Prix de Rome
The Prix de Rome (pronounced [pʁi də ʁɔm]) or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them to stay in Rome for three to five years at the expense of the state. The prize was extended to architecture in 1720, music in 1803 and engraving in 1804. The prestigious award was abolished in 1968 by André Malraux, then Minister of Culture, following the May 68 riots that called for cultural change.
History
The Prix de Rome was initially created for painters and sculptors in 1663 in France, during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists having proved their talents by completing a very difficult elimination contest. To succeed, a student had to create a sketch on an assigned topic while isolated in a closed booth with no reference material to draw on. The prize, organised by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture), was open to their students. From 1666, the award winner could win a stay of three to five years at the Palazzo Mancini in Rome at the expense of the King of France. In 1720, the Académie Royale d’Architecture began a prize in architecture. Six painters, four sculptors, and two architects would be sent to the French Academy in Rome founded by Jean-Baptiste Colbert from 1666.
Expanded after 140 years into five categories, the contest started in 1663 as two categories: painting and sculpture. Architecture was added in 1720. In 1803, music was added, and after 1804 there was a prix for engraving as well. The primary winner took the "First Grand Prize" (called the agréé), and the "Second Prizes" were awarded to the runners-up.
In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte moved the French Academy in Rome to the Villa Medici, with the intention of preserving an institution once threatened by the French Revolution. At first, the villa and its gardens were in a sad state, and they had to be renovated in order to house the winners of the Prix de Rome. In this way, he hoped to retain for young French artists the opportunity to see and copy the masterpieces of antiquity and the Renaissance.
Jacques-Louis David, having failed to win the prize three years in a row, considered suicide. Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Ernest Chausson, and Maurice Ravel attempted the Prix de Rome but did not gain recognition. Ravel tried a total of five times to win the prize, and the last failed attempt in 1905 was so controversial that it led to a complete reorganization of the administration at the Paris Conservatory.
During World War II (1939–45), the prize winners were accommodated in the Villa Paradiso in Nice. The Prix de Rome was abolished in 1968 by André Malraux, who was Minister of Culture at the time. Since then, a number of contests have been created, and the academies, together with the Institut de France, were merged by the State and the Minister of Culture. Selected residents now have an opportunity for study during an 18-month (sometimes 2-year) stay at The Academy of France in Rome, which is accommodated in the Villa Medici.
The heyday of the Prix de Rome was during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It was later imitated by the Prix Abd-el-Tif and the Villa Abd-el-Tif in Algiers, 1907–1961, and later Prix d'Indochine including a bursary to visit the École des Beaux-Arts de l'Indochine in Hanoi, 1920–1939, and bursary for residence at the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid, 1929–present.
Winners in the Architecture category
The Prix de Rome for Architecture was created in 1720.
18th century (architecture)
Year | Premier Prix | Deuxième Prix | Troisieme Prix | Competition project |
---|---|---|---|---|
1720 | Antoine Deriset | An entry to a Doric palace | ||
1721 | Philippe Buache | Guillot-Aubry | Jean Pinard | A plan of a church measuring 20 toises [40 metres] square |
1722 | Jean-Michel Chevotet | Jolivet | A triumphal arch | |
1723 | Jean Pinard | Pierre Mouret | A mansion for a great nobleman | |
1724 | Jean-Pierre Le Tailleur de Boncourt | Pierre-Étienne Le Bon | A high altar for a cathedral | |
1725 | Pierre-Étienne Le Bon | Clairet | A convent church | |
1726 | François Carlier | Aufrane | Clairet | A portal of a church |
1727 | François Gallot | Joseph Eustache de Bourge | Pierre Mouret | A mansion for a great nobleman |
1728 | Antoine-Victor Desmarais | Joseph Eustache de Bourge | Quéau | A chateau for a great nobleman |
1729 | Joseph Eustache de Bourge | Devillard | Quéau | A cathedral |
1730 | Claude-Louis d'Aviler | Pierre Laurent | de Devilliard | A triumphal arch |
1731 | Jean-Baptiste Marteau | Pierre Rousset | Courtillié | A building 25 toises [50 metres] across |
1732 | Jean-Laurent Le Geay | de Mercy | Pierre Rousset | A portal of a church |
1733 | Jacques Haneuse | Bailleul | Jean-Baptiste Courtonne | A public square |
1734 | Vattebled | Pierre Laurent | Lafond | A high altar of a church |
1735 | Pierre Laurent | Jean-Louis Pollevert | Lindet | A gallery with a chapel |
1736 | Jean-Louis Pollevert | Maximilien Brébion | Gabriel Pierre Martin Dumont | A country house |
1737 | Gabriel Pierre Martin Dumont | Lindet | Datif | Two staircases and a vestibule of a palace |
