The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the

Calle de Alcalá Calle de Alcalá is among the longest streets in Madrid. It starts at the Puerta del Sol and goes on for , to the northeastern outskirts of the city. Henry David Inglis described it in 1837 as "long, of superb width, and flanked by a splendid rang ...

in the centre of

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal academies in the .

History

The academy was established by

royal decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state, judge, royal figure, or other relevant authorities, according to certain procedures. These procedures are usually defined by the constitution, Legislative laws, or customary l ...

in 1752. About twenty years later, the enlightened monarch

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

purchased a palace in Madrid as the academy's new home. The building had been designed by

José Benito de Churriguera José Benito de Churriguera (21 March 1665, in Madrid – 2 March 1725, in Madrid) was a Spanish architect, sculptor and urbanist of the late-Baroque or Rococo style. He was born in Madrid to a Catalan cabinetmaker, gilder and altarpiece joine ...

for the Goyeneche family. The king commissioned Diego de Villanueva to convert the building for academic use, employing a

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

in place of Churriguera's baroque design. The academy is also the headquarters of the Madrid Academy of Art.

Notable alumni

The first graduate of the academy was Bárbara María Hueva.

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish Romanticism, romantic painter and Printmaking, printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Hi ...

was once one of the academy's directors. Its alumni include

Felip Pedrell Felip Pedrell Sabaté (Spanish: Felipe) (19 February 1841 – 19 August 1922) was a Catalan composer, guitarist and musicologist. Life Pedrell was born in Tortosa (Catalonia), and sang as a boy soprano at Tortosa Cathedral from age 9, where ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Kiko Argüello Francisco José Gómez de Argüello y Wirtz (born January 9, 1939) is a Spanish artist and, together with Carmen Hernández and Father Mario Pezzi, an initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way. Early life Argüello was born in León, he studied f ...

Remedios Varo María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga (known as Remedios Varo, 16 December 1908 – 8 October 1963) was a Spanish and Mexican surrealist painter. Early life and education María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga was bo ...

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

Antonio López García Antonio López García (born 6 January 1936) is a Spanish Painting, painter and Sculpture, sculptor, known for his Realism (arts), realistic style. He has been praised by leading art critics, such as Robert Studley Forrest Hughes, Robert Hughes ...

Juan Luna Juan Luna de San Pedro y Novicio (, ; October 25, 1857 – December 7, 1899) was a Filipino painter, sculptor and a political activism, activist of the Philippine Revolution during the late 19th century. He became one of the first recog ...

Fernando Amorsolo Fernando Amorsolo y Cueto (May 30, 1892 – April 24, 1972) was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. Nicknamed the "Grand Old Man of Philippine Art," he was the first-ever to be recognized as a National Artist of the Philip ...

Oscar de la Renta Óscar Arístides Renta Fiallo (22 July 1932 – 20 October 2014), known professionally as Oscar de la Renta, was a Dominican fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, he was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo. De la Renta ...

Francesc Daniel Molina i Casamajó Francesc Daniel Molina i Casamajó (Vic, Spain, Vic, 1812–Barcelona, 5 July 1867) was a Spanish architect. Biography He was born in the city of Vic, Spain, Vic, Province of Barcelona, Barcelona Province, in 1812. He completed his early studie ...

Ricardo Macarrón Ricardo Macarrón Jaime (1926–2004), was a Spanish painter and portraitist. He is known for his court paintings for European royalty and portraits of aristocracy, including four generations of the House of Bourbon, and Victoria Eugenia of Ba ...

Alicia Iturrioz Alicia Iturrioz Arrizabalaga (31 January 1927 – 9 September 2021) was a Spanish painter and author. She is known for her portraits, she was a portraitist for the Spanish royal family and the European aristocracy. Biography Alicia Iturrioz Ar ...

Fernando Botero Fernando Botero Angulo (19 April 1932 – 15 September 2023) was a Colombian figurative artist and sculptor. His signature style, also known as "Boterismo", depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume, which can represent political ...

