The French Academy in Rome (, ) is an

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

located in the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic ...

, within the Villa Borghese, on the

Pincio The Pincian Hill ( ; ) is a hill in the northeast quadrant of the historical centre of Rome. The hill lies to the north of the Quirinal, overlooking the Campus Martius. It was outside the original boundaries of the ancient city of Rome, and wa ...

(Pincian Hill) in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy.

History

The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1666 by

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

under the direction of

Jean-Baptiste Colbert Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the countr ...

Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun (; baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French Painting, painter, Physiognomy, physiognomist, Aesthetics, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. He served as a court painter to Louis XIV, ...

and

Gian Lorenzo Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, ; ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 1598 – 28 November 1680) was an Italians, Italian sculptor and Italian architect, architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prom ...

. The Academy was from the 17th to 19th centuries the culmination of study for select French artists who, having won the prestigious

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

(Rome Prize), were honored with a 3, 4 or 5-year scholarship (depending on the art discipline they followed) in the Eternal City for the purpose of the study of art and architecture. Such scholars were and are known as ''pensionnaires de l'Académie'' (Academy pensioners). One recipient of the scholarship in the 17th century was

Pierre Le Gros the Younger Pierre Le Gros (12 April 1666 Paris – 3 May 1719 Rome) was a French sculptor, active almost exclusively in Baroque Rome where he was the pre-eminent sculptor for nearly two decades.Gerhard Bissell, ''Pierre le Gros, 1666–1719'', Reading ...

. The Academy was housed in the Palazzo Capranica until 1737, and then in the

Palazzo Mancini The Palazzo Mancini is a palazzo in Rome, Italy.Guerci, M. (2011) ''Palazzo Mancini''. Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Rome, 320 pp. From 1737 to 1793 it was the second home of the French Academy in Rome. It is located on Via del Co ...

from 1737 to 1793. The Scottish artists Alexander Clerk,

Allan Ramsay Allan Ramsay may refer to: *Allan Ramsay (poet) or Allan Ramsay the Elder (1686–1758), Scottish poet *Allan Ramsay (artist) Allan Ramsay (13 October 171310 August 1784) was a Scottish portrait Painting, painter. Life and career Ramsay w ...

and Alexander Cunyngham enrolled as day students at the Academy during this period. In 1803

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

moved it to the Villa Medici, with the intention of perpetuating an institution once threatened by the French Revolution and, thus, of retaining for young French artists the opportunity to see and copy the masterpieces of the Antiquity or the Renaissance and send back to Paris their "envois de Rome", the results of the inspiration they had gained in Rome. These "envois" were annual works, sent to Paris to be judged, and were a compulsory requirement for all the pensionaries. Portrait of Merry-Joseph Blondel

At first, the villa and its gardens were in a sad state and had to be renovated to house the winners of the Prix de Rome. The competition was interrupted during the first World War, and

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his overthrow in 194 ...

confiscated the villa in 1941, forcing the academy of France in Rome to withdraw to Nice then to

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

until 1945. The competition and Prix de Rome were eliminated in 1968 by

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...

(the last Grand Prix for architecture came to an end as early as 1967, the events of 1968 preventing its continuation). The

Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

in Paris and the

Institut de France The ; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the . It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institute manages approximately ...

then lost their guardianship of the Villa Medici to the Ministry of the Culture and the State. From that time on, the boarders no longer belonged solely to the traditional disciplines (painting, sculpture, architecture, medal-engraving, precious-stone engraving, musical composition) but also to new or previously neglected artistic fields (art history, archaeology, literature, stagecraft, photography, movies, video, restoration,

writing Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

and even cookery). These artists-in-residence are known as ''pensionnaires.'' The French word ‘pension’ refers to the room and board these generally young and promising artists receive. The artists are no longer recruited by a competition but by application, and their stays vary from six to eighteen months and even, more rarely, two years. Between 1961 and 1967, the artist

Balthus Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his ima ...

, then at the head of the Academy, carried out a vast restoration campaign of the palace and its gardens, providing them with modern equipment. Balthus participated "hands on" in all the phases of the construction. Where the historic décor had disappeared, Balthus proposed personal alternatives. He invented a décor that was a homage to the past and, at the same time, radically contemporary: The mysterious melancholic decor he created for Villa Medici has become, in turn, historic and was undergoing an important restoration campaign in 2016. Work continued under the direction of director,

Richard Peduzzi Richard Peduzzi (born 1943 in Argentan, Orne) is a French scenographer. He was the director of the French Academy in Rome from September 2002 to August 2008. Since 1969, he has decorated the sets designed by Patrice Chéreau, and together they h ...

