Prix de Rome

[2] The Prix de Rome was initially created for painters and sculptors in 1663 in France, during the reign of Louis XIV.

To succeed, a student had to create a sketch on an assigned topic while isolated in a closed booth with no reference material to draw on.

At first, the villa and its gardens were in a sad state, and they had to be renovated in order to house the winners of the Prix de Rome.

Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Ernest Chausson, and Maurice Ravel attempted the Prix de Rome but did not gain recognition.

Ravel tried a total of five times to win the prize, and the last failed attempt in 1905 was so controversial that it led to a complete reorganization of the administration at the Paris Conservatory.

[14] A Prix de Rome was also established in the Kingdom of Holland by Lodewijk Napoleon to award young artists and architects.

In 1817, after the Netherlands had gained its independence, King Willem I restarted the prize; though it took until 1823 before the new "Royal Academies" of Amsterdam and Antwerp could organize the juries.