RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES GRANTED TO WINNERS

A stay of four years at the Villa Medici and an annual pension of 9,500 francs, to which are added some miscellaneous expenses. The season of the Prix de Rome competitions gave such brilliant results that Mr. Albert Besnard, director of the School of Fine Arts, a little discouraged, did not wait until the end to flee the furnace of Paris. We have seen, as in the past, wise, too wise academic compositions, of the most impersonal skill. We will see, more or less, the same clever and wise thoughts next year. The institution of the Prix de Rome is so venerable and routine that we must despair of changing anything in it. How are the contests going, and what privileges are granted. to the winners of the Grand Prix de Rome? Painting, sculpture, architecture and music have annual competitions. Engraving only has a competition every two years. The competition for engraving medals and gemstones is held every three years. All students of the École des Beaux-Arts who have not exceeded the age limit of thirty years — after deducting war years up to the age of thirty-five — may be candidates for the prizes of Rome. A first eliminatory test makes it possible to designate, in each section, the ten students who will be admitted to the box for the Prix de Rome events.

In lodge...

The students, placed in a box, must execute a sketch in a given time. This sketch, put under seal, remains with each logistician whose loyalty of execution it guarantees, moreover rigorously supervised. During the dressing room, the students must not receive any visits, advice or documents of any kind. Only live models are allowed for work from life. Only when their sketch is complete can the logisticians go out for their meal or rest. Painters and sculptors stay locked up for three days, architects four days. The competition subjects are set by the Academy of Fine Arts, which, for several years, has given students greater latitude in their choices. Before the decision of the jury, the works are publicly exhibited, Quai Malaquais, where a preparatory commission examines them and gives its opinion, which the Academy of Fine Arts is free to disregard. A first Grand Prix de Rome is designated by the Academy, in each section. Alone, this first Grand Prix becomes a resident of the Villa Medici. . There is in each section, in addition to this envied prize, a first second grand prize and a second second grand prize, which constitute incentive bonuses but do not give the right to a pension at the French Academy in Rome. The State buys the competition works for the second Grand Prix de Rome. The School of Fine Arts and the Institute awarded them several donations and legacies. It should be noted that the second Grand Prix of Rome must, the following year, win a first Grand Prix under penalty of being definitively eliminated from the competitions.

The stay in Rome

The winners of the Grand Prix de Rome are sent to the Villa Medici during the month of December, for a stay of four years. They were allowed, before the war, an annual pension of 5,500 francs. Due to difficult times, this pension was increased this year to 9,500 francs by assimilating the students of the Villa Medici to those of the French School in Rome. Some study costs are added to this allowance: costs of canvas and colors for the painters, costs of clay and marble for the sculptors, costs of boards and paper for the engravers, etc., etc. Only single candidates are admitted to compete for the Prix de Rome, except for those who married during the war, before the end of hostilities. However, authorizations may be granted to residents of the Villa Medici wishing to marry during their stay in Rome. It is a question of opportunity. of which the Academy of Fine Arts and the Minister of Public Instruction are the sole judges. The reasons for this reserve come from the very organization of the Villa.Médicis, a sort of artistic community, where nothing is planned, for the conveniences and the independence of young couples. It is quite obvious that, even single, the residents of the Villa Medici - who, by the way, enjoy the most beautiful panorama and the freshest gardens of the Eternal City - can hardly splurge with their annual allowance of 10,000 frank. But the Grand Prix de Rome earned them numerous donations and legacies distributed by the Academy of Fine Arts.