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

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) 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, one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, an import ...

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 An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in 1778, where he studied with Gabriel-François Doyen and François-Élie Vincent. His fellow students included

Charles Meynier Charles Meynier (1763 or 1768, Paris – 1832, Paris) was a French painter of historical subjects in the late 18th and early 19th century. He was a contemporary of Antoine-Jean Gros and Jacques-Louis David. Biography Meynier was the son of a ...

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

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 stud ...

. 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 provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

, 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 Republi ...

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

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

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 a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

, 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 Paintings conservator, painting conservators. Paintings cover a wide range of various mediums, materials, and their supports (i.e. the painted surface made from fabri ...

. He was removed from his position at the École centrale des Travaux publics during the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * Ab ...

, but remained as "Perpetual Secretary" of the

École des beaux-arts de Paris The (), formally the (), is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level fine arts education and training. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences et Lettres University, is located on two sites: Saint-G ...

. 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 (French: �an maʁi ləpʁɛ̃s də bomɔ̃ ⓘ; 26 April 1711 – 8 September 1780) was a French author who wrote the best-known version of ''Beauty and the Beast'', an abridged adaptation of the 1740 fairy tale ...

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

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

. 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 on 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 ar ...

, 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 ...

. 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 c ...

, 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'', No. LXIV, 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'', No. LXIX, 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'', No. LXXXIII, 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)

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 French people of Norman descent 18th-century French chemists French science writers 19th-century French chemists People from Eure Painters from Normandy

Biography

Publications

References

Further reading

External links