At the time 's-Hertogenbosch was part of the French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte since March 1810.

In 1811 mayor mr. A.G. Verheijen proposed the foundation of a drawing academy Stads teekenacademie to the city council.

[2][3] 1,500 French Francs were added to the 1812 budget for: 'An institute as useful as pleasant for the youth that wants to dedicate themselves to these subjects, that require drawing' Een instituut zoo nuttig als aangenaam voor onderscheidene jongelieden welke zich aan vakken willen toewijden, waarbij de teekenkunst noodzakelijk is.

[1] The board wanted to give education in all fields of artisanry and industry that required skilled laborers.

Next to that it wanted to rekindle the arts of drawing and painting in the city, which had all but disappeared.

The first manager directeur was Geard van Dinter, Joseph Weingärtner was his deputyprofesseur en second.

This was not enough, and so Van Dinther applied to the inhabitants to sponsor the school for six Francs a year, in return for which, they could propose a student.

The departure of French soldiers and public servants decreased the number of supporters of the academy to 80.

The school was then renamed 'Stads Academie voor Teeken- en Schilderkunst'.

[8] In 1822 these men published a school book: Grondbeginselen der Teekenkunst, in fragmenten naar de antieken.

The idea was that the province would subsidize the school for 1,500 guilders, and that in return, youth from multiple places would have free admission.

In later January 1826 Dominicus Franciscus du Bois from Bruges and Pieter Barbiers from Kampen succeeded as drawing teachers at the academy.

This request failed, because there were already two royal academies in the Netherlands, one in Antwerp, and one in Amsterdam.

The order determined that the school would have one class that prepared artists for the Amsterdam and Antwerp academies.

In general, the school would offer lessons in:[13] As soon as circumstances allowed this was to be expanded to: The expansion of the school after it became 'royal' again shows its hybrid character and how much the contemporary notion of art and artisanship, differs from the 21st century meaning of these words.

van den Dries became pro deo teacher in applied Physics and Chemistry.

van Opveld became teacher in Mathematics and Descriptive Geometry for 200 guilders a year.

In 1833 20 aspiring artillery officers were admitted to the school, because they could not study at the military academy.

[16] The board of the school also noted that in winter many youngsters and artisans like, gold- and silver- and coppersmiths, as well as sheet metal workers, masons, furniture workers and the like stayed in town for the express purpose of following the lessons.

Meanwhile, in May 1830 the board of the school had proposed to renovate and expand its building according to a design made by Zutter and Itz for 6,000 guilders.

The famous sculptor and ex-student Johannes Antonius van der Ven made two reliefs for the building.

[18] In 1854 the school successfully organized the first art exposition in 's-Hertogenbosch that was comparable to those hosted in the big cities of the Netherlands.

[20][19][24] A side effect of the exposition was that it allowed local students to get first hand acquaintance with what contemporary artists produced.

The school was allowed to hold a lottery to defray part of the cost.

This was also a way to motivate artists to participate, because it meant that 10% of the exposed works were sold before the exposition even started.

The leadlight had been designed by former principal Huib Luns, and was made by the atelier of Jean den Rooijen in Roermond.

[29] In the early 1950s, students could go to the MTS as part of the Koninklijke School voor Kunst, Techniek en Ambacht.