José Balaca y Carrión (Cartagena, 1810–Madrid, 1869) was a Spanish painter and miniaturist, known above all for his portrait miniatures, a genre he began cultivating as an amateur and never abandoned. After training at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, he travelled to Lisbon, England and France before returning to Spain in 1850.
Among his works are an ivory depicting the nineteen halberdiers who defended the Royal Palace on 7 October 1841, and a full-length portrait of Queen María da Glória of Portugal, for which he received the Order of Villaviciosa. Several of his canvases are held in Murcia, Cartagena, Madrid and Reinosa. After his return he regularly exhibited portraits at the national exhibitions.
His two sons, Eduardo and Ricardo Balaca, also became painters. Eduardo was known mainly as a portraitist, while Ricardo painted military episodes and the colour illustrations for Don Quixote, placing José at the start of a family of artists.