Manuel José de los Ríos Serrano was baptised on 3 January 1816 in Baena, the son of José María de los Ríos and his wife, María del Carmen Serrano. He was born on the first day of the year in a house on La Tela Street in Baena. His name was chosen by his maternal grandmother and godmother. However, just a year later, his father changed Manuel José to José Amador. Three decades later, JAR himself adopted his second name as his surname. These two name changes, along with his actual date of birth, were only uncovered recently. In fact, the author's centenary was celebrated in 1918, as it was believed he was born on either 30 April or 1 May 1818. It is also common to find in his biographies that he was said to be under sixty years old at the time of his death on 17 February 1878. Another common feature in most biographies is the emphasis on JAR's contributions as a historian, literary critic, and archaeologist. He was undoubtedly an authority in these fields, producing works that remain essential references to this day. However, it appears that in his youth, JAR had a strong inclination toward the arts, particularly painting and writing plays and poetry — interests he maintained throughout his life. Although his intellectual distinctiveness is unquestionable, as evidenced by the volume of his publications, the variety of subjects he studied, and the numerous positions he held during his relatively brief life — this diversity of complementary interests helps shed some light on the scope of his work to some extent.

The first twenty years of JAR's life can be divided into three stages: his early childhood in Baena, the period from 1827 to 1832 in Córdoba, and his teenage years in Madrid. Although it was his father's liberal leanings that compelled the family to leave Baena, his profession as a sculptor and connections to the court of King Ferdinand VII enabled JAR to pursue studies at the prestigious Colegio Imperial de San Isidro [Imperial College of San Isidro] and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando [Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando]. During this time, he also received painting lessons from José de Madrazo and attended theatre lessons by Alberto Lista at the Ateneo. In these settings the interests that would define JAR's life began to take root: the Arts, Literature, and History. From 1837 onwards, JAR lived in Seville, where he engaged in painting, wrote poems and plays, and translated. He often visited the Biblioteca Colombina [Colombian Library], became a member of the Real Academia Sevillana de Buenas Letras [Royal Sevillian Academy of Belles Lettres], and, in 1840, married María Juana Fernández

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