Ignacio Merino

Ignacio Merino Muñoz was born on January 30, 1817, in Piura, Peru. His mother Doña Micaela María Muñoz, was from a wealthy aristocratic family in Trujillo, descending from maternal ancestry in both Spanish and Peruvian nobility. His father, Don José Clemente Merino, was a judge, district administrator and military commander.

As a toddler on the beach, Merino would draw the contour outline of sailing ships in the sand, exhibiting skill in observational drawing. By the age of four, he was creating fine art on paper and seemed absorbed in its process, which impressed his mother; she expressed hope that Merino would be the first Peruvian fine artist.

Circa 1827, shortly after reaching 6 years of age, his parents allowed Merino to travel to Paris for an arts education, though they chose not to accompany him. There, Merino attended high school, earned his bachelor's degree in law, and pursued his art career.

In Paris, Merino studied under French painters Raymond Monvoisin and Paul Delaroche, who inspired his interest in history painting. As a result of Delaroche's influence, Merino focused on themes from European history, whereas his Peruvian-themed paintings were generally in the costumbrista category.[http://www.mali.pe/modulo/upload/1303919512MALI_IgnacioMerino_ficha.pdf Museo de Arte de Lima] Ignacio Merino: La Historia Imaginada

In 1838, Merino returned to Peru at 20 years of age, also having studied in Italy and Spain. Upon his return, he established a school of lithography and a school of drawing and paint. He became Assistant Director, then Director of the "Academy of Drawing and Painting," founded by José Fernando de Abascal, where he taught or otherwise influenced the careers of other prominent painters, such as Luis Montero Cáceres, {{ill|Francisco Masías|es}} and Francisco Laso.

During the 1840s, he created a series of portraits devoted to Peruvian saints, including Rose of Lima and Martín de Porres.

{{Multiple image

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In 1850, he had an opportunity to study with Eugène Delacroix, and returned to Paris. He would remain there for the rest of his life. It is said that an exhibition of his costumbrista paintings served as the inspiration for Martin Paz, an adventure story by Jules Verne, which was set in Lima.[http://peru21.pe/noticia/750478/historia-imaginada-ignacio-merino "Ignacio Merino: La Historia Imaginada] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305010144/http://peru21.pe/noticia/750478/historia-imaginada-ignacio-merino |date=2016-03-05 }} @ Peru 21. Upon returning to Paris, he produced 92 wood engravings for a luxury 1854 edition of {{ill|Esteban Terralla y Landa|es|lt=Esteban Terralla y Landa's}} 1797 satire [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/749197880 Lima por dentro y fuera,] collaborating with Parisian printer A. Mézin and draftsman A. Jourdain.{{Cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/14016852|title=Estudios de sátira hispanoamericana|last=Zavalza Hough-Snee|first=Dexter|publisher=Iberoamericana/Vervuert|year=2015|isbn=9788484898689|location=Madrid|pages=87–119}} Many of these engravings, including landscapes, portraits, and popular scenes, served as studies for later canvases of costumbrista themes.

It was there he created his best-known painting, Colón ante los doctores en Salamanca, which was purchased by the government of President José Balta after winning a third-place medal at the "Exposition des Beaux-Arts". He was also inspired by European literature and created works based on the writings of Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott and Miguel de Cervantes.[http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/m/merino_ignacio.htm Brief biography] @ Biografías y Vidas

File:Ignacio Merino.jpg]]

File:Père-Lachaise - Division 53 - Merino 02.jpg|258x258px]]

Merino died of tuberculosis in 1876, and he was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery. Having never married and without an heir, he ceded his estate and artworks to the Municipality of Lima.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

This included 33 paintings which, in 1925, were the first acquisitions of the newly founded {{ill|Ignacio Merino Municipal Art Gallery|es}}, which continues to operate as of 2023.{{Cite web |last=Summer |first=Eva |date=2021-03-01 |title=Municipal Art Gallery Ignacio Merino |url=https://www.limaeasy.com/lima-guide/lima-culture-guide/museums-lima/municipal-art-gallery-ignacio-merino |access-date=2023-08-10 |website=LimaEasy |language=en-gb}}

