The Training of Artists
From the end of the 17th Century Pader and Lafage, then Dupuy du Grez campaigned to have the arts taught in Toulouse. Their model was the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris, founded in 1648 to free artists from the hold of the old corporations.
In 1726 Antoine Rivalz managed to obtain financial support from the Magistrates, to run a school set up as an "Academy" in his workshop in the town hall. On his death in 1735 and after Marc Arcis's failure, it was Guillaume Cammas who succeeded in creating a Society of Fine Art in 1746. This in turn became the Royal Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of Toulouse in 1750, and was the only provincial academy authorised to use the title "royal".
Its course was based on the study of design as found in engravings, casts or copies of antiquities. Only the most advanced students went on to study live models. Annual competitions were held, with prizes being awarded to students. Based on the model of the Parisian Academy, applicants had to present a reception piece before being received into the Academy of Toulouse as members.
Apart from local sculptors, a certain number of artists aspired to be received into the Academy, doubtless so that local artlovers would come to know their work.. (See, for example, Scheffauer's Méléagre, or the Saint François de Sales by Pajou.) In fact, they were already authorised to exhibit their works at the Salon du Capitole. The Toulouse Academy was abolished in 1793 and its collections went to enrich those of the Museum of Toulouse, which was opened in the Augustine monastery on 17 August 1975.
In 2000, the Musée des Augustins held an exhibition called "The King's Painters" ("Les peintres du Roi"), which presented an outstanding collection of reception pieces from the Royal Academy and retraced the history of this illustrious institution.
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