Term applied to the premier student prize awarded by the
successive state-sponsored academies in Paris. The successful
painter, sculptor or architect was able to study at the
Académie de France in Rome for three to five years.
The Prix de Rome originated in two competitions for drawing
held in 1663 at the Académie Royale de Peinture et
de Sculpture to stimulate rivalry between pupils and thereby
invigorate the Académie's ailing teaching system.
In 1664 Jean-Baptiste Colbert overhauled the Académie's
statutes. Article XXIV stipulated that an annual prize was
to be awarded for representations of 'the heroic actions
of the King': the initial 'Prix Royal' was won by Pierre
Mosnier with Jason Capturing the Golden Fleece (Paris, Ecole
N. Sup. B.-A.), in which Louis XIV is shown as Jason.
There was no connection between the prize and the city of
Rome until 1666, when the 'Académie de France à
Rome' was established so that students might study approved
examples of Classical and Renaissance art and produce high-quality
copies of paintings and sculpture to be sent back to France
to decorate the royal palaces. Thus, copying was from the
start a major part of a pensionnaire's duties. The Grand
Prix de Rome Architecture, which provided similar opportunities,
was founded in 1720 by the Académie Royale d'Architecture.
Provision was made for six painters, four sculptors and
two architects to stay in Rome, although the inferior status
of sculpture is indicated by the failure to appoint a single
sculptor as Director of the Académie de France. During
the 19th century, by which time responsibility had passed
to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, numbers were increased
to 20. The prizes continued to be awarded until 1968.
Under the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture,
the fortunes of the Prix went through various stages: a
glorious era that lasted until Colbert's death in 1683,
a period of stagnation and decline until the mid-18th century
and a revival during the Neo-classical age. From 1674 subjects
for the Prix were always taken from the Bible or ancient
history, and the title 'Prix Royal' ceased. The status of
the Prix became closely linked to official attitudes to
history painting. As Chancellor of the Académie (1663-90),
Charles LeBrun exercised considerable influence over the
conduct of the competition. In 1674 a preliminary trial,
consisting of a study from a male model, was introduced
to weed out weaker competitors. The finalists, numbering
ten at most, then had ten weeks to complete their works,
which had to measure 1.14×1.46 m each. Each competitor
had a small competition cell (loge) that would ensure secrecy
and prevent cheating. Except for such minor adjustments
as the introduction in 1768 of another preliminary test,
a painted sketch of a historical subject known as an académie,
the operation of the Prix changed little over the next hundred
years. During this time the prize became known as 'le Grand
Prix' or 'le Prix de Rome'. Conditions for its award reached
their lowest point during the first two decades of the 18th
century. In 1701 all entries were declared too weak, and
the award was temporarily suspended. Lack of funds caused
the competition to be cancelled in 1706-8, 1714 and 1718-20.
This decline can be linked to a change in academic doctrine
and a belief that it was unnecessary for the winner to work
in Rome. A corresponding decline in the status of history
painting had ramifications that were felt in the teaching
system.
Changes in official policy through the Direction des Bâtiments
du Roi led to the rejuvenation of history painting and of
the Prix after 1750. State patronage was now ensured for
the tremendous expenses involved in history painting, encouraging
young artists to compete. From the late 1760s to the French
Revolution almost every notable Neo-classical painter in
France won the Prix: François-André Vincent
(1768), Joseph-Benoît Suvée (1771), David (1774),
Jean-Baptiste Regnault (1776), Jean-Germain Drouais (1784)
and Anne-Louis Girodet (1789). Of these, Drouais' success
was the most spectacular and critically acclaimed. David
and his followers played a major role in the history of
the Prix. He encouraged his pupils to compete, and this
resulted in fierce rivalry among them, culminating in 1787,
when François-Xavier Fabre denounced Girodet for
cheating. A year earlier, the Académie had annulled
the Prix, detecting a 'similarity of styles' among the entries.
The 'style' in question was undoubtedly that learnt from
David.
