Proper Mérimée
The artist Prosper Mérimée was born into a bourgeois family of artists. Her father is a teacher of drawing, while her mother is a painter. Mérimée was very interested in reading and painting, thanks to the solid education of her parents, and became very culturally aware. Mérimée received a brilliant education, but was also passionate about the study of languages, history, foreign literature, drawing, and archeology. Mérimée met great authors in a literary salon in 1822, such as Alfred de Musset, Victor Hugo, and Stendhal, who became his closest friend. Mérimée was appointed in 1834 Inspector General of Historic Monuments. This function prompted him to make numerous trips across France. During the Second Empire, Mérimée was close to the Empress Eugénie. In 1853, he became a senator and animates the salons of the court, for example in 1857 with his famous dictation (the ‘la dictée de Mérimée’). After that, he dedicated himself to work as a historian and archaeologist.