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THE
AMERICAN ACADEMY
IN ROME

1894-1914,
THE
AMERICAN ACADEMY
IN ROME
 

 

THE
AMERICAN ACADEMY
IN ROME

1894-1914

NEW YORK

PRINTED BY PRIVATE SUBSCRIPTION

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FOREWORD

HE American Academy in Rome and the American

School of Classical Studies in Rome were both founded
in the Spring of 1894. Now, that they are united in one in-
stitution, they are celebrating together their twentieth anni-
versary in this year, 1914.

In connection with this celebration, it has been thought
well to publish this memorial book. It contains, by way of
text, three short addresses which were delivered at a dinner in
honor of the new winners of the Roman Prize held in Septem-
ber, 1913. One address is by an artist, one by an art critic,
and one by the director of a great museum. By way of illus-
tration, a selection has been made from the works of the
Roman Prize men, done in Rome itself. It has not been pos-
sible to give graphic expression to the work of the Classical
School, but he who wishes examples of it can find them in
the two volumes of ‘‘Supplementary Papers” which the
School has published.

As the Academy steps forward to the larger tasks now set
before it, it asks the sympathy and the co-operation of all those
who desire for America that peculiar and fruitful synthesis of
Art and the Humanities, which is the especial gift of the
Eternal City.

JeSSE BENEDICT CARTER,
Director.
CONTENTS

PAGE
PORE WORDCassasias origi eniaacoyreseeciletiiesaedades ies 5
ADDRESSES AT THE ANNUAL DINNER, September Io, 1913:
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ILLUSTRATIONS:
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ADDRESSES
AT THE
ANNUAL DINNER

SEPTEMBER 10, 1913
REMARKS OF DR. EDWARD ROBINSON

UST as soon as the American Academy in Rome shall become
known by its fruits, just as soon as its artist-graduates shall
prove by the work done after their return home that the stand-
ard of the art produced in this country has been raised materi-
ally by the opportunities which the Academy has afforded them,
and its young scholars are seen to have advanced our knowl-
edge and appreciation of classical culture, then there is no doubt
in the minds of its friends that it will receive from our people
the generous support which it so richly deserves, and so badly
needs. In the meantime, however, it labors under the serious
disadvantage of having engaged in a pioneer work, not of the
higher, but of the highest education, an education which by
its very requirements, both of ability and previous attainments,
must necessarily be restricted to the few. It is to give these
few every possible advantage which can come from immediate
association with and constant study of the works of the great
_ masters of the past, in the atmosphere in which they were
created, that the Academy primarily exists. Although its
privileges have never been, and will not be, denied to others
who are qualified to share in them, it is first of all for a small —
body of men and women, selected in America for their high

qualifications, that its Founders are struggling to procure an
II
THE AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME

endowment fund which shall ensure it a stable foundation in
a setting worthy to be compared with those of similar institu-
tions established in Rome by other nations—a fund which shall
enable it to provide fellowships that will relieve its students
of the burden of expense which the majority of them are not
prepared to incur; to furnish them with a home in which the
painters, sculptors and architects, as well as the students of
ancient art and literature, may live together, and thereby attain
that breadth of view in their several vocations which must
naturally come from an interchange of ideas upon subjects
in which they have a common interest, but which they ap-
proach from different standpoints; to supply them with stu-
dios, workrooms and a library; to give to the institution a
meeting place or lecture hall where not only its students but
visitors to Rome may learn about the ruins and monuments of
its older civilizations from those competent to describe them ;
and finally to secure for its students the guidance of men who
are really qualified to help, and to lead them as directors of its
several schools or departments. All this the friends of the
Academy hope to accomplish, not as a reward to a limited num-
ber of young people who have shown exceptional ability or
proficiency, but because through them they believe they can
and will benefit American art and scholarship far beyond the
limits of the Academy itself.