., and

Melecio Figueroa Melecio Figueroa () (1842-1903) was a Filipinos, Filipino sculptor and Engraving, engraver whose design of the Great Seal of the Philippines was featured in a previous coin series of the Philippine peso. Early life and education Melecio Figueroa ...

Notable academics

Mariana de Silva-Bazán y Sarmiento Mariana de Silva-Bazán y Sarmiento, also known as Mariana de Silva-Meneses and Sarmiento de Sotomayor, (Madrid, 14 October 1739 - Madrid, 17 January 1784), was an 18th-century Spanish aristocrat, writer, painter, and translator. She is remembered ...

(1739-1784), aristocratic figure, writer, painter, translator *

Juan Luis Vassallo Juan Luis Vassallo (Cádiz; 2 May 1908-Madrid; 18 April 1986) was a Spanish sculptor, noted for his religious work. Biography He was the son of the Chiclana painter Eduardo Vassallo Dorronzoro and Dolores Parodi Rosas, Cadiz families of Italian ...

, sculptor.

Collection

Doubling as a museum and gallery, today it houses a fine art collection of paintings from the 15th to 20th centuries:

Hans Müelich Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...

, Arcimboldo,

Giovanni Bellini Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 29 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father, ...

Juan de Juanes Vicente Juan Masip (also known as Joan de Joanes) (15071579) was a Spanish painter of the Renaissance period. He is commonly considered the foremost member of the Valencian school of painters. Masip was born in La Font de la Figuera. His fath ...

Antonio Allegri da Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter who was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Renaissance, who was responsible for som ...

Luis de Morales Luis de Morales (1509 – 9 May 1586) was a Spanish painter active during the Spanish Renaissance in the 16th century. Known as "El Divino", most of his work was of religious subjects, including many representations of the Madonna and Child an ...

, Martin de Vos,

Marinus van Reymerswaele Marinus van Reymerswaele or Marinus van Reymerswale (c. 1490 – c. 1546) was a Dutch Renaissance painter mainly known for his genre scenes and religious compositions. After studying in Leuven and training and working as an artist in Antwerp, he ...

Otto Van Veen Otto van Veen (also known by his Latinized names Otto Venius or Octavius Vaenius; 1556 – 6 May 1629), was a Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, and Humanism, humanist active primarily in Antwerp and City of Brussels, Brussels in the late ...

Leandro Bassano Leandro Bassano (10 June 1557 – 15 April 1622), also called Leandro dal Ponte, was an Italian artist from Bassano del Grappa who was awarded a knighthood by the Doge of Venice. He was the younger brother of artist Francesco Bassano the Younger ...

, il

Cavaliere d'Arpino Giuseppe Cesari (14 February 1568 – 3 July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called ''Cavaliere d'Arpino'', because he was created ''Cavaliere di Cristo'' by his patron Pope Clement VIII. He was much patronize ...

Guido Reni Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian Baroque painter, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious works, but al ...

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

Domenichino Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters. Life Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a shoe ...

Jan Janssens Jan JanssensJan Janssens
at the

Giovanni Battista Beinaschi ''The Deploration of Abel'', Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (Italian painter and engraver active in the Mannerism">Mannerist and Baroque style. Life He was born in Turin. He first trained in the Piedmont, under a painter by the n ...

Bartolomeo Cavarozzi Bartolomeo Cavarozzi (1587–1625),Francucci, Massimo (2012). "Biographies of Artists", 356 p. In Rossella Vodret (ed.) Caravaggio's Rome: 1600–1630. Vol-II. Skira Editore S.p.A., Milan. 854 pp. occasionally referred to as Bartolomeo Crescenz ...

Daniel Seghers Daniel Seghers (3December 15902November 1661) was a Flemish Jesuit brother and Flemish Baroque painter, painter who specialized in flower still lifes. He is particularly well known for his contributions to the genre of flower garland painting.I ...

José de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (; baptised 17 February 1591 – 3 November 1652) was a Spanish painter and printmaker. Ribera, Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spani ...

