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Academy of Painting (Spanish: Academia de Pintura), also known as the School of Fine Arts of Santiago (Spanish: Escuela de Bellas Artesde Santiago), was a Chilean art school, founded on March 17, 1849 in Santiago, Chile.[1][2][3] Initially located in a building of the University of San Felipe, now the site of the Municipal Theater of Santiago, it underwent relocation in 1891 and adopted the name Escuela de Bellas Artes. In 1910, the institution merged with the Museo de Bellas Artes, effectively discontinuing its operations as a separate entity.[4][5] In 1932, it merged with and is now known as the Department of Visual Arts within the Arts Faculty, University of Chile.
The creation of the Academy of Painting was part of the educational plan of President Manuel Bulnes.[6] These initiatives were part of broader efforts to educate Chilean youth in diverse fields of intellectual activity, resulting in the establishment of primary schools, teacher training programs, high schools, and the University of Chile.
The promotion of various artistic disciplines continued with the founding of the School of Arts and Crafts (1849), the Conservatory of Music (1850), the introduction of architecture classes under the supervision of French architect François Brunet de Baines (1849), and the establishment of ornamentation and sculpture classes (1854) under the direction of Auguste François.
The academy was originally located in the building belonging to the San Felipe University, in what is today the Municipal Theatre of Santiago. Various changes led the academy to merge with the Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts (Spanish: Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes) in 1910, and then later to hand its administration over to the University of Chile in 1932.[6]
The academy was relocated in 1891 to a new facility on Maturana Street—between Rosas and San Pablo—and renamed the “Escuela de Bellas Artes.” In 1910, it was transferred once again to a new building in the Forest Park, adjacent to the newly established Museo de Bellas Artes.[7]
In La pintura en Chile. Desde la colonia hasta 1981, authors Gaspar Galaz and Milan Ivelic note:
The founding of the Academy of Painting was an event of great importance, marking a milestone in the history of Chilean painting. Its creation allowed artistic activity to become systematic and continuous, leading to greater complexity in the study and understanding of national painting.[8]
During this period, the academy sought a unified style in Chile, reflecting the neoclassical preferences of Ciccarelli. In Europe, academies set uniform standards and guidelines to maintain what was considered “true art.” This approach was adapted to the Chilean context, drawing on French methodologies.
Initially, the academy offered three main areas of instruction: head and limb studies, whole-figure drawing, and sculpture. The final stage included working with live models, drawing clothing from life, and studying anatomy. Over time, the curriculum and teaching staff expanded to accommodate the growing student body following the academy’s merger with the facilities of the National Institute.
The Academy of Painting produced some of Chile's first national artists. Despite the significance of the academy, some art historians criticized the early period (1849 to 1915) as one of the dullest in the history of Chilean art and have based their criticism on first Director Alejandro Ciccarelli's attempt to copy the European model of teaching art.[5]
Criticism of the academy
Despite the academy’s significance, many art critics consider this period one of the least notable in Chilean history. In Europe, easel painting had been refined over centuries, supported by numerous masters, extensive collections, and patronage throughout the continent. By contrast, Chile was in the early stages of developing its own artistic tradition, with limited local painting and a nascent national identity. Efforts to replicate European techniques without a firmly established local context proved challenging for the academy, especially during the more than two decades of leadership by its first director, Alejandro Ciccarelli.
According to the Spanish critic Antonio Romera, Ciccarelli was:
... a dogmatic and inflexible master in defending his aesthetic ideal. He lacked the flexibility and eclecticism necessary to allow students to follow the path indicated by their own sensibility, their vocation, and their internal impulses.[9]
The same author notes that Ciccarelli did not succeed in educating disciples who fully adhered to his methods. Instead, several advanced students, including Pedro Lira and Antonio Smith, parted ways and explored different artistic styles and workshops.
According to Pedro Lira, Ciccarelli’s setbacks were largely due to the limited artistic knowledge among Chilean aristocracy in the mid-19th century, with few points of reference beyond the “precursors of Chilean painting.” This environment made significant educational progress difficult and challenged the Italian’s neoclassical approach. While his rigid methods drew criticism from several students, they also introduced a neoclassical tradition in Chilean painting.
