José Manuel Ramírez Rosales

José Manuel Ramírez Rosales (1804 in Santiago – 1877 in Valparaíso) was a Chilean painter who was educated in France. He specialized in landscapes and maritime scenes, often with mythological elements. Although mostly involved in various business enterprises, he is remembered as Chile's first significant artist.

Biography He was born to an aristocratic family that was related to the patriot. His first cousin was Vicente Pérez Rosales. In 1825, he was part of a group of young people from the upper ranks of Chilean society who sailed to Europe with Don Mariano Egaña; a trip that was later described by Pérez Rosales in his book, Recuerdos del pasado (Times Gone By).

After a stay in London, they arrived in Paris and enrolled in a school for Spanish-Americans run by Manuel Silvela. Ramírez initially studied music and art, and finally settled on studying the latter. He worked with Jean-Charles-Joseph Remond, who introduced him to landscape painting derived directly from contact with nature. Eventually, he became a friend and associate of Raymond Monvoisin. Sampson died shortly after, at the age of only thirty-one. This was a strategic point for steamboats travelling from San Francisco to the goldfields and soon after became part of the city of Marysville.

After that, Ramírez was primarily engaged in agricultural pursuits and imported some of California's first wine grape vines from Chile. In 1853, the writer Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna reported that Ramírez' farm produced some of the best watermelons in the state. With wood from Chile, he built a manorial residence which is still standing in the center of Marysville and is known as the "Ramírez Castle/Ellis House". A small unincorporated town just outside Marysville is named after him.

Despite these successes, he suffered from the racist attitudes prevalent at the time. In 1854, under the pretext of searching for stagecoach robbers, a vigilante group entered his home, confiscated his weapons, and shot him, leaving him seriously injured.