Ramón Sagredo

Ramón Sagredo
Born	1834 Real del Monte, Hidalgo, Mexico[1]
Died	1873 (aged 38–39) Mexico City[1]
Nationality	Mexican
Education	San Carlos Academy
Known for	Painting, photography
Patron(s)	Maximilian I of Mexico

Ramón Sagredo (1834–1873) was a 19th-century Mexican painter and photographer who worked under the patronage of Emperor Maximilian and decorated the former cupola of "La Profesa" with the Catalonian master Pelegrí Clavé.

Trained at San Carlos Academy from 1854 to 1859, he received praise for his Jesus on the road to Emmaus (including a positive review by Cuba's national poet José Martí).^[2] Under sponsorship of Maximilian of Mexico, he went on to decorate Iturbide Hall at the Imperial Palace (current Ambassador's Hall at the National Palace) with a full-length, posthumous portrait of Vicente Guerrero.^[3] He also worked with Clavé on the former cupola of La Profesa (ravaged by a fire in January 1914)^[4] and at San Carlos' galleries.

By the end of the Reform War, his personal finances were dwindling. Following the example of many of his contemporaries, he ventured into photography by painting over photographic enlargements for a fraction of the cost of paintings.^[5] According to an 1862 newspaper article quoted by Oliver Debroise:

[Ramón Sagredo and other artists] sacrificed their best years and resources to a most beautiful art that is, unfortunately, little appreciated [...] Consequently, they have abandoned those studies that cost them so dearly [...] Today they contribute their talents and the fruit of their long vigils to the profit of photographers who, employing them in the coloring of photographic portraits for the paltry stipend of one-third of their value, take advantage of the labor of these former students of the Academy.^[5]

Later on, as a photographer, he formed short-lived associations with Luis Veraza (1864), for whom he started coloring at Espíritu Santo 17 ½; and the Valleto brothers (Sagredo, Valleto y Ca.,1865) at Vergara 7, before setting up his own studio in the Mexican capital.^[6][7]

The details of his death are rather murky. According to most sources, he committed suicide on 2 July 1872^[8] while San Carlos' galleries catalog, according to Abelardo Carrillo y Gariel, places his death in 1873.^[9]

Selected works

• Jesús en el camino a Emaús (Jesus on the road to Emmaus) shown at the gallery of the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City.^[10]
• La muerte de Sócrates (The Death of Socrates), exhibited at the National Museum of San Carlos.^[11]
• Ismael abandonado en el desierto (Ishmael Abandoned in the Desert), exhibited at the Querétaro Museum of Art.^[12]

• Gallery
• 

  Vicente Guerrero (circa 1865), a full-length, posthumous portrait of the Mexican liberator exhibited at Ambassador's Hall (National Palace).^[1]

1. ^ Cite error: The named reference baez was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

References

1. Álvarez, José Rogelio, ed. (1993). Enciclopedia de México. Edición especial para Encyclopædia Britannica de México (in Spanish) XII (2 ed.). Enciclopedia de México. p. 7081. ISBN 968-457-180-1. OCLC 28982138.
2. Vázquez Pérez, Marlene. "Martí crítico de arte" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2009-04-18.
3. Báez, Eduardo (1992). La pintura militar de México en el siglo XIX (in Spanish). Mexico City: Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional. p. 46. ISBN 978-968-6285-65-9. OCLC 29319186. ISBN 968-6285-65-2.
4. "Iglesia San José el Real, La Profesa" (in Spanish). Instituto de Administración y Avalúos de Bienes Nacionales. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
5. Debroise, Oliver (2001). Mexican Suite: A History of Photography in Mexico. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-0-292-71611-7. OCLC 249945646. ISBN 0-292-71611-7. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
6. Aguilar Ochoa, Arturo (1996). La fotografía durante el Imperio de Maximiliano (in Spanish). Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas. p. 161. ISBN 978-968-36-4505-0. OCLC 253917303. ISBN 968-36-4505-4. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
7. Negrete Álvarez, Claudia (2006). "De Veracruz a México". Valleto Hermanos: fotógrafos mexicanos de entresiglos (in Spanish) (1 ed.). Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas. pp. 37–38. ISBN 978-970-32-3164-5. OCLC 150855436. ISBN 970-32-3164-0. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
8. Rodríguez Prampolini, Ida (1997). La crítica de arte en México en el siglo XIX. Estudios y documentos (in Spanish). Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas. pp. 150–151. ISBN 978-968-36-4818-1. OCLC 252677079. ISBN 968-36-4818-5. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
9. Carrillo y Gariel, Abelardo (1950). Las galerías de San Carlos (in Spanish). Mexico City: Ediciones Mexicanas. p. 39. OCLC 253113387.
10. Fernández, Justino. "José Justo Montiel: Un pintor desconocido de mediados del siglo XIX" (PDF). Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas (in Spanish). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Retrieved 2009-04-18.
11. Hernández Sánchez-Barba, Mario, ed. (1989). "El arte hispanoamericano y sus tendencias". Reformismo y progreso en América (1840-1905) (in Spanish). Madrid: Rialp. p. 473. ISBN 978-84-321-2119-7. OCLC 20981075. ISBN 84-321-2119-3. ISBN 84-321-2112-6. ISBN 978-84-321-2112-8. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
12. "Museo de Arte de Querétaro". Academy of San Carlos Collection. Archived from the original on March 26, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-19.