French art salons and academies

From the seventeenth century to the early part of the twentieth century, artistic production in France was controlled by artistic academies which organized official exhibitions called salons. In France, academies are institutions and learned societies which monitor, foster, critique and protect French cultural production.

Academies were more institutional and more concerned with criticism and analysis than those literary gatherings today called salons which were more focused on pleasurable discourse in society, although certain gatherings around such figures as Marguerite de Valois were close to the academic spirit.

Academies first began to appear in France in the Renaissance. In 1570 Jean-Antoine de Baïf created one devoted to poetry and music, the Académie de poésie et de musique, inspired by Italian models (such as the academy around Marsilio Ficino).

The first half of the seventeenth century saw a phenomenal growth in private learned academies, organized around a half-dozen or a dozen individuals meeting regularly. By the middle of the century, the number of private academies decreased as academies gradually came under government control, sporsorship and patronage.

The first private academy to become "official" and to this day the most prestigious of governmental academies is the Académie française ("French Academy"), founded in 1634 by Cardinal Richelieu. It is concerned with the French language. In the fine arts, the Académie de peinture et de sculpture ("Academy of Painting and Sculpture") was founded by Cardinal Mazarin in 1648 and was soon followed by a number of other officially instituted academies: the Académie royale de danse ("Royal Academy of Dance") in 1661; the Académie royale des inscriptions et médailles ("Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Medals") in 1663 [renamed the Académie royale des inscriptions et belles-lettres ("Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Literature" or "Royal Academy of Humanities") in 1716]; the Académie royale des sciences ("Royal Academy of Sciences") in 1666; the Académie d'Opéra ("Academy of Opera") in 1669 [renamed the Académie royale de musique ("Royal Academy of Music") in 1672 and the Académie de musique in 1791]; and the Académie royale d'architecture ("Royal Academy of Architecture") founded by Jean-Baptiste Colbert in 1671.

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