The formation of knowledge and taste Prosper Mérimée as observer of medieval monuments

Trying to get beyond the alleged opposition between Greek arts and Gothic arts in Mérimée’s aesthetic vision, this essay examines his analyses of medieval monuments that began in 1834, contextualizing them in relation to the architectural and archaeological knowledge inherited from the French and English eighteenth century to better highlight the epistemological dynamics that underlie Mérimée’s nuanced approach to the arts of the Middle Ages.