Antonio Rodriquez Morey (Cuban, 1874-1967), 'Tropical Sunset', oil on canvas, signed lower right, 12in x 16 in., in a period giltwood frame E4000-6000 Note: Despite the particularly turbulent relationship between the governments of the United States and the colonial administrations of Cuba, the cities of New Orleans and Havana have always shared a unique cultural heritage and history of lucrative trade American dependence on Cuban exports, especially sugar, coffee, and tobacco fostered a long thriving system of maritime commerce between the ports of New Orleans and Havana, which for the most part continued into the 1950s, when over one third of the trade from the port of New Orleans was intended for Havana and more than 6,000 people in the city worked in trade and industries dealing with Cuba The cultural and economic connections between the cities were furthered by direct steamship routes, which transported artists, writers, musicians and businessmen back and forth Antonio Rodriguez Morey received his primary training in Havana at the Santa Alejandro Academy, studying under the Cuban landscape painter Valentin Sanz Carta The artist continued his education in 1895 becoming an apprentice to Italian and Spanish painters and teaching at Sacred Heart in Rome where he settled In 1912, Morey became an instructor at the San Alejandro Academy and later became Director of the National Museum in Havana During his life his artistic achievements earned him gold medals in San Francisco ( 1915), Sevilla (1930), and won him the national award for best landscape in 1911.