Ramón Sagredo (1834–1870) 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 Catalan 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). 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. He also worked with Clavé on the former cupola of La Profesa (ravaged by a fire in January 1914) 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. According to an 1862 newspaper article quoted by Oliver Debroise:

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.

He commits suicide on June 2, 1870, due to his passion for Maura Ogazón and Rubio, sister of Governor Pedro Ogazón.

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.
 La muerte de Sócrates (The Death of Socrates), exhibited at the National Museum of San Carlos.
 Ismael abandonado en el desierto (Ishmael Abandoned in the Desert), exhibited at the Querétaro Museum of Art.

References

Mexican photographers
Mexican portrait painters
1834 births
1870 deaths
Artists from Hidalgo (state)
Painters who died by suicide
Suicides in Mexico
19th-century Mexican painters
Mexican male painters
19th-century photographers
1870s suicides
19th-century Mexican male artists