File:El ingreso del presidente Luis José de Orbegoso a Lima.jpg|The Entry of President Luis José de Orbegoso to Lima, ca. 1842

File:Frutera (Merino).jpg|Frutera, 1850

File:La Jarana - Ignacio Merino s. XIX.jpg|La Jarana (lit. The Revelry), c. 1857

File:Ignacio Merino - Reading Don Quixote - Google Art Project.jpg|Reading Don Quixote, 1861

File:Cristóbal Colón ante los sabios en Salamanca.jpg|Columbus Before the Council of Salamanca, 1863

File:Merino-Old man.jpg|Portrait of an Old Man, unknown date

File:Merino-Italian courtship.jpg|Italian Courtship, unknown date

File:Pizarro tomando posesión del Pacífico en nombre de los reyes de España.jpg|Pizarro Taking Possession of the Pacific in the Name of the Kings of Spain, c. 1850

File:Escena americana 01.jpg|American Scene (Scenes from the Life of Andalusia), c. 1854

File:Retrato de Francisco Masías.jpg|Portrait of Francisco Masías, 1855

File:Merino-Giving alms.png|Woman Giving Alms, unknown date

File:Cristóbal Colón y su hijo son hospedados en el convento de la Rábida.jpg|Christopher Columbus and His Son Lodged in the Convent of La Rábida, 1855

File:Turk-Merino.jpg|The Turk, unknown date

File:La apertura del testamento.jpg|The Opening of the Will, 1864

File:Los frailes atravesando un vado.jpg|The Friars Crossing a Ford, c. 1865

File:Aparición del ángel a la familia de Tobías.jpg|Appearance of the Angel to the Family of Tobias, c. 1867

File:El aficionado.jpg|alt=|The Aficionado, 1868

File:La venganza del señor Cornaro.jpg|The Revenge of Mr. Cornaro, 1869

File:La cocotte.jpg|The Woman Who Laughs (The Crazy), c. 1870

File:Un bufón.jpg|A Jester (Mephistopheles), 1870

File:Hamlet (Ignacio Merino).jpg|Hamlet, 1872

File:La barca.jpg|On the Boat, c. 1874

{{reflist}}

• Juan Bautista de Lavalle, Ignacio Merino, 1817-1917: biografía del pintor, Casa Editora M. Moral, 1917
• Juan Manuel Ugarte Eléspuru, "Ignacio Merino", Volume 33 of Biblioteca Hombres del Perú, Editorial Universitaria, 1966
• Dexter Zavalza Hough-Snee, "[https://www.academia.edu/14016852/Ilustrando_la_república_a_través_de_la_sátira_colonial_Ignacio_Merino_y_la_reconfiguración_de_Lima_por_dentro_y_fuera_ Ilustrando la república a través de la sátira colonial: Ignacio Merino y la reconfiguración de Lima por dentro y fuera]." Estudios de sátira hispanoamericana. eds. Zavalza & Eduardo Viana da Silva. Madrid: Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2015. pp. 87–119.

{{commons category|Ignacio Merino}}

• [http://www.limacultura.pe/directorio-cultural/pinacoteca-municipal-ignacio-merino Pinacoteca Municipal Ignacio Merino] @ Lima Cultura
• [https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/pinacoteca-ignacio-merino Pinacoteca Municipal Ignacio Merino] @ the Google Cultural Institute

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Category:1817 births

Category:1876 deaths

Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery

Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis

Category:People from Piura

Category:History painters

Category:Peruvian emigrants to France

Category:19th-century Peruvian painters

Category:19th-century Peruvian male artists

Category:Neoclassical artists

Category:Tuberculosis deaths in France

Category:Romantic painters

Category:Peruvian male painters