Andrea Vaccaro Andrea Vaccaro (baptised on 8 May 1604 – 18 January 1670) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Vaccaro was in his time one of the most successful painters in Naples, a city then under Spanish rule. Very successful and valued in his li ...

Jacob Jordaens Jacques (Jacob) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678Jacques Jordaens
in the Netherlands Institute for Ar ...

Pieter Boel Pieter Boel or Peeter Boel (baptized on 10 October 1622 – 3 September 1674) was a Flemish painter, printmaker and tapestry designer. He specialised in lavish still lifes and animal paintings. He moved to Paris, where he worked in the gobelin f ...

Claudio Coello Claudio Coello (2 March 1642 – 20 April 1693) was a Spanish-Portuguese Baroque painter. Coello is considered the last great Spanish painter of the 17th century. The son of Faustino Coello, a famous Portuguese sculptor, he was a court painter ...

, Juan Van der Hamen y León,

Van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy. The seventh child of Frans van Dyck, a wealt ...

Pieter Claesz Pieter Claesz (c. 1597 – 1 January 1660) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of still lifes. Biography He was born in Berchem, Belgium, near Antwerp, where he became a member of the Guild of St. Luke in 1620. He moved to Haarlem in 1620, where hi ...

Antonio de Pereda Antonio de Pereda y Salgado ( – January 30, 1678) was a Spanish Baroque-era painter, best known for his still lifes. Biography Pereda was born in Valladolid, the eldest of three brothers from an artistic family. His father, mother and two b ...

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...

Margherita Caffi Margherita Caffi (1650 – 20 September 1710) was an Italian painter of still lifes of flowers and fruit. She was born Margherita Volo, in Milan to Francesco Volo (a still-life painter himself) and his wife, Veronica. In 1668, she married Ludivi ...

, Carreño de Miranda,

Paul de Vos Paul de Vos (1591/92, or 1595 in Hulst – 30 June 1678 in Antwerp) was a Flemish Baroque painter who specialized in mainly in compositions of animals, hunting scenes and still lifes. He worked for an elite clientele and was a regular collaborat ...

Alonso Cano Alonso Cano Almansa or Alonzo Cano (19 March 16013 September 1667) was a Spanish painter, architect, and sculptor born in Granada.Zurbarán, Murillo,

Francesco Battaglioli . Francesco Battaglioli (Modena, 1725 – Venice, 1796) was an Italian painting, painter, known as painter of ''veduta'' and ''Capriccio (painting), capriccios'' based on the scenery of Venice and the Venetian mainland (Brescia and Treviso). Bi ...

Jean Ranc Jean Ranc (28 January 1674 – 1 July 1735) was a French painter, mainly active in portraiture. He trained under his father Antoine Ranc and his father's former student Hyacinthe Rigaud and served in the courts of Louis XV of France, Philip V of ...

Jacopo Amigoni Jacopo Amigoni (c. 1685 – September 1752), also named Giacomo Amiconi, was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque or Rococo period, who began his career in Venice, but traveled and was prolific throughout Europe, where his sumptuous portraits ...

Agostino Masucci Agostino Masucci (; 29 August 1690– 19 October 1758) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque or Rococo period. Biography Born in Rome, he initially apprenticed with Andrea Procaccino, and then became a member of the studio of Carlo Maratta ...

, Fragonard,

Corrado Giaquinto Corrado Giaquinto (8 February 1703 – 18 April 1766) was an Italian Rococo painter. Early training and move to Rome He was born in Molfetta. As a boy he apprenticed with a modest local painter Saverio Porta, (c. 1667–1725), escaping the r ...

Domenico Tiepolo Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (August 30, 1727March 3, 1804) was an Italian painter and printmaker in etching. He was the son of artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and elder brother of Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo. Life history Domenico was born in Ve ...

Alessandro Magnasco Alessandro Magnasco (February 4, 1667 – March 12, 1749), also known as il Lissandrino, was an Italian late-Baroque painter active mostly in Milan and Genoa. He is best known for stylized, fantastic, often phantasmagoric genre or landscape sce ...

