Manuel Ussel de Guimbarda

Manuel Ussel de Guimbarda y Malibrán (26 November 1833 – 9 May 1907) was a Spanish painter. Ussel is generally seen as "Wssel"; the way he spelled it when signing his works.

Biography

He was born in Cuba, where his father, a career military officer, was stationed. After the deaths of his mother and brother in 1841, his father took him back to Spain and began a new posting in San Fernando. In 1843, he travelled to Madrid with his father and a servant and was enrolled at the Royal Academy of San Fernando, where he studied with Leonardo Alenza.

Despite this, Ussel decided to follow in his family's footsteps and became a Lieutenant in 1854. A year later, he painted his first canvas, inspired by the Battle of Lepanto. He then moved to Cartagena, where he continued his studies and became a deputy in the provincial "Commission on Artistic Monuments". He also married the daughter of a wealthy businessman.

In Lorca, he painted murals and decorations representing industry, commerce and agriculture at the "Palacio Huerto Ruano" (originally a wealthy businessman's villa; now a museum). Lorca is also the site of his "Crucifixion", in the central part of the apse in the "Colegiata de San Patricio". He died in Cartagena, aged 73.