The origin of the current Faculty of Fine Arts dates back to the middle of the 18th century, during the reign of Fernando VI, when he founded the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid (12 April 1752). The purpose of the new organisation, according to article 1 of its statutes was: “to promote the studies and cultivation of painting, sculpture, architecture and music, stimulating practice and disseminating good artistic taste through examples and the doctrine”.  The first statutes followed the models of Academies in Paris and Rome. The French Royal Academy of Fine Arts was created during the reign of Luis XIV, in 1648, with the aim of elevating the social condition of the painters, placing them at the service of the crown and culminating in the ancient guild order. The Academy trained artists and their education ended with the possibility of winning the Grand Prix de Rome, a grant to live in the organisation’s headquarters in Rome. Upon returning to the residence, the candidate had to present one of their works and if it passed the test, they would join the Academy and could exhibit their works in the rooms. From 1725, these official exhibitions were held in the Salon curré at the Louvre. This was the origin of the name of Salón for the exhibitions held every two years from 1748 to 1795. This model was copied across Europe: in 1752, the Royal Academy of San Fernando was founded in Madrid, and in 1768, the Royal Academy of England was founded.

The first headquarters of the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts was the Casa de la Panadería in Plaza Mayor, Madrid, in 1745. In 1774, sponsorship from Carlos III enabled them to buy the Goyeneche Palace, or Casa de la Miel, on Calle Alcala, 11, a building of Baroque architecture by José de Churriguera. Diego de Villanueva renovated the building and the Academy occupied the basement and the first floor. The back of the office, on Calle de la Aduana, was dedicated to the school. In 1752, the Academy had more than 300 students; this reached 1,079 by the end of the 18th century.

During the reign of Isabel II, an educational reform definitively separated the School from the Academy. The Moyano Law (R.D. 7 Oct. 1857) elevated the studies in the School of Fine Arts to the category of higher education. These studies included: Pictorial anatomy, Perspective, Historical studies, Studies of life and attire, Colours, Landscape, Composition applied to painting and sculpture, Modelling and Theory and History of Fine Arts. The School remained in the Goyeneche Palace with the Academy until October 1967. In the same year, the first course was given at the School of Fine Arts at the Ciudad Universitaria, in the building that it still currently occupies, on Calle del Greco, 2, a building created by architect Pascual Bravo. This building was later completed with facilities that were initially intended to house the Museum of Artistic Reproductions, a work by architect Victor de’Ors.

The General Law of Education in 1970 converted the Schools of Fine arts into faculties. According to Royal Decree of 14 April 1978: “The Schools in Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Seville and Valencia will be converted into university faculties under the name of Faculty of Fine Arts.” On this date, the San Fernando School of Fine Arts was incorporated in the Complutense University.

The European Convergence Programme established a revision of the Fine Arts study plan and created three different undergraduate degrees: Fine Arts; Conservation and Restoration; and Design. The Fine Arts degree started in the 2009-10 academic year and the other degree had to wait until the 2011-12 academic year. The White Paper for designing degrees related to Fine Arts also considers the future creation of a new knowledge area connected to Photography and Video.

As a reminder of its past in the 18th century, the faculty preserves an important collection of naked paintings in its library. There are 285 paintings dating between 1752 and 1914 that were done by former students, many of whom were boarding in Rome. Only one of them is signed by a woman, Marcelina Poncela y Ontoria, one of the six students registered at the Special School of Painting, Sculpture and Embossing, in 1884. Over time she would become the wife of playwright Enrique Jardiel Poncela. 1878-79 was the first year that students were registered at the School, but women were unable to sign up to two subjects: Pictorial Anatomy and Colour and Composition. This serves as a reminder that, across Europe, women were not admitted to life drawing classes until the end of the 19th century. In these classes students studied anatomy and learnt to correctly represent figures, but studies of the naked body was considered to damage female values such as modesty and purity. England and the United States were the first places that female education overcame these prejudices. There were five students in the Royal Academy in London in 1862, which later reached 130 in 1879. Only students of painting had classes with naked models in 1893, and these classes were not mixed until 1903.

On 3 March 1923, King Alfonso XIII led the official opening of the Library of the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid. Historian Ian Gibson recounts in his biography on Salvador Dalí, then a controversial student, his intention to make the most of this event by launching an anti-monarchy protest, including manufacturing “a bomb of a protest, but not to kill”. Sculptor Cristino Mallo, one of Dalí’s best friends at the time, revisited the protest sixty years on: “During the King’s visit, Dalí and Rigol wore a red ribbon in the buttonhole and were shouting in Catalan.” 

 

Bibliography:

Diego, Estrella de. La mujer y la pintura del siglo XIX español. Madrid, Cátedra, 1987.

Gibson, Ian. The shameful life of Salvador Dalí. Barcelona, Anagrama, 1998, pages. 153-154.

Libro Blanco para diseño de la titulación: Bellas Artes. Aneca. European Convergence Plan, Design of Study Plans and Undergraduate Degrees, June 2004.

Vían Herrero, Ángeles. “Facultad de Bellas Artes”. In: Gállego Rubio, Mª Cristina y Méndez Aparicio, Juan Antonio. Historia de la Biblioteca de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Editorial Complutense, Madrid, 2007.

 Beatriz Fernández Ruiz

 

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