Juan León Mera

Juan León Mera was born in Ambato on 28 June 1832 and was raised by his mother alone; he was largely self-taught and came to Quito at twenty to learn painting with Antonio Salas. A conservative and a supporter of García Moreno, he was twice a provincial governor, a senator and a minister of the court of accounts of Quito, and in 1874, with Pedro Fermín Cevallos, he founded the Ecuadorian Academy of the Language. A poet and critic, and historian of his country's poetry, he wrote the words of the national anthem. He died in Ambato on 13 December 1894.

In the catalogue 1

• NovelCumandá: The Novel of the Ecuadorian JungleCumandá o Un drama entre salvajesJuan León Mera · 1879Literature