Ygnacio Merino had for his master a Frenchman settled in South America, who was spreading there the teaching of the Paris studios, and became Peru's first history painter: large formats, national subjects, a founder's ambition for a painting without a learned tradition. Paris was the logical sequel. He taught there, exhibited there, and died in 1876 without having gone home.
The story
Born at San Miguel de Piura, in northern Peru, in 1817, Ygnacio Merino trained under Raymond Monvoisin, a French painter settled in South America who carried the teaching of the Paris academies with him.
He ran the drawing school in Lima for a dozen years and founded academic painting in Peru: large formats, national subjects, the ambition of a founder for a country that had no learned tradition of its own.
Paris was the logical next step. He settled there in 1850, showed at the Salon for twenty-five years, and became a figure of that Latin American colony the capital drew all through the century.
He died in Paris in 1876, without ever going home to Peru, which afterwards made him one of the founders of its national painting.
He lies in Division 53, avenue de la Chapelle, third row, under a plain stone whose inscription gives his birth as 1818 — a year later than every biography.
The grave
A simple stone, whose inscription is intent on stating the origin: “Ygnacio MERINO, painter, born in San Miguel de Piura (Peru) in 1818, died in Paris in 1876.” Naming the village rather than the country is rare at Père-Lachaise. The year, for its part, is a year out: the reference works give 1817. The discrepancy remained in the stone since 1876.
On site, do not miss
The epitaph names the native village — San Miguel de Piura — and is a year out on the birth: it engraves 1818 where the reference works give 1817.
Visitors' questions
Where is Ygnacio Merino's grave?
In Division 53, avenue de la Chapelle, third row, beneath a plain stone. The Division gathers several nineteenth-century men of letters, among them the playwright Henry Becque and the novelist Alfred Assolant.
Henry BecqueWho was Ygnacio Merino?
Peru's first history painter, born in San Miguel de Piura in 1817 and trained under the Frenchman Raymond Monvoisin. He settled in Paris, exhibited there and died there in 1876, without ever having gone home.
Miguel Ángel AsturiasIs there a mistake on his grave?
Yes: the inscription has him born “in 1818” when the reference works give 1817. The one-year gap stayed in the stone. Père-Lachaise has several such cases, including a name carved “GOMEZ CARILLO” with one “r” too few.
Enrique Gómez CarrilloWhat is written on his grave?
“Ygnacio MERINO, peintre, né à San Miguel de Piura (Pérou) en 1818, mort à Paris en 1876” — Ygnacio Merino, painter, born in San Miguel de Piura (Peru) in 1818, died in Paris in 1876. The epitaph names his native village, which is rare: it is as intent on saying where he came from as on saying what he did.
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