The school has its roots in the 15th century, when Pope Sixtus IV granted the Oratory of St. Luke;[1] in 1577, under Pope Gregory XIII, the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, now Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma[2] was founded.

In the following two centuries the seats multiplied, until in 1845 the Istituto delle Belle Arti was born under the papacy of Pope Gregory XVI;[1] the aim was to gather the art students in one location.

[1] The building intended to house the institute was the Palazzo Camerale in via di Ripetta, designed and built for this purpose by the architect Pietro Camporese the Younger.

[3] The palace is commonly referred as the "horseshoe", due to its hemicycle-shaped facade.

After the capture of Rome, both the building and the institute came under the jurisdiction of the Italian state; in 1923 it became a liceo artistico, although not didactically autonomous as it was connected to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma; the autonomy came in 1974.