It is, however, in this matter of restricted numbers that the
Academy is doing what is for America a pioneer work, and
that it has encountered its chief difficulty in enlisting general
support. Because it is for a few it has appealed to a few among
those who are able and ready to give large amounts to a cause

in which they believe. Were we prepared to show that we
12
REMARKS OF DR. EDWARD ROBINSON

intended to send large numbers of students to Rome as soon as
means could be provided for the purpose, large subscriptions
would most probably flow in. Numbers always and naturally
appeal as strong arguments. Our colleges have always been
most liberally supported by our rich men. The larger they have
grown, the more generous has been the support. Of recent
years, Graduate Schools, though providing for a much smaller
number of students, have also come into line as recognized
objects of help, and they too are being liberally endowed; but
for the graduate of the Graduate School, for the man who has
learned all that America can teach him, but who still needs
what can be got only from study in Europe, little has been
done beyond providing occasional travelling scholarships.
What the holders of these scholarships are to do when they
arrive in Europe it has been left for them to determine, and
they would still have to find for themselves facilities for the
pursuit of their studies, were it not for an agency like the
Academy. Advanced students of sculpture, painting and
architecture are placed in the same predicament. They have
learned all that can be taught in the American Schools, and in
the best of these this is much, but they emerge without the
actual association with the buildings, the sculptures, or the
great mural decorations of the past, which is absolutely essen-
tial for bringing out the best that is in them, and for enabling
them to meet the requirements which are placed upon American
artists by the number and the character of our public and pri-
vate buildings of to-day.

When we come to this highest region of education, it is
only with the ablest that it pays as an investment. Mediocri-
ties will remain mediocrities, however much they absorb, and

13
THE AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME

though they may do respectable work, they do not advance
the standard or the reputation of the country. It is a waste of
both resource and energy to carry them beyond a certain point
by enabling them to live on somebody or something in the vain
hope of developing a genius which does not exist. This the
Academy distinctly does not wish to do. It is of necessity an
expensive undertaking, the cost per student must inevitably be
out of all proportion to that in a college or an art school, and
its managers are right in thinking that this cost should be re-
turned by work of the highest quality as a result of the advan-
tages it offers. For such advantages it therefore seeks to
obtain only those who are best qualified by natural ability and
previous training. If numbers are to be taken into account,
there is certainly a strong argument in the fact that for a single
fellowship which was recently awarded there were no less than
one hundred and six competitors! Students at least appreciate
what the Academy is trying to offer.

There is one other point which should not be overlooked.
While the scheme of the Academy is in the nature of pioneer
work so far as American education is concerned, it has long
since passed that stage in other countries, and with most
brilliant and profitable results. To select two distinguished
examples, France established her famous Ecole de Rome as
long ago as 1661, when it was founded by Louis XIV for pre-
cisely the same purpose as that followed by our Academy to-
day; and since 1801 it has had as its home the stately Villa
Medici, which was acquired with the object of ‘‘giving its stu-
dents a dignified and secluded retreat, surrounded by influences
which should conduce to work and to artistic inspiration, with
the Eternal City spread below them.”” The ‘‘Prix de Rome,”

14
REMARKS OF DR. EDWARD ROBINSON

which entitles the holder to residence in that Villa, with all its
advantages, is the highest honor which a young French artist
can attain, and that France herself has benefited by the oppor-
tunities she has thus offered is well attested by the long line of
famous artists who during the last century have had their final
preparation in that school. Germany has had its Archaeological
Institute on the Capitoline Hill since 1829, offering its hospi-
tality and its unrivalled library to a limited number of advanced
students who are sent there on a government stipend, and in
it some of the most eminent German scholars have won their
reputation. A few Americans are trying to do for our country
in this respect what the governments of other countries have
done for theirs; and stimulated by the success that has been
achieved through such institutions, they look forward with
entire confidence to the results if their efforts can secure ade-
quate financial support. For my own part | believe that their
high expectations are amply justified by what has already been
accomplished.
REMARKS OF MR. ROYAL CORTISSOZ

HE American Academy in Rome is nothing if not a place

for study and | warmly sympathize with all that has been

said in advocacy of that high ideal of hard work and pure
scholarship which unquestionably should prevail there. But
there is a side of the subject on which I like more particularly
to dwell, as having in its way an equally great significance.
This I would call the purely human side. There is an old story
about two English gentlemen who met one day in Piccadilly,
when one said to the other, ‘‘The editor of ‘The Times’ has
just been married.” ‘‘Thank God,” exclaimed the recipient of
this charming news, ‘‘ ‘The Times’ has at last got in touch
with humanity.”’ That is a point of view which I think it is
well to keep in mind where our Academy in Rome is con-
cerned. The rule now is, | understand, that only unmarried
students are eligible, and that they must stay unmarried until
their course is finished. It seems to mea good rule, but I hope
that in spite of it the students will keep their hearts as well as
their minds open to merely human interests. To get the best
out of Rome you must, while you are there, feel as well as think.
I remember how, years ago, when Mr. McKim was turn-

