The Members of the Academy of Beaux-Arts Assembled to Jury the Rome Prize

1841 or 1842

Paul Delaroche

(French, 1797–1856)

Culture

France, 19th century

Medium

pen and brown ink

Support

Cream modern laid paper, laid down on beige wove paper

Measurements

Sheet: 16.4 x 29.2 cm (6 7/16 x 11 1/2 in.); Secondary Support: 28.4 x 42.9 cm (11 3/16 x 16 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.346

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Location

Not on view

Description

This sketch records a meeting of the jury of the Rome Prize, an annual award for promising students given by the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. The prize included a scholarship for several years of study in Rome amid treasures of ancient and Renaissance art. The Rome Prize long represented the first important step toward developing a solid official career as a painter in France. Although most of the men sketched here are unrecognizable, the one closest to the left appears to be the painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867). The identification allows us to correct the date of 1843 inscribed at the bottom of the drawing, for we know that Ingres did not participate as a jury member in 1843. Instead the sketch must date to 1841 or 1842.