Antonio Moro

MORO, ANTONIO (c. 1512-1575), otherwise known as Sir Anthony More, the eminent portrait-painter, was born at Utrecht in 1512, according to some, but in 1525 according to Karl van Mander in his Het Leven der Schilders. He studied his art under Jan Schoreel and after making a professional visit to Italy he commenced to paint portraits in the style of Hans Holbein. His rise to eminence was rapid. In 1552 (or 1542?) he was invited to Madrid by the emperor, Charles V. Two years afterwards he was in London painting the portrait of Queen Mary for her bride groom, Philip II. of Spain. This picture is his masterpiece, and is preserved in the Prado museum at Madrid. For it an annual salary and, as some suppose, the honour of knighthood were con ferred upon him. From 1555-59 he lived in Utrecht. In Aug. '559 Moro accompanied King Philip to Spain, returning to Utrecht in 156o, in which year his portrait was painted by Jan Schoreel, now at the Antiquarian Society in London. He then entered the service of the duke of Alva at Brussels and died at Antwerp in 1575. His portraits are full of individuality, and characterized by firm drawing. The gallery at Braunschweig and the collections at Althorp and Petworth contain important works by the master.

MORO

("Moor"), a name given by Spaniards to the people of Sulu, an island and an archipelago between Borneo and the Philippines, on account of their religion; but although the Moros are Muslims they were formerly Hindu in part, while the aborigi nes, probably of Dayak affinities, are traditionally related to have worshipped tombs and stones of various kinds (see ASIA, Far ther) , and one genealogy starts with a prophet who sprang from a bamboo. Besides Malays of Minangkubau (q.v.), Bugis (q.v.) from the Celebes, Samals from Johore, and llanuns from Min danao have settled in Sulu, and the population has been mixed further by innumerable importations of slaves from all the islands in the Philippines, and in Sulu itself there is a traditional division of the slave population into red-, white-, black-, and blue-eyed in the four quarters of the island. The Moros have legal codes drawn up in Arabic and are like other Malays renowned for piracy, fighting, and love of independence.

See Saleeby, Studies in Moro History, etc., and The History of Sulu (Ethnological Survey for the Philippines), IV. (1908).

(J. H. H.)