Background

Luc-Olivier Merson (born Nicolas Luc-Olivier Merson) was born on May 21, 1846 in Paris, France. He was the son of Charles-Olivier Merson, a painter and art critic.

Education

Luc-Olivier Merson studied under Gustave Chassevent at the École de Dessin and then Isidore Pils at the École des Beaux-Arts.

Career

Luc-Olivier Merson had his first work exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1866. During the five years spent working in Italy, he concentrated on religious and historical subjects for his art.

He returned to France in 1875. "Notre-Dame de Paris", one of Merson's best known paintings, was created in 1881 as a result of the huge popularity of the Victor Hugo novel of the same name.

Merson also did major decorative commissions for such institutions as the Palais de Justice, the Louis Pasteur Museum, and the mosaic in the chancel vault in the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur. He also did the artwork for stained-glass windows, an example of which can be found in the Church of the Holy Trinity Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

By 1900 Merson was designing postage stamps for the French post and the Monaco post. He was teaching at the Académie Vitti in 1903. By 1908 he had been contracted by the Bank of France to create a number of designs for some of the country's banknotes. Between 1906 and 1911 he taught at the École des Beaux-Arts, with students such as Clément Serveau. Also during this period, it is reported that Merson had under his tutelage the French painter Henri Alphonse Barnoin.

Merson died on November 13, 1920 in Paris, France.

Achievements

• Luc-Olivier Merson was one of the great defenders of classicism and the academic ideal. He won the Prix de Rome in 1869. In 1875 he won the first-prize medal at the exhibition by the Société des artistes français.
  
  Merson was also awarded a gold medal for his painting at the 1889 Exposition Universelle.
  
  In recognition of his contribution to French culture, Merson was awarded the Legion of Honour.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth-12

  • Jesus at the Well

  • An ethereal beauty with putti in the clouds

  • Hail, Mary

  • Marie Felice des Ursins (1601-66) Duchess of Montmorency and the poet, Theophile de Viau (1590-1626) at Sylvie

  • Studies of children

  • Sister Gudule and Esmeralda

  • Head of young woman

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth - les sorcières

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth - Hécate et les trois sorcières

  • St Francis of Assisi Preaching to the Fish

  • Hermit in Seaside

  • The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

  • Girart de Roussillon converted by his wife Ameline

  • Sacrificing Dolls

  • Rest on the Flight into Egypt

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth - les sorcières dansant autour

  • La Danse de fiançailles

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth - les trois sorcières

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth-10

  • Projet de frontispice pour Macbeth orné de trois têtes couronnées

  • female nude studies, a mid-body

  • Fortune

  • Truth

  • Arts for the Hôtel Goüin

  • Illustration project for the ‘ Trophées’ of José Maria de Heredia

  • Orphée from Orphée and Eurydice

  • Study for the figure of "Spring" at l'Opéra-Comique, Paris

  • Study of drapery for "sacrifice to the Fatherland"

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth-13

  • Polyeucte and Pauline

  • Pheidippides giving word of victory

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth- apparition du spectre à Macbeth

  • Joan of Arc before God

  • St. Louis, study for a painting done in 1888

  • The Family

  • Danse de fiançailles detail

  • Esmeralda and Quasimodo

  • Head of a boy singing

  • Quasimodo rescuing Esmeralda

  • Danse de fiançailles

  • Woman in contemplation

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth - les sorcières-1

  • Springtime Awakening

  • Diane

  • Croquis des sorcières interpellant Macbeth

  • Fame

  • Study for Christ

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth - entrée des sorcières

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth

  • "I adopt this child" said the priest

  • Men and women singing and playing music

  • Illustration for Notre-Dame de Paris

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth - trois sorcières assises sur la lande

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth - assassinat de Banquo

  • Projet de frontispice pour Macbeth avec un cavalier galopant, de face

  • Projet de frontispice pour Macbeth

  • Ángel labrando y Santo en Oración

  • Danse de fiançailles detail

  • Angel greeting

  • The Hunchback of Notre-Dame illustration

  • The Cid and Chimene

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth-9

  • The mother of four son of Aymon

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth - Lady Macbeth somnambule

  • Projet de frontispice pour Macbeth

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth-6

  • Studies of children

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth-7

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth - les trois sorcières agenouillées

  • Music

  • Projet de frontispice pour Macbeth

  • Young naked girl

  • The Lighting for the Celebrations

  • Frontispiece with winged woman

  • The Wolf of Agubbio

  • Tennis Court Oath, 20 juin 1789

  • Study for the Head of an Angel in Saint Isidore

  • Saint Edmund the Martyr King of England

  • The arrival at Bethlehem

  • Tapestry

  • Pan and Chimera (oil on panel)

  • Projet de frontispice pour Macbeth

  • Danse de fiançailles detail

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth-8

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth-11

  • The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

  • Judith

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth - les trois socières font la ronde

  • The Feminine Toilet

  • The Vision, Legend of the 14th Century

  • Young man head, in profile to the right

  • The big deer

  • The Annunciation

  • Eurydice from Orphée and Eurydice

  • Projet d'illustration pour Macbeth - trois sorcières courent sur la lande

  • Louis IX opens the jails of France

  • The Entry of Joan of Arc into Orleans

  • Miss Clermont and Count Melun at pavilion near Sylvie

  • In the Thick of Battle, a Melee

Membership

In 1892 Merson was elected to the Académie des beaux-arts.

• Académie des beaux-arts

  1892

Connections

Father:

Charles-Olivier Merson

Student:

Claire Shuttleworth

Student:

Martha Cunz

Student:

Clément Serveau

Student:

Henri Alphonse Barnoin

References

• Dix Contes: Illustrations de Luc-Olivier Merson, Georges Clairin, F.-H. Lucas, Cornillier, Loevy; Gravures Sur Bois de Léveillé, Ruffe, Dutheil