1738 | Nicolas Marie Potain | Lancret | Jean-Baptiste Courtonne | A gallery with a chapel |
1739 | Nicolas Dorbay | Maximilien Brébion | Lecamus | A great stable for a royal chateau |
1740 | Maximilien Brébion | Cordier | de Dreux | A garden 400 toises [800 metres] long |
1741 | Nicolas-Henri Jardin | Armand | Bourdet | A choir of a cathedral |
1742 | Armand | Lecamus | Bourdet | A façade of a city hall |
1743 | Jean Moreau | Cordier | Brébion | A garden 400 toises [800 metres] long |
1744 | No prize awarded, due to the low quality of entries | |||
1745 | Ennemond Alexandre Petitot | Hazon (recorded as "Hazin") | Deveau and Lelu | A lighthouse |
1746 | Charles-Louis Clérisseau and Brébion J., ex-aequo | Lelu and Nicolas de Pigage | Turgis | A mansion for a great nobleman |
1747 | Jérôme Charles Bellicard | Giroux | Lieutaut | A triumphal arch |
1748 | Parvis | Lelu | Duvivier | An exchange |
1749 | François Dominique Barreau de Chefdeville | Julien-David Le Roy | Pierre-Louis Moreau-Desproux | A temple to peace |
1750 | Julien-David Le Roy | Pierre-Louis Moreau-Desproux | Charles De Wailly | An orange garden |
1751 | Marie-Joseph Peyre | Pierre-Louis Moreau-Desproux | Pierre-Louis Helin | A public fountain |
1752 | Charles De Wailly | Pierre-Louis Helin | Moreau | A façade of a palace |
1753 | Louis-François Trouard | Jardin | A gallery 50 toises [100 metres] long | |
1754 | Pierre-Louis Helin | Billaudet | Jardin | An art salon |
1755 | Victor Louis et Charles Maréchaux, ex-aequo | Boucart | Rousseau | A funereal chapel |
1756 | Henri-Antoine Lemaire | Houdon | An isolated chapel | |
1757 | Competition canceled | A concert hall | ||
1758 | Mathurin Cherpitel and Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin, ex-aequo | Jacques Gondouin and Claude Jean-Baptiste Jallier de Savault | Houdon and Gérendo | A pavilion at the corner of a terrace |
1759 | Antoine Le Roy | Joseph Elie Michel Lefebvre | Cauchois and Jacques Gondouin | A horse-riding school |
1760 | Joseph Elie Michel Lefebvre | Claude Jean-Baptiste Jallier de Savault | Gabriel | A parish church |
1761 | Antoine-Joseph de Bourge | Boucher | Antoine-François Peyre | A concert hall |
1762 | Antoine-François Peyre | Pierre d'Orléans | Adrien Mouton | A covered market |
1763 | Charles François Darnaudin | Boucher | Louis-François Petit-Radel | A triumphal arch |
1764 | Adrien Mouton | Pierre d'Orléans | Naudin | A school |
1765 | Jean-François Heurtier | Boucu | Paris | A dome of a cathedral |
1766 | Jean-Arnaud Raymond | Pierre d'Orléans | Paris | A portal of a cathedral |
1767 | Pierre d'Orléans | Le Moyne | Marquis | A customs house |
1768 | Jean-Philippe Lemoine de Couzon | Bernard Poyet | Paris | A theater |
1769 | Jacob Guerne | Lussault | Paris | A public festival for a prince |
1770 | Jean-Jacques Huvé | Renard | Panseron | An arsenal |
1771 | Not awarded | A city hospital | ||
1772 | Claude-Thomas de Lussault and Jean-Auguste Marquis | Renard | Nicolas-Claude Girardin | A palace for the parent of a sovereign |
1773 | Jean Augustin Renard | Mathurin Crucy and Coutouly | Thierry and Herbelot | A pavilion for a sovereign |
1774 | Mathurin Crucy | Bonnet | Charles Joachim Bénard, | Mineral baths |
1775 | Paul Guillaume Le Moine le Roman | Louis-Étienne de Seine | Doucet | Schools of medicine |
1776 | Louis-Jean Desprez | Charles Joachim Bénard | – | A chateau for a great nobleman |
1777 | Louis-Étienne de Seine | Guy de Gisors | – | A water tower |
1778 | First and second prizes carried over to 1779 | – | Public prisons | |
1779 | Guy de Gisors and Père François Jacques Lannoy | Durand and Barbier | – | An art museum |
1780 | Louis Alexandre Trouard | Durand | – | A school on a triangular plot |
1781 | Louis Combes | Moitte | – | A cathedral |
1782 | Pierre Bernard | Cathala | – | A courthouse |
1783 | Antoine Vaudoyer | Charles Percier | – | A menagerie |
1784 | Auguste Cheval de Saint-Hubert | Moreau | – | A lazaret |
1785 | Jean-Charles Alexandre Moreau | Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine | – | A funeral chapel |
1786 | Charles Percier | Louis-Robert Goust | – | A meeting house for all the Académies |
1787 | First and second prizes carried over to 1788 | – | A city hall | |
1788 | Jacques-Charles Bonnard and Jean Jacques Tardieu, ex-aequo | Louis-Robert Goust and Romain | – | A public treasury |
1789 | Jean-Baptiste Louis François Le Febvre | Gaucher | – | A school of medicine |
1790 | No competition | |||
1791 | Claude-Mathieu Delagardette | Normand | – | A gallery of a palace |
1792 | Pierre-Charles-Joseph Normand | Bergognion | – | A public market for a great city |
1793 | No first prize awarded | Constant Protain | – | A barracks |
1794 | No competition | |||
1795 | ||||
1796 | ||||
1797 | Louis Ambroise Dubut and Cousin, ex-aequo | Éloi Labarre and Maximilien Joseph Hurtault | – | Public granaries |
1798 | Joseph Clémence | Joseph Pompon | – | A maritime exchange |
1799 | Louis-Sylvestre Gasse and Auguste Henri Victor Grandjean de Montigny, ex-aequo | Jean-Baptiste Guignet | – | A cemetery 500 meters long |
1800 | Simon Vallot and Jean-François-Julien Mesnager, ex-aequo | Jean-Baptiste Dedeban and Hubert Rohault | – | An institute of sciences and arts or a national school of fine arts |