Brazilian academic art influenced by academic art
History
Beginnings
The Missão Artística Francesa (French Artistic Mission) arrived in Brazil in 1816 proposing the creation of an art academy modeled after the respected Académie des Beaux-Arts, with graduation courses both for artists and craftsmen for activities such as modeling, decorating, carpentry and others.
Joachim Lebreton, the leader of the Missão and founder of the project, determined the schedule of classes, course structure and assessment criteria. Moreover, he was also responsible for suggesting public employment for the graduates, ways to expand public collections and determining the human and material resources needed to run the school.
This proposal, immediately welcomed by Dom João VI, led to the founding of the Escola Real de Ciências Artes e Ofícios. However, the Escola would face serious practical difficulties in its start and would take at least ten years to get into operation permanently, leading to its reopening on November 5, 1826, in the presence of Emperor Dom Pedro I, as the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes. With the founding of the Escola were created the initial conditions for the birth of academic art in Brazil, and both Brazilian academic art and the Escola would be inextricably linked.