Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp)

It was founded in 1663 by David Teniers the Younger, painter to the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm and Don Juan of Austria.

In 1885 and 1886, Vincent van Gogh was also to spend a short time at the Antwerp academy, prior to his departure to France.

In 1885, King Leopold II commissioned the establishment of the National Higher Institute for Fine Arts Antwerp (Nationaal Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten) as a unique post graduate program, inspired by the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

[1] The academy nowadays offers three distinctive programs: Visual Arts and Design, Conservation studies and a one-year dedicated teachers training.

Antwerp, Nurse of Painters, by Theodoor Boeyermans (1665; 188 x 454 cm), promotes the city's recent artistic past.

Portraits of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck watch over students as they practise the arts.

Contradicties koninklijke academie voor schone kunsten 1663-nu (Eric Ubben, Johan Pas, Piet Lombaerde Et al) MER publishers.