[3] His artworks inspired French writer Jules Verne's 1852 short story "Martin Paz," which was set in Lima, Peru and begins with a summarization of Merino's life and art.

His mother Doña Micaela María Muñoz, was from a wealthy aristocratic family in Trujillo, descending from maternal ancestry in both Spanish and Peruvian nobility.

[6] Upon returning to Paris, he produced 92 wood engravings for a luxury 1854 edition of Esteban Terralla y Landa's [es] 1797 satire Lima por dentro y fuera, collaborating with Parisian printer A. Mézin and draftsman A.

[7] It was there he created his best-known painting, Colón ante los doctores en Salamanca, which was purchased by the government of President José Balta after winning a third-place medal at the "Exposition des Beaux-Arts".

[citation needed] This included 33 paintings which, in 1925, were the first acquisitions of the newly founded Ignacio Merino Municipal Art Gallery [es], which continues to operate as of 2023.