Domingo del Monte
| Domingo del Monte | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Domingo del Monte y Aponte August 4, 1804 Venezuela |
| Died | November 4, 1853 (aged 49) Spain |
| Nationality | Cuba |
| Known for | Literary critic |
Domingo del Monte (August 4, 1804 — November 4, 1853) was a writer, lawyer, arts patron, and literary critic, known primarily for contributing to Cuban literature and advocating for public education throughout the country.
Born in Maracaibo, Venezuela from a wealthy family, his parents were Leonardo del Monte y Medrano, an assistant and Lieutenant for the Governor in that city native of Santo Domingo, and Rosa Aponte y Sánchez, the daughter and heir of a known and influential planter.
Del Monte attended preschool while living in Venezuela, before his parents moved to Dominican Republic, and thereafter to Cuba in 1810. A few years later, when Del Monte was a twelve-year-old, his parents enrolled him into the Seminary of San Carlos, a catholic alma mater of Leonardo Gamboa in the city of Havana. He completed studies at the University of Havana and right after graduation, around the 1820s, he had a notable influence as an associate for a prominent lawyer in Havana, who shortly after, financed a trip throughout Europe and the United States for the young Del Monte.
In April 1834, Del Monte married Rosa Aldama, the daughter of a wealthy planter named Miguel de Aldama. He proposed marriage to her on the Philharmonic Society salon. Rosa's father was Domingo de Aldama y Arechaga, ranked as the twelfth richest in an 1836 survey of the most wealthiest Cubans.
On his return to Cuba, Del Monte was the founder for several literary magazines. He also joined prestigious congregations like the Economic Society of the Country's Friends, an intellectual inner circle for the wealthy elite and one in which members, planters themselves were also the publishers for the first significant newspaper in Cuba, El papel periódico de La Habana.
With a vast education that had been successfully completed at the University of Havana, he began mentoring and promoting young Cuban writers.
As a patron of letters, Del Monte helped and supported most of the writers during that period. He promoted literature tirelessly by donating books to institutions and loaning books to friends. He established a public library in Matanzas in 1835. As an advocate for the promulgation of Cuban culture, he organized meetings which would be held at his house, and where important figures, like José Jacinto Milanés, Anselmo Suárez y Romero, and Cirilo Villaverde would later attend, to discuss topics like literature, and other issues related to social reform, and the autonomy of the country.
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