, and the Villa Medici resumed organizing exhibitions and shows created by its artists in residence. Under director Frédéric Mitterrand the Academy opened up its guest rooms to the general public at times when they are not used by pensionnaires or other official guests.

List of directors

Many famous artists have been director of the Academy: * 1666–1672: Charles Errard * 1673–1675:

Noël Coypel Noël Coypel (; 25 December 1628 – 24 December 1707) was a French Painting, painter, and was also called Coypel le Poussin, because he was heavily influenced by Poussin. Biography His father, Guyon Coypel, was an unsuccessful artist, original ...

* 1675–1684: Charles Errard * 1684–1699: Matthieu de La Teullière * 1699–1704:

René-Antoine Houasse René-Antoine Houasse (c. 1645–1710) was a decorative French painter. He was a pupil of Charles Le Brun, under whose direction he worked at the Manufacture des Gobelins, and with whom he worked on the decoration of the Château de Versailles ...

* 1704–1725: Charles-François Poerson * 1725–1737: Nicolas Vleughels * 1737–1738: Pierre de L'Estache * 1738–1751: Jean-François de Troy * 1751–1775:

Charles-Joseph Natoire Charles-Joseph Natoire (3 March 1700 – 23 August 1777) was a French painter in the Rococo manner, a pupil of François Lemoyne and director of the French Academy in Rome, 1751–1775. Considered during his lifetime the equal of François Bou ...

* 1775 : Noël Hallé * 1775–1781: Joseph-Marie Vien * 1781–1787: Louis Jean François Lagrenée * 1787–1792: François-Guillaume Ménageot * 1792–1807: Joseph-Benoît Suvée * 1807 : Pierre-Adrien Pâris * 1807–1816:

Guillaume Guillon Lethière Guillaume may refer to: People * Guillaume (given name), the French equivalent of William * Guillaume (surname), the French equivalent of Williams Places * Guillaume (crater), Moon, Earth-Moon System, Solar System * Guillaumes, Vence, Nice, Alpes ...

* 1816–1823:

Charles Thévenin Charles Thévenin (12 July 1764 – 28 February 1838) was a neoclassical French painter, known for heroic scenes from the time of the French Revolution and First French Empire. Biography Born in Paris, the son of a court architect, Charles stud ...

* 1823–1828:

Pierre-Narcisse Guérin Pierre-Narcisse, baron Guérin (13 March 1774 – 6 July 1833) was a French painter, born in Paris. Biography A pupil of Jean-Baptiste Regnault, he carried off one of the three ''grands prix'' offered in 1796, in consequence of the competitio ...

* 1829–1834:

Horace Vernet Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (; 30 June 178917 January 1863) more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects. Biography Early career Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another famo ...

* 1835–1840:

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

* 1841–1846: Jean-Victor Schnetz * 1847–1852: Jean Alaux * 1853–1866: Jean-Victor Schnetz * 1866–1867: Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury * 1867–1873: Ernest Hébert * 1873–1878: Jules Eugène Lenepveu * 1879–1884:

Louis-Nicolas Cabat Louis-Nicolas Cabat (6 December 1812, Paris – 13 March 1893, Paris) was a French landscape painter. He was one of the most illustrious students of Camille Flers. He drew notice for his exhibits at the Salon of 1833. A member of the Accadem ...

* 1885–1890: Ernest Hébert * 1891–1904: Jean-Baptiste-Claude-Eugène Guillaume * 1905–1910: Charles-Emile-Auguste Durand, a.k.a.

Carolus-Duran Charles Auguste Émile Durand, known as Carolus-Duran (4 July 1837 – 17 February 1917), was a French painter and art instructor. He is noted for his stylish depictions of members of Upper class, high society in French Third Republic, Third Rep ...

* 1913–1921: Albert Besnard * 1921–1933: Denys Puech * 1933–1937: Paul-Maximilien Landowski * 1937–1960:

Jacques Ibert Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert (15 August 1890 – 5 February 1962) was a French composer of 20th-century classical music, classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoir ...

* 1961–1977: Comte Balthazar Klossowski de Rola, a.k.a.

* 1979–1985: Jean Leymarie * 1985–1994: Jean-Marie Drot * 1994–1997: Pierre-Jean Angremy, a.k.a. Pierre-Jean Rémy * 1997–2002: Bruno Racine * 2002–2008:

* 2008–2009: Frédéric Mitterrand * 2009–2015: Eric de Chassey * 2015–2018: Muriel Mayette-Holtz * 2020–present: Sam Stourdzé

Notes

External links

*
Google Map
{{DEFAULTSORT:French Academy In Rome Art schools in Italy French art Foreign academies in Rome 1666 establishments in the Papal States

History

List of directors

See also

Notes

External links