestation of what defines a person. The boy’s personality is concentrated in his head, captured with great sensibility, skill, and detail. Conversely, the rest of the body is treated more like a sketch, although the subject’s attitude is perfectly rendered. This is also a specific characteristic of his oil portraits, in which his interest in facial features was notably greater than the attention paid to the model’s body or the background. In this way, Regoyos produced an expressive representation of the highest order, without having to achieve photographic precision.

During his time in Brussels, Regoyos enrolled at the Académie Royal des Beaux Arts in 1897. More specifically, he attended the “Dessin d’après la tête antique” course, taught by Belgian painter Joseph Van Severdonck. During this period, Regoyos focused on the human figure and portraiture as his motifs.