Ecole Nationale Supérieure des
Beaux-Arts
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Continue along Quai Malaquais and you will come to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. This national academy for painting and sculpture was established by Cardinal Mazarin in 1648 and is still the main school for fine arts in France today. Some of the most famous artists in Europe have trained here, including Fragonard, Delacroix, Ingres, Monet, Renoir, Seurat and Sisley. It has had a huge influence worldwide, particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries thanks to the many American architects who studied here.
Originally located in the Louvre, the school moved to its present location at the beginning of the 19th century. It is housed in a number of buildings, the most imposing being the 19th-century Palais des Etudes, which overlooks the river from the corner of the fashionable rue Bonaparte. Designed in the Italian Renaissance style by Félix-Jacques Dubin, he received the commission in 1830 and continued working on the buildings until 1861. Dubin was a pupil of Percier, who had designed the Carousel in the Jardin des Tuileries.
The main building has a subtly decorated façade and contains numerous references to ancient and Renaissance buildings, particularly in Rome. These include triumphal arches, the Colosseum and the Cancelleria. The courtyard in front of the building incorporates an eclectic mix of medieval and Renaissance artefacts which were rescued from demolished buildings by Alexandre Lenoir in 1795, which he had originally planned to incorporate in a Musée des Monuments Français.
Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts
Opening times: Mon pm groups by appointment only
Website:
www.ensba.frTel: 01. 47 03 50 74
Did You Know?
Rodin applied three times for entry to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and was repeatedly refused.
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Further along the river you will come to the Institut de France, whose central dome and sweeping wings sit on axis with the Pont des Arts. Now home to the illustrious Académie Française, along with four other institutions, the Académie is charged with compiling the official dictionary of the French language. Founded by Cardinal Richelieu in 1635, its membership is strictly limited to 40 members at any one time. This imposing Baroque building was built by Louis Le Vau as a palace in 1688 and given to the Institut de France in 1805. The impressive cupola was designed to harmonise with the Louvre across the river.
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