ing this great scheme over in his mind, I was modestly turning

something like it over in mine. I was in Rome, and, wonder-
16
REMARKS OF MR. ROYAL CORTISSOZ

ing why America shouldn’t have an Academy of its own, |
went to talk about it with various artists and functionaries. |
talked with Guillaume, the Director of the French Academy.
I talked with the Director of the Spanish Academy. And, as |
say, | talked with numerous artists, all of them men who had
long lived and worked in Rome. The testimony of the entire
company was that Rome was a good place in which to study,
but the student should go elsewhere, to Paris, for example, for
instruction in the rudiments. The important thing in Rome,
they said, was just the broad, spiritual inspiration that you got
there. It was not a school of training but an appeal to the
imagination. I was doubly glad to hear them, for this was
the conviction with which I had myself started, the convic-
tion that has only been strengthened by repeated visits to
Rome. |

It was, | may add, Mr. McKim’s conviction, which cropped
out whenever he talked with me or wrote to me about the
- Academy. I know he was always anxious that in anything |
published about it | should lay stress upon his not wanting the
Academy to be a kind of harness or mould, compelling each
student to sink his individuality in a definite architectural
tradition. What he wanted was for them to cultivate in Rome
a free play of mind, to let themselves be fertilized and fortified
by the ennobling influences around them. | once saw a little
of him in Rome. We were in the Vatican together and again
in one of the great villas. He was full of wisdom, full of his
architectural genius, but never anywhere did I ever know him
to be fuller of the mere joy in life. He was keen upon nothing
more nor less than the beauty which meets you at every
corner in Rome. At the Villa Doria Pamphili he laughed

17
THE AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME

and joked. That night at dinner he was interested in the
dinner. In short, Mr. McKim hadn’t any time, even in Rome,
to be grand, gloomy and peculiar. The inspiration that he
found there he took in at the pores, so to say. It was all in
the day’s work, or, | should say, in the day’s pleasure.

It is, of course, desirable for the student to dig deep into
his books, to measure buildings, to frame careful drawings,
and, in a word, to remember his profession. But what I would
like to say to the generous men who contribute to the Academy
is that their money is never being better spent than when it
is enabling a student of painting, sculpture, architecture or
archaeology to take long purposeless rambles through the
streets, or to sit idly under Tasso’s oak on the Janiculum, look-
ing with dreamy eyes over the panorama of the city. To.
wander across the Campagna and to see the grand lines of the
aqueducts, or the divine curves of the dome of St. Peter’s
floating in the violet light, is to be stirred and enriched, it is to
take into one’s being indefinable impressions that will ever
thereafter react upon one’s imagination and one’s artistic
character. After all, you bring back from Rome only what you
take there. You are not sent to the Academy unless you have
unmistakable gifts and those gifts are to be developed not by
rule of thumb, not by lessons, not by work alone. They are
to be developed, | repeat, by what you feel as a human being,
by your excitement and happiness under the pressure of the
glorious things you see. The student is not sent there, I take
it, to imitate Michael Angelo or Bramante. He is sent there to
be thrilled by what they did, and to learn from contemplation
of their works the fundamental principles of great art.

In one of his letters Lowell speaks of having been to hear
18
REMARKS OF MR. ROYAL CORTISSOZ

Emerson, when the latter, in his old age, was at his vaguest as
a lecturer. The lecture, Lowell said, was chaotic and obscure,
but every now and then something in it stirred him as with
the sound of trumpets and he left the place feeling that some-
thing fine had passed that way. So itisin Rome. It would
take a lifetime to accumulate formal knowledge of the city and
to co-ordinate it, but you cannot be there for an hour without
experiencing what | can only describe as an uplifting invasion
of the spirit. And you won’t feel that, | maintain, if you are
too pedantic in your mood, too much of the bookworm, too
much of the scholar. You have got to stay human and simple.
It’s a good thing to explore St. Peter’s with a critical eye. It’s
a good thing also to sit down for your dinner at one of the
little open-air tables before the restaurant across the vast square,
and, as you dine, to absorb the grandeur and the beauty of
that heroic space, held within the lines of Bernini’s stupendous
colonnade. You don’t think about it in any solemn, academic
fashion. You just get unconsciously saturated in it. With your
chianti you drink in an inspiration that will last you all your
life. That’s the thing to go to Rome for, inspiration. To let
your taste grow and suffer refinement. To learn instinctively
the meaning of proportion and discipline in architectural
design. To adventure, like a man, among masterpieces. You
may or may not, when you get back to America, choose to do
your work in the tradition of the Renaissance. But no matter
in what style you work you will work the better for having
lived in the atmosphere of Rome. It is like reading the classics
in literature or hearing them in music. It steadies your judg-
ment, enlarges, disciplines and heightens the powers of your