The academy's early Directors were Europeans, the Neapolitan artist Alejandro Ciccarelli;[13] the German artist Ernst Kirchbach;[13] and the Florentine Giovanni "Juan" Mochi.[6] The first Chilean to hold the Director position was Cosme San Martín.[14]
Ciccarelli's neoclassical style introduced themes previously unseen in Chile, including mythological motifs and scenes referencing ancient classical cultures.
Despite receiving instruction at the academy, many students—particularly those who achieved prominence, such as Pedro Lira and Antonio Smith—resisted Cicarelli’s teaching methods. Nevertheless, the following figures stand out among those who passed through his workshop:
Pedro Lira, described by Ricardo Bindis in Chilean Painting 200 Years as the “natural leader” of the Academy. He is often cited as the foremost of the “four great masters” of Chilean painting. Historians, including Antonio Romera, identify him as part of the “Generation of the Mid-Century.”
Antonio Smith, a Romantic painter recognized for establishing Chile’s national landscape school. He is also regarded as Chile’s first caricaturist and worked for Correo Literario.
Manuel Antonio Caro, a historical costumbrist painter considered one of the early figures in Chilean painting. Among his works are La Abdicación de O’Higgins and La Zamacueca.
Pascual Ortega, a painter known for his genre and religious subjects. His style shares notable similarities with Cicarelli’s.[18]
Onofre Jarpa, a Romantic painter noted for his landscape works and also served as a diplomat.
Cosme San Martín, a notable painter who later became the first Chilean to serve as director of the Academy.[19]
Abraham Zañartu, a painter primarily devoted to genre scenes and oil portraits.[20]
Miguel Campos, a prominent student of the Academy who distinguished himself as a draftsman in Paris.[21]
Other students included Luciano Lainez, Manuel Mena, José Castañeda, Nicolás Guzmán, Albina Elguín, and Clarisa Donoso Bascuñán. In 1866, Agustina Gutiérrez enrolled, becoming the institution’s first recorded female student.
After several years, the Neapolitan master shifted his approach, “either due to pressure from some of his disciples or as the result of personal development,”[8] incorporating elements of landscape painting into his work.
Antonio Smith was a strong critic of his instructor. In Correo Literario, he wrote:
Arrives in these beautiful regions
A painter who was a portent:he showed plaques, distinctions and medals for drawers...
But he did not show talent
Chilean artistic rebellion emerged during this director’s tenure, although its impact would not become evident until several decades later.
In 1859, by supreme decree, the Academy was granted the status of an institution of higher education and was renamed the University Section of Fine Arts, integrating the architecture and sculpture classes that had previously been taught separately. This decree also merged the Academy with facilities of the National Institute, a significant development as many students were simultaneously enrolled in both institutions.
In the same year, under the administration of President Manuel Montt, a new decree reorganized the Sculpture division, dividing it into statuary and monumental sculpture.[7][22] After two decades as director, the Italian resigned in 1869 and was succeeded by the German artist Ernesto Kirchbach.
Students of Ernesto Kirchbach (1869–1875)
Ernesto Sigismund Kirchbach was a German painter born in Dresden in 1832 and died there in 1880.[23] He began working in Chile at age 37, introducing a strict academic approach and promoting Romanticism among his students.
According to Ivelic and Galaz:
The new director operated within a limited thematic range, his primary innovation being an interest in medieval historical subjects. His technique remained within the academic tradition, strictly adhering to thematic description.
According to Pedro Lira, Kirchbach showed signs of eccentricity and nervous outbursts, making his classes unpopular among students. Nonetheless, they acknowledged his talent for painting.
Among Kirchbach’s notable students were:
Pedro Lira: A prominent Chilean painter who also studied under Cicarelli. Cosme San Martín: A painter who later became director of the Academy; he, too, was a former student of Cicarelli.
Alberto Orrego Luco: A Chilean landscape painter who has been identified by Ricardo Bindis as one of “the greatest Chilean painters of the 19th century.”
Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma: One of the four “great masters” of Chilean painting, known for introducing the trend of painting nudes in Chile.
