British Academy of Arts in Rome

Last updated

The British Academy of Arts in Rome was an art school established by a group of British artists in Rome in 1821, and put on a more formal basis in 1823. It closed in 1936.

Contents

History

The Academy had its origins in the community of British artists working in Rome, which had existed since the late 18th century, although its activities were disrupted by the Napoleonic wars. [1] The Academy initially came into being in 1821 [2] and was put onto a more formal footing in 1823, largely through the efforts of Joseph Severn, an English art student who had arrived in Italy in 1820 in the company of his friend, the poet John Keats, who was dying of tuberculosis. [1] Severn set about raising funds for the new institution from various patrons, including the British Ambassador to Naples, William Richard Hamilton (1777-1859, not to be confused with the famous William Hamilton, at that date already dead), who contributed £100, and advised him to open an "Academy investment fund". [1] Severn contacted the President of the Royal Academy in London, Sir Thomas Lawrence for assistance. Although Lawrence declined any suggestion that the new body in Rome should be formally set up under the auspices the Royal Academy, he arranged for it to contribute some financial aid, donated to its funds personally and recruited other patrons. He also secured the backing of the king, George IV, who gave £200 and officially approved the use of the name 'The British Academy of Arts in Rome'. [1]

The Academy was managed by a committee of seven artists. In its first year, 1823, the committee consisted of Charles Eastlake, Seymour Kirkup, Richard Evans, John Bryant Lane, and Richard Westmacott, Junior, as well as Severn himself. [3] To house the Academy, Severn rented premises, comprising six rooms, at 18 Via Sant' Isidoro, which doubled as his own home and studio. [3]

The members of the Academy gathered in the evenings. There were sessions of life drawing, and opportunities to study anatomy. [3] Artists associated with the Academy in its early years included J. M. W. Turner, who stayed with Eastlake when he visited Italy in 1829, and George Richmond, who became involved with it in 1838. [3]

The Academy did not attract a great deal of public attention. In 1845 The Art-Union noted that "save to those who have resided in Rome, it is not generally known that there exists in that city any British Academy of Art", [2] and in 1864 Stephen Watson Fullom wrote

It is a poor substitute for the French Academy, and falls very short of its effect. That institution has been a home to most of the French artists, who there were fellow-pupils, and moulded into a brotherhood. But the English meet only occasionally, and part as strangers or rivals. [4]

Political troubles in Italy, began to limit the number of British artists interested in staying in Rome for any length of time, and Severn himself drifted away from the Academy, having become involved in diplomatic activities, eventually becoming British Consul. [3]

In 1861 the British Academy of Arts in Rome became the subject of interest to a Royal Commission, set up primarily to inquire into the running of the Royal Academy in London. It approved suggestions that a small branch of the Royal Academy could be set up in Rome, but made no recommendation that the existing Academy in Rome could be incorporated into it. [5]

During the later part of the 19th century the Academy, rehoused in an backstreet, fell further into obscurity, until it had something of a revival in 1895, when it moved to premises at 53B, Via Margutta. Under new rules, the British ambassador became, ex officio, the chairman of the Academy Committee. Italian artists were now encouraged to attend, and women were admitted. [6]

In 1911 the Academy was sidelined when the British School at Rome was established, funded by the Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition and developed out of the British School of Archaeology at Rome, which had been set up ten years earlier. [7]

For the last 25 years of its existence the Academy's 'Honorary Director' was the Maltese sculptor Antonio Sciortino, who gave lessons in sculpture and headed the Academy unpaid. [7] Amongst his innovations was to involve students from other countries in the British Commonwealth. The Academy was eventually closed due to increasing political tensions between Britain and Italy over the invasion of Abyssinia. In January 1936 all activities were 'indefinitely suspended' as a result of Fascist harassment and a consequent fall in student numbers. A box containing its archives was deposited with the British consulate, but could not later be traced. [8]

Related Research Articles

Joseph Severn English painter

Joseph Severn was an English portrait and subject painter and a personal friend of the famous English poet John Keats. He exhibited portraits, Italian genre, literary and biblical subjects, and a selection of his paintings can today be found in some of the most important museums in London, including the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate Britain.

