Ramón Subercaseaux Vicuña

Ramón Subercaseaux Vicuña (10 April 1854, Valparaíso – 19 January 1937 Viña del Mar) was a Chilean painter, politician and diplomat.

He was the youngest of thirteen children born to a prominent, wealthy family. His grandfather was a French-born physician, Francisco Subercaseaux Breton, who was one of the pioneers of Chile's mining industry. His father, Ramón Subercaseaux Mercado, was a businessman who served in the Chilean Senate. He studied at the Colegio San Ignacio from 1854 to 1859, and at the Instituto Nacional. From 1871 to 1874, he read law at the University of Chile.

During this period, he also took private art lessons from the German-born painter Ernesto Kirchbach, second Director of the Academia de Pintura in Santiago. He finally decided to give up law and became largely self-taught in drawing and oil painting. That same year, he went to Rome where he took classes from the Spanish painter, José García Ramos.

In 1879, he married Amalia Errázuriz Urmeneta, the daughter of Maximiano Errázuriz and sister of the painter, José Tomás Errázuriz. That same year, he was elected to the Chilean Congress as an Alternate Deputy for Angol, representing the Conservative Party. Altogether, they had six children, including Pedro, an artist and Benedictine monk; Luis, an athlete and politician; and Juan, who became the Archbishop of La Serena. In 1882, after finishing his term in Congress, he became the Chilean consul in Paris.

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