Onofre Jarpa: A Romantic landscape painter and former student of Cicarelli. Pedro León Carmona: Regarded by Kirchbach as one of his most accomplished students. Carmona later founded both the Academia de Pintura del Círculo Católico and the Academia de Pintura de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.[24]
Students of Juan Mochi (1876-1883)
The third director of the academy was the Florentine painter Giovanni Mochi Pinx, known in Chile as Juan Mochi. He was the first to cultivate direct disciples, owing to his more innovative teaching method that emphasized guiding and encouraging students’ inherent abilities, rather than adhering strictly to the academic constraints of previous years.
Mochi was the first director to earn consistent appreciation from his students, many of whom developed distinctive personal styles under his instruction. Because his tenure overlapped with the War of the Pacific, numerous works he produced relate to that conflict.
Mochi’s innovative approach is also reflected in his own body of work. Although initially associated with Romanticism, he adopted a more realist style after arriving in Chile. Critics such as Ivelic and Galaz compare his costumbrista pieces to those of Manuel Antonio Caro, Mauricio Rugendas, and Ernesto Charton de Treville. As director, he encouraged students to experiment beyond traditional academic conventions, integrating elements of local (Creole) painting with European influences.
Several significant figures in Chilean fine arts studied under his guidance, including three of the four traditional “great masters” of Chilean painting.
Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma: An academic painter known for his portraits and depictions rooted in a strict natural representation of the subject. He is recognized as one of Chile’s four great masters of painting and also studied under Kirchbach.
Alberto Valenzuela Llanos: A landscape painter counted among the four great masters of Chilean painting, widely considered by some authors to be Chile’s most internationally awarded artist. His honors include the Knight’s Cross of the French Legion of Honor.
Juan Francisco González: A painter sometimes described as an Impressionist. His work and role as a teacher influenced movements such as the Generation of 1913 and the Montparnasse Group.
He also taught Ernesto Molina, Nicanor González Méndez, Abraham Zañartu, and the sisters Aurora Mira and Magdalena Mira, as well as Celia Castro, considered Chile’s first professional woman painter.
During Mochi’s tenure, many established Chilean artists practiced independently. Figures such as Pedro Lira and his associates, Antonio Smith with his landscape focus, Alberto Orrego Luco, Juan Francisco González, Thomas Somerscales, and his student Casanova Zenteno demonstrated that artistic development was not limited to Academy instruction. Their approach took shape under the influence of Spanish painter Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor, who provided the final impetus for what became the Generation of 1913—considered a formative stage in the emergence of a distinctly Chilean art.
Sources offer inconsistent information about the events following Mochi’s tenure, with essential dates varying across different accounts. It is known, however, that Cosme San Martín served as interim director,[25] becoming the first Chilean to hold that position. Before assuming this role, he had already taught several notable artists, including Enrique Lynch, Pablo Burchard, Marcial Plaza Ferrand, and Arturo Gordon.
In 1891, the academy was renamed the School of Fine Arts and relocated to Matucana Street.
Virginio Arias (1900-1911)
After a period marked by low enrollment and diminished activity, Virginio Arias assumed the directorship of the School of Fine Arts. The renowned Chilean sculptor successfully recruited qualified instructors and actively supported students in completing their training. One of his most notable hires was the Spanish painter Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor, who introduced elements of Goya-influenced painting into Chilean art.
In 1908, the School became part of the Universidad de Chile. In 1910, it underwent a final major transition, relocating its facilities to the recently established National Museum of Fine Arts.
The Arts Faculty, University of Chile, is an academic discipline within at the University of Chile, which is located in the capital city of Santiago. Within the Arts Faculty the following departments are represented: visual arts, dance, music, sound, theatre, and arts theory; which occupy three buildings on campus.
The Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts, located in Santiago, Chile, is one of the major centers for Chilean art and for broader South American art. Established in 1880, the organization is managed by the Artistic Union.
Pedro Francisco Lira Rencoret was a Chilean painter and art critic, who organized exhibitions that led to the establishment of the Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts. He is best known for his eclectic portraits of women.
Manuel Antonio Caro Olavarría was a Chilean painter and is classed among Chile's best-loved artists. The son of Victorino Caro y Cárcamo and Asunción de Olavarría y Sierpe, he was named Caro Olavarría. The first Chilean student to attend the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Caro's body of work included portraits and scenes of everyday life, and earned him high honors and international recognition.
