ECOLE DES BEAUX-ARTS, ATM' dII 1)5' z:ft' (properly ECOLE FT SPECTALE DES BEAUX-ARTS). The national school of the fine arts in Era nee, probably the most important institution of the kind in the world. It was founded in 164g, coincidently with the Acadionie Royale de Pent ture et de Sculpture. as the academic school where each professor in turn gave instruction in drawing. It did not receive its official title until 1793. Since then the only changes have been in the form of its administration. In ISIS the Aeadionie. des Beaux-Arts was given its present name, and in 1863 the outside ateliers. which are practically workshops, were added to the main Eeole. The Academy judges the yearly competition for the Prix de Rome (q.v.). directs the Academy at Rome, and has charge of the Eeole generally. The Academy of Architecture was annexed to the Academy of and Sculpture in 1671, with Franeois Blonde' as its first professor. and was incorporated into the Avad(onie des Beaux-Arts in 179:3. The School of Arehiteetnre is one of the most impor tant branches of the Eeole des Beaux-Arts. In 1666 the Prix de Rome was instituted, and in the same year the Aemblmie de Frantic at Po ntle ryas established by Colbert. with the practical assistance of Charles Errard (q.v.), its first director. By the study of the antique the stu dent perfects himself in limn and line, and attains that skill in drawing, and composition for which the Eeole has always stood, even to the detriment of color. and which. inure than any other factor, has influenced French art. The site of the Academy slice 1803 has been the Villa Medici, on the Pincian The courses in drawing, painting. sculpture. architecture. engraving. modbling. and gem-ent ting at the Fettle des Beaux ,Arts are free to both 111(•11 and women between the ages of fifteen and thirty. Foreigners, not being eligible for the Prix de Rome, are not subject to the age regulation. The student who passes the exam inations in any one of the courses must already have had experience in some special branch of art. The whole system of teaching at the Ecole
is by means of competitions, and the grade ob tained in these marks the student's relative ad van•ement. The outside ateliers are in charge of the professors or 'patrons,' and in order to enter these the student pays a small fee. Sonic of his work is required to be done en loge, hut much may lie worked up in the ateliers. The regular course is nominally from eight to ten years, but a student may remain as long or short is time as he pleases, provided he visit the school twice a year. in order to keep his name on the rolls. The whole number of students in the school is approximately 1300, most of whom are French. The number of Americans who enter is larger than that of any other foreign nation, and the influence of the Ecole on American art and artists has been very great. The teachers, of whom there are 2S in the Ecole proper and 11 in the ateliers. are selected front among the most celebrated French artists. But they are paid a purely nominal fee. the equivalent of $240 in our money, for work which takes them two half-days each week of the school year.
The des Beaux-Arts, the home of the ]dole, on the Quai Malaquais, was begun by De bret in 1820 and finished] by Duhan in 1863. It contains a noted collection of copies of famous paintings made by the winners of the Prix de Rome; casts of statues and models I if ancient buildings; drawings by old masters: the cycle of Delaroehe (q.v.). Consult: Dela horde. I COVOI ie des Beaux-Arts IS91 ) ; Landau, ,Imeafes dot ef de rreofe I/of/erne tics Bellux-Aris (Paris, 1802 et seq.) Stranahan, History of French, Paitaing (New York, 1898) Lenoir. Histoirc ticsarts en trance (Paris, ltill) ; Penarun, Roux, and De laire, Le.c architcr•cs f'leres dr 1Terdc ales Beaux ( Taris, 15951 ; Architectural Record ( Beaux Arts No., January. 1901) Flagg, "Ecole des Beaux-Arts." Architectural Record, vol. iii.