Joseph Nollekens 18th-century British sculptor

Joseph Nollekens R.A. was a sculptor from London generally considered to be the finest British sculptor of the late 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Roberts (painter)</span> Scottish orientalist painter

David Roberts was a Scottish painter. He is especially known for The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia, a prolific series of detailed lithograph prints of Egypt and the Near East that he produced from sketches he made during long tours of the region (1838–40). These and his large oil paintings of similar subjects made him a prominent Orientalist painter. He was elected as a Royal Academician in 1841.

William Henry Hunt (painter) English painter

William Henry Hunt, was an English watercolourist. Hunt was "one of the key figures in nineteenth-century English watercolour painting. His work was extensively collected in his lifetime, particularly his genre pictures of children, often in humorous situations, and his detailed, naturalistic still lifes of fruit, flowers, and birds' nests that earned him the nickname ‘Bird’s Nest’ Hunt."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Williams Leader</span> English painter

Benjamin Williams Leader was an English landscape painter.

Francesco Hayez Italian painter (1791–1882)

Francesco Hayez was an Italian painter. He is considered one of the leading artists of Romanticism in mid-19th-century Milan, and is renowned for his grand historical paintings, political allegories, and portraits.

Frederick Yeates Hurlstone British artist

Frederick Yeates Hurlstone was an English portrait and historical painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Lock Eastlake</span> British painter

Sir Charles Lock Eastlake was a British painter, gallery director, collector and writer of the 19th century. After a period as keeper, he was the first director of the National Gallery.

John Partridge (artist) British artist and portrait painter (1789–1872)

John Partridge was a British artist and portrait painter. Named 'portrait painter-extraordinary' to Queen Victoria, his pictures depict many of the notable figures of his time.

Jean Alaux French painter (1786–1864)

Jean Alaux, called "le Romain", was a French history painter and Director of the French Academy in Rome from 1846 to 1852.

Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar

Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar was a British art collector.

Thomas Uwins English painter

Thomas Uwins was a British portrait, subject, genre and landscape painter, and a book illustrator. He became a full member of the Old Watercolour Society and a Royal Academician, and held a number of high-profile art appointments including librarian of the Royal Academy, Surveyor of Pictures to Queen Victoria and Keeper of the National Gallery.

Hans Jørgen Hammer

Hans Jørgen Hammer was a genre, landscape, and portrait painter and printmaker of the Golden Age of Danish painting. In addition, he served for eleven years as a military officer.

Robert Finch was an English antiquary. He lived in Italy for many years, where he was on the periphery of the Shelley circle and was a friend and patron to a number of British expatriate artists. He left his library, pictures, coins, and medals to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Evans (portrait painter)</span> English painter

Richard Evans (1784–1871), was an English portrait-painter and copyist, a pupil and later assistant of Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Jacob George Strutt British landscape painter and engraver

Jacob George Strutt was a British portrait and landscape painter and engraver in the manner of John Constable. He was the husband of the writer Elizabeth Strutt, and father of the painter, traveller and archaeologist Arthur John Strutt.

William Charles Thomas Dobson English painter

William Charles Thomas Dobson was an English painter.

Scottish art in the nineteenth century Scottish visual art

Scottish art in the nineteenth century is the body of visual art made in Scotland, by Scots, or about Scottish subjects. This period saw the increasing professionalisation and organisation of art in Scotland. Major institutions founded in this period included the Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland, the Royal Scottish Academy of Art, the National Gallery of Scotland, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Glasgow Institute. Art education in Edinburgh focused on the Trustees Drawing Academy of Edinburgh. Glasgow School of Art was founded in 1845 and Grays School of Art in Aberdeen in 1885.

Scottish art in the eighteenth century Scottish visual art

Scottish art in the eighteenth century is the body of visual art made in Scotland, by Scots, or about Scottish subjects, in the eighteenth century. This period saw development of professionalisation, with art academies were established in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Art was increasingly influenced by Neoclassicism, the Enlightenment and towards the end of the century by Romanticism, with Italy becoming a major centre of Scottish art.

Mary Alexandra Bell Eastlake was a Canadian painter most notable for her portraits of women and children, as well as a jewelry designer and producer.

References

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.