, Pompeo Battoni,

Antonio Joli Antonio Francesco Lodovico Joli (13 March 1700 – 29 April 1777) was an Italian painter of ''vedute'' and ''capricci''. Biography Born in Modena, he first was apprenticed to Rafaello Rinaldi. He then studied in Rome under Giovanni Paolo P ...

Luis Paret y Alcázar Luis Paret y Alcázar (11 February 1746 – 14 February 1799) was a Spanish painter of the late-Baroque or Rococo period. Biography He was born in Madrid and was first trained with Antonio González Velázquez and attended the Real Academia de Be ...

, Mengs,

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, an ...

, Giuseppe Pirovani (one rare ''Portrait of

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

''),

Joaquín Sorolla Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (27 February 1863 – 10 August 1923) was a Spanish painter. Sorolla excelled in the painting of portraits, landscapes, and monumental works of social and historical themes. His most typical works are characterized by ...

Ignacio Zuloaga Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta (July 26, 1870October 31, 1945) was a Spanish painter, born in Eibar, Guipuzcoa, near the monastery of Loyola. Family He was the son of metalworker and damascening, damascener Plácido Zuloaga and grandson of the orga ...

Juan Gris José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic g ...

Pablo Serrano Pablo Serrano Aguilar, (8 March 1908, Crivillén, Teruel – 26 November 1985, Madrid) was a Spanish abstract sculptor. Personal life 1920–1925. Pablo Serrano studied as a boarder in the Escuelas Profesionales Salesianas in Sarriá (Barc ...

, Fernando Zobel, Lorenzo Quiros, among others.

Gallery

File:Giuseppe Arcimboldo - La Primavera - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Spring'',

Giuseppe Arcimboldo Giuseppe Arcimboldo, also spelled Arcimboldi (; 5 April 1527 – 11 July 1593), was an Italian Renaissance painter best known for creating imaginative portrait Human head, heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish ...

(1563) File:El Greco - San Jerónimo - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Saint Jerome'',

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

() File:VelazquezUltimaCena.jpg, ''The Last Supper'', copy of

Tintoretto Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( ; , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized th ...

(1629?) File:José de Ribera - Asunción de la Magdalena - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Assumption of Mary Magdalene'',

(1636) File:Louis Michel van Loo - Venus, Mercurio y el Amor - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Venus, Mercury and Cupid'', Louis Michel van Loo (1748) File:Alegoría de la Paz y la Justicia.jpg, ''Allegory of Peace and Justice'',

(1754) File:Anton Rafael Mengs - Retrato de la marquesa de Llano - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of the marquesa de Llano'',

Anton Raphael Mengs Anton Raphael Mengs (12 March 1728 – 29 June 1779) was a German Neoclassicism, Neoclassical painter. Early life Mengs was born on 12 March 1728, at Ústí nad Labem in the Kingdom of Bohemia, the son of Ismael Mengs, a Danish-born painter wh ...

(1770) File:Francisco de Goya - La Tirana - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

La tirana La Tirana is a Chilean town in the commune of Pozo Almonte in El Tamarugal Province, Tarapacá Region. The town lies in an oasis in the middle of the Pampa del Tamarugal, about 72 km inland from the port of Iquique. The town is notable for i ...

'',

Francisco de Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, a ...

() File:Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz - Retrato de Isabel II - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of Isabel II'',

Federico de Madrazo Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz (9 February 181510 June 1894) was a Spanish painter. Biography Born in Rome, he was the son of José de Madrazo y Agudo, the painter and former Director of the Prado Museum, and Isabel Kuntz Valentini. Federico's gra ...

(1844) File:Juan Gris - Frutero y periódico - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Fruit Bowl and Newspaper'',

(1920)

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * *

External links

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando

Collections of the RABASF

Android and iOS Official mobile appVirtual tour of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
provided by

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world, operated by Google. It utilizes high-re ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Real Academia De Bellas Artes De San Fernando Museums in Madrid Art museums and galleries in Madrid Art schools in Spain Calle de Alcalá Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in Madrid Educational institutions established in 1752 B 1752 establishments in Spain Culture in Madrid