Painter. He was 19th century Portuguese painter. Often referred to as just Columbano, he is considered one of the greatest Portuguese painters of the 19th century, and has been compared to the likes of Wilhelm Leibl and John Singer Sargent. He became the leading painter of his generation and the master of Realism in Portuguese painting, specializing in portraiture. He was disciple of his father, Manuel Maria Bordalo Pinheiro, of the painter Miguel Ângelo Lupi and the sculptor Simões de Almeida. After attempting twice for a bursar to study abroad finally in 1881 the Countess of Edla, second wife of King Fernando II would finance his study in Paris. There he studied the work of French naturalist, realist and impressionist painters, like Courbet, Manet and Degas without losing his distinctive style which is often gloomy and intimist. He joined the "Grupo do Leão" ("The Lion's Group"), a usual meeting of artists, writers and intellectuals in a Lisbon downtown restaurant called "Leão de Ouro" ("Golden Lion") in order to discuss aesthetic issues and proclaim Naturalism against the academic art of the time. The group also included his brother Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, Silva Porto, Marques de Oliveira and José Malhoa. He painted portraits of some of the greatest names of Portuguese society and culture of his time like Eça de Queirós, Teófilo Braga or Raul Brandão and had great psychological accuracy in defining the personality of those depicted. His most famous portrait was that of the poet Antero de Quental in 1889. In this haunting work Columbano seems to have anticipated Antero's suicide. In 1901, he became a professor of historical painting at the Lisbon Academy of Fine Arts, where he had graduated in his youth. Columbano was a well known Republican, so it wasn't surprising that after the Republic proclamation, on October 5, 1910, he was invited to design the flag of the new regime and was nominated director of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, currently the Chiado Museum, in Lisbon, of which he was in charge from 1914 to 1927. He also collaborated in several cultural magazines such as "O António Maria," "Atlantida," and "Contemporânea." On December 23, 1919, he was awarded the rank of Grand Officer of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword. On February 14, 1920, he was elevated to Grand Cross of the same Order. The best collection of his paintings is in the Chiado Museum, in Lisbon. He's also represented in some of the finest Portuguese museums, like the National Museum Soares dos Reis, in Porto.