Jean-François Léonor Mérimée (16 September 1757, Broglie - 26 September 1836,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a French writer, painter and chemist, specializing in pigment color in painting and decorative art. He was the father of the famous author,

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...

Biography

His father was François Merimée (c. 1715-1795), a lawyer at the Parlement de Rouen and author of ''"Treatise on fiefs and feudal rights in Normandy according to the natural order of matters and procedure divided into 5 parts'' (1760). He also served as a steward for the Maréchal de Broglie. He studied at the Collège de Caen before entering the Académie royale de peinture in 1778, where he studied with Gabriel-François Doyen and

François-Élie Vincent François-Élie Vincent (20 June 1708 – 28 March 1790) was a French painter of portrait miniatures.

. His fellow students included Charles Meynier,

Jacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou Jacques-Augustin-Catherine Pajou (27 August 1766, Paris - 28 November 1828, Paris) was a French painter in the Classicism, Classical style. Biography His father was the sculptor, Augustin Pajou. Nothing is known of his childhood. In 1784, at ...

and

Charles Thévenin Charles Thévenin (12 July 1764 – 28 February 1838) was a neoclassical French painter, known for heroic scenes from the time of the French Revolution and First French Empire. Biography Born in Paris, the son of a court architect, Charles studi ...

. In 1787, he was awarded second place in the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

and achieved third place in 1788. This was followed by a trip to

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

, where he studied the

Dutch Masters Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republ ...

, after which he went to Rome. He stayed there until 1793, when certain events of the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

forced him to return home. He was given housing by the "Société Populaire et Républicaine des Arts" at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, where he undertook research on methods of preserving art by means of chemistry. In 1796, he began formal training on the

conservation and restoration of paintings The conservation and restoration of paintings is carried out by professional painting conservators. Paintings cover a wide range of various mediums, materials, and their supports (i.e. the painted surface made from fabric, paper, wood panel, fab ...

. He was removed from his position at the École centrale des Travaux publics during the Bourbon Restoration, but remained as "Perpetual Secretary" of the

École des beaux-arts de Paris The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences ...

. In 1802, he married Anne Moreau (1774-1852), a portrait painter who was the granddaughter of

Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (; 26 April 17118 September 1780) was a French novelist who wrote the best known version of ''Beauty and the Beast''. Her third husband was the French spy Thomas Pichon (1757–1760). Life and work Christened Ma ...

. That same year, he held his final exhibition at the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

. Thereafter Mérimée turned his attention to the history of art and in particular, the chemistry, use and application of pigment color and oil paint. Mérimée performed numerous experiments on the composition of paintings including those of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Titian. He was also interested in the manufacture of paper,

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

, weaving and

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

. In 1830, Mérimée published the results of his work, which had a major influence on the modern process of restoration: ''De la peinture à l’huile : ou, Des procédés matériels employés dans ce genre de peinture, depuis Hubert et Jean Van-Eyck jusqu’à nos jours'' (1830). An English translation by W. B. Sarsfield Taylor was published in London in 1839. While the majority of this book was devoted to pigment analysis, varnishes, materials and the preservation of paintings, Mérimée devoted a chapter to color theory. In this chapter, Mérimée referred to "three simple colours (yellow, red and blue)" and that these can through admixture, produce a large gamut of color nuances. Ünited in pairs, these three primitive colours give birth to three other colours as distinct and brilliant as their originals; thus, yellow mixed with red, gives orange; red and blue, violet, and green is obtained by mixing blue and yellow" (Mérimée, 1839, p245). Mérimée illustrated these color relationships with a simple diagram located between pages 244 and 245: Chromatic Scale (Echelle Chromatique). Merimee-Chromatic Scale

Augustin-Jean Fresnel Augustin-Jean Fresnel (10 May 1788 – 14 July 1827) was a French civil engineer and physicist whose research in optics led to the almost unanimous acceptance of the wave theory of light, excluding any remnant of Isaac Newton, Newton's co ...

, the civil engineer and physicist, was his nephew.

Publications

* ''Rapport fait par M. Mérimée, au nom du Comité des arts chimiques, sur les faïences imprimées de MM. Stone Coquerel et Legros-d'Anisy'', dans ''"Bulletin de la Société d'encouragement'', , imprimerie de Mme Huzard, Paris, 1809
(Online)
* ''Rapport fait à la Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale au nom du Comité des arts chimiques sur une nouvelle poterie de MM. Fabry et Utzschneider, à Sarguemines'', dans ''"Bulletin de la Société d'encouragement'', , imprimerie de Mme Huzard, Paris, 181
(Online)
* ''Rapport fait par M. Mérimée, au nom d'une Commission spéciale, sur la manufacture de rasoirs établie à Thiers, département du Puy-de-Dôme, par MM. Brasset-l'Héraud, père et fils'', dans ''"Bulletin de la Société d'encouragement'', , imprimerie de Mme Huzard, Paris, 181
(Online)
* ''De la peinture à l’huile : ou, Des procédés matériels employés dans ce genre de peinture, depuis Hubert et Jean Van-Eyck jusqu’à nos jours'', Paris, Mme Huzard, 183
(Online)

References

External links

Léonor Mérimée
@ the Base joconde
Data BnF : Jean-François-Léonor Mérimée (1757-1836)

Léonor Mérimée
@ WikiTree
Amis et passionnés du Père-Lachaise : Mérimée, François Léonor (1757-1836)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merimee, Leonor 1757 births 1836 deaths 18th-century French painters French decorative artists French engravers 18th-century French chemists French science writers 19th-century French chemists People from Eure

Biography

Publications

References

Further reading

External links