mind—and yet leaves them free.
| c
REMARKS OF MR. KENYON COX

S I sat here this evening, Mr. Chairman, | have been think-
ing of the enormous difference between the advantages
these young men have enjoyed, and the greater advantages
they are about to enjoy, and the conditions under which we
elder men began and carried on the study of our art. Forty years
ago there were no schools of art in this country worthy of the
name, and to get any serious training in painting, in sculpture
or in architecture, one had to go abroad for it. If we could
manage, by hook or by crook, to get together the money for a
trip, let us say, to Paris, we arrived there with no preparation
for what we had to learn, and we spent two or three years in
the study of such bare rudiments as should have been mastered
before we left home.

And even in Paris, at that time, there was very little in-
tercourse between the students of the different branches of art
and very little in the studies pursued to give the student any
notion of the unity of the arts or of the history and nature of
art as a whole. The painters, the sculptors, the architects,
were shut in their special ateliers and knew nothing of the
problems that confronted their fellows of the other crafts.
And, at least in the schools of painting, we were not given any

large views even of our own art. We were set to draw and to
20
REMARKS OF MR. KENYON COX

paint from nature as literally as we could manage it, but we
were told nothing of the aims of our art, of its history, or even
of its technical problems. At the age of twenty-five or thirty,
if we had been industrious and serious-minded, we had learned
to draw pretty accurately, without any style, and to paint very
badly. Ofthe production of a picture we knew next to nothing
and of the relationship of the arts nothing whatever. What we
have been able to do we have had to do in virtue of such educa-
tion as we have since given ourselves. We have had to learn
our art by practising it.

These young men, as is proved by their success in the
preliminary examinations they have passed and the final com-
petitions they have undergone, have already learned the rudi-
ments of their several arts in schools as good as any in the
world. They know, already, about what we knew when we
returned to America at the end of our studentship. Indeed,
they know more, for the problems set them in their competi-
tions have necessitated some thought on the relationship of
the arts. We have not asked the painter, for instance, for a
bit of painting merely; we have asked him for a project of
decoration—that is, for a bit of painting related to a possible
scheme of architecture. And now these young men, standing
about where we stood when we returned from Europe, are to
be sent to Italy, that for three years they may study, under
ideal conditions of leisure and dignity and lack of material cares,
not merely painting or sculpture or architecture, but art itself.
The students of the three arts will be intimately associated,
will watch each other’s progress, will learn to understand each
other’s problems, will inevitably come to see these problems

are fundamentally the same problems, and that their several
21
THE AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME

arts are but so many facets of that many-sided crystal which
is art.

And soon they are to be associated also in what I am sure
will prove a mutually helpful relation with the students of
archaeology. The artists should be able to teach the archae-
ologists, what archaeologists sometimes forget, that art is a
living thing, not a collection of specimens, with pins through
them, like dead butterflies in a glass case. And the archae-
ologists can certainly teach the artists that art is a continuity,
that to know it one must know its past as well as its present,
and that an educated artist is something more than an artist
who is up to date.

Think, Mr. Chairman, what such an opportunity for real
education would have meant to some of us. Think what it
may mean, now, for these young men, and for the future of
art in this country. If some of the pensioners of this Academy
do not accomplish far more than any of us have been able to
accomplish it will surely be from some lack in themselves, not
from any lack of opportunity. Among those pensioners who
have come home and are here to-night are some who have
shown real talent and real seriousness of endeavor. | see no
reason to believe that true talent and true devotion will be lack-
ing in the future more than in the past, and | confidently
expect that some of these young men will accomplish far more
than we, their elders, have accomplished. May the three who
are our especial guests this evening be among those who shall
demonstrate by their future work the value of that education
which is freely offered them by the American Academy in
Rome.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF WORK
DONE AT THE ACADEMY
IN ROME

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