[Fundation For Det Kongelig Danske Skildre- Bildhugger- Og Bygnings-Academie i Kiöbenhavn., English.]
Imprint
[Copenhagen]: Printed By The Widow Of L.H. Lillie., 1758.
Physical Description
[46] p., [1] fold. chart: illus.; 230 mm. (Quarto).
Contents
[T.p.] - [Text, articles I-XII] - [T.p. of 'Additions ...'] - [Text, articles I-XVII] - The Contents Of The Additions And Improvements - [Fold. chart].
Responsibility Note
The in-text illustration and the engraved decorations are unsigned.
References
The instrument of foundation of London's Royal Academy is reprinted as an appendix in S.C. Hutchison, The history of the Royal Academy (1986). On the history of academies of art see A.W. Boschloo, ed., Academies Of Art (1989) (Esp. pp. 511-559 for the Danish Academy); N. Pevsner, Academies Of Art (1940 / R 1973).
Summary Note
The text of the charter ends with the printing of the king's signature and the date 1754. The charter is followed by the text of additions and improvements; which has its own sectional title-page, reading, 'Additions And Improvements Subjoined To The Most Gracious Charter Given To The Royal Academy Of Painting, Sculpture And Architecture In Copenhagen. March XXXI. A.D. MDCCLIV.' The folding chart lists the Protector (the King), the President, Officers, Honorary Members and Academical Members of the Academy in 1758.
Apart from a title-page vignette, a tail-piece and decorated initials the only illustration shows designs for two seals for the Academy.
Danish and French versions of the charter were also printed by Lillie in 1758.
In modern times the application of the term 'Academy' to art institutions began in Italy with the founding of the Accademia del Disegno at Florence in 1563. The term reflected the desire of artists to raise the status of their craft to that of a liberal art. From Florence the phenomenon spread to other parts of Italy (Perugia 1573, Bologna 1582, Rome 1593, Milan 1620, Modena 1637) and to northern Europe (Haarlem, ca. 1600). The very favourable reception accorded to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture founded at Paris in 1648 (with its Académie de France at Rome from 1666) led to a proliferation of Academies; among which we may mention, merely as a representative selection, those at Turin (1678), Vienna (1692), Berlin (1697), Dresden (1705), Brussels (1711), Madrid (1744), Copenhagen (1754), Naples (1755), St. Petersburg (1757), London (1768), Stockholm (1768) and Mexico (1785).
Provenance
The title page is inscribed in ink, 'Bequest of Sr. A.W. Callcott.'
Binding Note
19th-century half calf, brown papered boards; spine lettered 'Charter Of Royal Danish Academy' and 'R.A.'
Academies (organizations) - Schools - Art education - Government policy - Teaching - Art and state - Administration - Denmark - Copenhagen - History - 18th century
Charters - Denmark - 18th century