Scholarly Societies Project

Académie Royale d'Architecture

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Académie Royale d'Architecture =
Royal Academy of Architecture
Founding of the Society
Year
Authority / Notes
1671
In 1671, the Académie Royale d'Architecture was created through the efforts of Colbert and the architect Blondel; it took over the prerogatives and functions of the former Conseil des Bâtiments founded by Colbert in 1665 (Institut de France (1995)).

On 1793, August 8, it was suspended by the revolutionary Convention Nationale, when the latter decreed the abolition of "toutes les académies et sociétés littéraires patentées ou dotées par la Nation" [all academies and learned societies licensed or endowed by the Nation] (Institut de France (1995), p.299).

Two years later, on 1795, October 25, the Convention Nationale created the Institut National des Sciences et des Arts, which essentially consolidated all the former academies in one (Institut de France (1995), pp.215-216). Its Troisième Classe was entitled the Classe de Littérature et Beaux-Arts, and covered grammar, ancient languages, poetry, antiquities and monuments, painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and oratory (Institut de France (1995), p.20). In a sense, this Classe took over some of the responsibilities of several former Académies, including the Académie Royale d'Architecture.

According to p.29 of Institut de France (1995), Bonaparte decided, on the advice of a commission, to resurrect the former academies, but within the bosom of the Institut; so, on 1803, January 23, the Institut was re-organized into four classes corresponding to the academies suppressed by the Revolution. The Quatrième Classe: Beaux-Arts corresponded to a union of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (founded 1648); Académie Royale de Musique (founded 1669); and Académie Royale d'Architecture (organized 1671).

On 1816, March 21, Louis XVIII issued an order fixing the statutes of the Institut; one notable change was the return of the designation of Académie to the constituent parts of the Institut (Institut de France (1995), p.310). The Quatrième Classe thus became the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Their journal Procès Verbaux, covering 1671 to 1793, the years the academy existed, was published in 10 volumes, long after the fact, namely from 1911 - 1929.

Seat of the Society
City
Authority / Notes
Paris
France
This Academy, like all other Royal Academies whose functions were later carried on under the auspices of the Institut de France, was based in Paris, as was the Institut de France.
Name of the Society
Dates
Name
Authority
1671 - 1793 Académie Royale d'Architecture Its publications.
Journals of the Society
Years
Full Journal Title
Abbrev.
Indexed
1671 - 1793
(v.1 - v.10)
 
A
Procès-Verbaux de l'Académie Royale d'Architecture, 1671-1793; pub. pour la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français sous le patronage de l'Académie des Beaux-Arts par M. Henry Lemonnier
Published long after the fact, namely from 1911 - 1929. According to the Harvard Univ. cat., v.1 = 1671-1681; v.2 = 1682-1696; v.3. = 1697-1711; v.4. = 1712-1727; v.6 = 1744-1758. And the Bibliot. Nat. France cat. gives v.7 = 1759-1767.
[Harvard Univ. cat.; Bibliot. Nat. France cat.; Univ. of Chicago cat.]
 
 

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