Some questions about "the leopard" and "Notable american women"

This questions were stated by me, after the reading of extracts from both texts, presented in page 272 and 273 from our Course Companion book. 

First, the questions for "The leopard":


Why does the author gives such a detailed description of the setting ?
Why he uses mythology characters and features ?
 Why in his description he makes this paintings seem like they are alive?

Questions for "Notable american women":

What does "father of distinction" means in THIS text ?
Why does the author mention himself in the text ?
About the question before, why the narrator mentions the capacity of the author to change everything in the text ?