Juan León Mera

Juan León Mera Martínez (June 28, 1832 – December 13, 1894) was an Ecuadorian essayist, novelist, politician and painter. His best-known works are the Ecuadorian National Hymn and the novel Cumandá (1879). Additionally, in his political career, he was a functionary of president Gabriel García Moreno.

He was born on Ambato on June 28, 1832 and died in the same city on December 13, 1894. His father, Pedro Antonio Mera Gómez was a businessman while his mother Josefa Martínez Vásconez, raised her only son alone due to the fact that he abandoned her during her pregnancy. His infancy was humble while during his first years of life he lived at the “Los Molinos” country property, located in Ambato. In order to support the family his maternal grandmother rented the property to her brother Pablo Vásconez, who was a political activist who fought against the politics of Juan José Flores. León Mera received his education at home, which in large part was carried out by great-uncle as well as his uncle Nicolás Martínez who was a doctor. At the age of twenty he traveled to Quito to study painting with the noted pictural artist Antonio Salas, where he learned how to paint oil and watercolor. At the age of 33, he and Antonio Neumane created the Ecuadorian National Hymn, "salve, Oh patria". Juan Leon Mera's son José Trajano Mera (1862 – 1919) became a poet, playwright and diplomat,