What Did the Academies Teach?

Learning at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris

Contemporary ateliers seek to revive academic training of the 19th century. Let’s figure out what they actually taught in Paris. What kind of instruction did the students receive at the in the 19th century? Let’s look at the concepts and criticism in the atelier of Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904), based on a rare first-hand account of an American student w…