: The Dahesh Museum, currently under renovation, will reopen in
September 3 with the exhibit "French Artists in Rome: Ingres to
Degas, 1803-1873," on view through November 2.
In 1666, Louis XIV founded the French Academy in Rome in order to
provide French artists with an opportunity to study in this great
repository of Western civilization. In 1803, the institution
moved to the Villa Medici where it is still active today. To
commemorate this bicentennial, the Académie de France à Rome has
organized a major exhibition about French artists working in the
Eternal City from 1803 until 1873.
The museum proud to present a major selection from this
exhibition in order to celebrate the opening of its new home. The
exhibition contains some 120 major paintings, sculptures and
drawings by artists such as Ingres, David d'Angers, Corot,
Granet, Vernet, Carpeaux, Cabanel, Navez, Géricault, Moreau,
Degas, and many more.
As a museum dedicated to Nineteenth Century academic art, there
could hardly be a more appropriate exhibition than this one,
which investigates the important rite of passage that generations
of French artists experienced by living and working in Rome.
After students at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris won the
prestigious Prix de Rome competition, they were awarded a
residency of up to five years at the Villa Medici, paid for by
the French government. This Roman sojourn was supposed to immerse
the artist in the great heritage of Ancient and Renaissance
masters and intended to nurture the future generations that would
continue this revered tradition.
Rome had already inspired artists for centuries. It was
traditionally a place of formation as well as a point of
departure for many an artistic career. In order to better
understand the French Academy's role within the artistic milieu
in 19th-century France, the exhibition not only examines the
unifying links between pensionnaires (the resident student
artists) and directors at the Villa Medici, but also explores
contacts with visiting artists, as well as with those who had
chosen Rome as their primary residence.
A communal spirit was not only fostered by the evening academy
drawing sessions that were introduced by Ingres, but also by
excursions into the countryside in order to paint from nature.
The exhibition further demonstrates how the French Academy,
despite its strict rules and regulations, allowed for a great
variety in artistic creation. The works on display show a
stylistic evolution from Ingres' academism of the 1840s towards
the eclecticism of the 1860s and beyond.
An extensive French language catalogue, edited by Olivier
Bonfait, under the title Maesta di Roma. D'Ingres à Degas. Les
artistes français à Rome (Electa, Milan, 2003), will be
available for sale. This 616-page catalogue of the original show
in Rome contains several introductory articles as well as
scholarly entries on each work of art, and is fully illustrated.
There will also be an English language handbook for the New York
version of the exhibition.
The museum, at 580 Madison Avenue, may be reached in September
at 212-759-0606, or anytime at www.daheshmuseum.org.