When the Académie was abolished in 1793, the Prix
was not totally eradicated. It was at first transformed
into a travel scholarship and was then reinstated in 1797,
after the Institut de France and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
had replaced the Académie and its school. Owing to
political uncertainties, however, trips to Rome were not
guaranteed. David's pupils again assumed dominance: Fulchran-Jean
Harriet won the prize in 1798, Ingres in 1801 and Joseph-Denis
Odevaere in 1804. In fact, from 1784 until about 1820 most
winners were pupils from the studios of David, Regnault
or Vincent: Antoine-Jean Gros and Girodet had studied with
David, Pierre Guérin with Regnault and later François-Edouard
Picot with Vincent and David. Under the Institut, entry
for the Prix was open to unmarried Frenchmen under the age
of 30. Each candidate had first to paint a trial sketch
and then an académie, after which eight or ten students
were selected to pass into the final competition. They were
set a historical subject and had 72 days to complete their
picture. In 1816 another prize for painting was inaugurated,
this time for historical landscape. It was first awarded
in 1817, then only once every four years until 1863.
Developments in the framework of French art influenced the
status of the Prix. Certain artists-Delacroix for example-did
not bother to compete, and many critics questioned the relevance
of such a prize. By 1840 the system of competition based
on the categories of Classical, mythological and biblical
subjects was somewhat dated, and in 1863 Viollet-Le-Duc
observed that the quality of the painted entries was getting
weaker and that all semblance of originality had been lost.
Despite these shortcomings, the Prix was still a key stage
in the development of the careers of almost every major
academic artist and was an important proving ground for
such future artistes pompiers as Alexandre Cabanel, who
won second place in 1845, and William Bouguereau, who won
in 1850. Gradually, the Prix was viewed as an irrelevant
anachronism. In the 20th century the winning entries were
conservative, owing in part to their subject-matter. As
late as 1933 and 1934, Susanna and the Elders and Ulysses
and Calypso were being set. It was not until 1961 that an
abstract painting won the prize: the Marriage of Heaven
and Earth (Paris, Ecole N. Sup. B.-A.) by Joel Moulin (b
1935). By then, the Prix was thought to have outlived its
usefulness, although it continued to exist until 1968, when
André Malraux, Minister of State for Cultural Affairs,
finally abolished it.
The 'golden age' of the Prix de Rome was undoubtedly that
of the late 18th century and early 19th, a time when history
painting was encouraged and an elaborate and competitive
studio system was in operation. At its best, the Prix stimulated
emulation and rivalry among gifted and precocious pupils
whose training had been geared to winning this honour. But
with shifts in the dynamics of patronage and taste, the
days of the Prix were numbered.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Lemaistre: L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts dessinée et
racontée par un élève (Paris, 1889)
C. Saunier: Les Grands Prix (Paris, 1896)
Les Cinquante Derniers Premiers Grands Prix de Rome (exh.
cat., Antibes, Mus. Picasso, 1977)
D. D. Egbert: The Beaux-Arts Tradition in French Architecture,
Illustrated by the Grands Prix de Rome (Princeton, 1980)
A. M. Wagner: 'Learning to Sculpt in the Nineteenth Century:
An Introduction', The Romantics to Rodin: French Nineteenth
Century Sculpture (exh. cat., ed. H. W. Janson and P. Fusco;
Los Angeles, CA, Co. Mus. A., 1980), pp. 9-20
P. Grunchec: Les Concours des Prix de Rome de 1797 à
1863, 2 vols (Paris, 1983-9)
S. Lee: Jacques-Louis David and the Prix de Rome (diss.,
U. Reading, 1984)
The Grand Prix de Rome: Paintings from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts,
1797-1863 (exh. cat. by P. Grunchec, Washington, DC, N.
Acad. Des.; Richmond, VA, Mus. F.A.; Indianapolis, IN, Mus.
A.; and elsewhere; 1984-5)