Chilean art refers to all kinds of visual art developed in Chile, or by Chileans, from the arrival of the Spanish conquerors to the modern day. It also includes the native pre-Columbian pictorial expression on modern Chilean territory.
Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma, was one of Chile's best-known painters and one of the four artists known as the Great Chilean Masters.
Alberto Valenzuela Llanos, was a Chilean painter. He is among the Chile's greatest painters and one of the four Great Chilean Masters, along with Pedro Lira, Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma and Juan Francisco González. He was a landscape painter and left an estimated 1,000 paintings. Highlights of his work include paintings of the snow-topped mountains in France and views of Paris.
Juan Francisco González Escobar is known as one of the four Great Chilean Masters and as the archetypal romantic bohemian artist of the early 20th century. He was the most prolific of the Chilean masters, leaving an estimated 4,000 works, and was also notable for being one of Chile's first modern painters. He was seen as a symbol of the new creative generation that appeared in 20th century Chile, with a style highly influenced by impressionism and local elements.
Samy Mauricio Benmayor Benmayor is a Chilean painter who formed part of the Generation of '80 movement.
Generación del 13 was Chile's first painter collective. Its name derives from the year 1913, after a joint exhibition was held at the Salon of the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio in the preceding year. The group and its work are characterized by a fascination with Creole art and customs, social criticism, and portrayal of the proletariat, a subject that hitherto was not depicted in Chilean art.
Miguel Antonio Smith Irisarri was a Chilean landscape painter, engraver, caricaturist and art teacher.
Onofre Jarpa Labra was a Chilean landscape painter in the Romantic style, and an essayist on various artistic topics.
Cosme San Martín Lagunas was a Chilean painter and the first Chilean-born Director of the Academy of Painting.
Juan Mochi or, in Italian, Giovanni Mochi was an Italian painter who spent sixteen years as a Professor in Chile and influenced the artists who came to be known as the Great Chilean Masters.
Enrique Lynch del Solar was a painter of portraits, and ocean landscapes, a pioneer of the Chilean Modernist art movement. He studied painting in Paris, France at the École des Beaux-Arts with Diogène Maillart. Upon his return to Chile, he became Director of the Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts "Museo de Bellas Artes en Parque Forestal".
Aurora Mira Mena (1863–1939) was a Chilean painter. Together with her elder sister Magdalena, she was one of the earliest recognized female painters not only in Chile but in the whole of Latin America. She was also one of the first women to graduate from the Santiago School of Painting.
Magdalena Mira Mena (1859–1930) was a Chilean painter and sculptor. Together with her younger sister Aurora, she was one of the earliest recognized female painters not only in Chile but in the whole of Latin America. She was also one of the earliest women to study art at the Santiago School of Painting.
Alejandro Ciccarelli Manzoni, originally Alessandro Ciccarelli was an Italian-born Chilean painter and educator. He was the first Director of the Academy of Painting in Santiago, Chile.
Ernst Sigismund Kirchbach, or Ernesto Kirchbach was a German history and portrait painter, who served as Director of the Academy of Painting.
Dora Puelma Francino de Fuenzalida was a Chilean painter, sculptor and writer who belonged to the Generación del 13. Her work was characterized by "fidelidad a la tradición pictórica del paisaje y las técnicas de la representación que siempre defendió por sobre las tendencias abstractas que se impusieron en su época", which is why her work was included within Chilean pictorial naturalism that she approached mainly through the use of oil and watercolor techniques.
1 2 Ripamonti Montt, Valentina (2010). "Academia de Pintura en Chile: Anhelo de Cambio y Tradición Republicana". Intus-Legere Historia. 4 (1): 127–156.
1 2 3 "Academia de Pintura (1849-)". Memoria Chilena: Portal (in Spanish). Memoria Chilena, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile (National Heritage Service). Retrieved 2022-06-30.
↑ Ramírez, Verónica; Romo, Manuel; Ulloa, Carla (2017). Antología Crítica de Mujeres en la Prensa Chilena del Siglo XIX[Critical Anthology of Women in the Chilean Press 19th century] (in Spanish). Ñuñoa. ISBN978-9562609821.
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