Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna () is an institution of higher education in Vienna, Austria.

History

The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy by the court-painter Peter Strudl, who became the Praefectus Academiae Nostrae. In 1701 he was ennobled as Baron of the Empire. With his death in 1714, the academy temporarily closed.

On 20 January 1725, Emperor Karl VI appointed the Frenchman Jacob van Schuppen as Prefect and Director of the Academy, which was refounded as the k.k. Hofakademie der Maler, Bildhauer und Baukunst (Imperial and Royal Court Academy of painters, sculptors and architecture). During the rule of Empress Maria Theresa, a new statute reformed the academy in 1751. The prestige of the academy grew, and in 1767 Archduchesses Charlotte Karoline and the archduchess Maria Anna were made the first Honorary Members of the Academy.

In 1772, there were further reforms to the organisational structure. Chancellor Kuntz integrated all existing art schools into the k.k. vereinigten Akademie der bildenden Künste (Imperial and Royal Unified Academy of Fine Arts). The word "vereinigten" (unified) was later dropped.

In 1872 Emperor Franz Joseph I approved a statute making the academy the supreme government authority for the arts. A new building was constructed by Theophil Freiherr von Hansen during the building of the Ringstraße. On April 1, 1877, the new building at the Schillerplatz was inaugurated, where it remains today.

In 1907 and...
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