The Academy and the Limits of Painting in Seventeenth-Century France (Hardcover)

The Academy and the Limits of Painting in Seventeenth-Century France is the first study in over a century devoted to the creation of one of the most important European institutions of art, the French Academie Royale. Founded in the mid-1600s, the Academy institutionalized the discourse around painting and remained a decisive influence until the close of the nineteenth century. In the process of forging an identity for itself, the Academy redefined almost every aspect of art--the nature of art training, the sources of patronage, the social standing of the artist, and the place of the arts in national life.