The Naples
Academy of Fine Arts
 The Naples Academy of Fine Arts is
among the oldest academies in Europe. It was founded
in 1752 at the behest of Charles
III of Bourbon and was situated on the premises
of the church of San Carlo alle
Mortelle, the site of a pre-existing sculpture
workshop. In 1780 the academy was relocated to the
premises of the university (now the National Archaeological Museum)
and moved again in 1864 (just after the Kingdom of
Naples was joined to the nation state of Italy) to the
current premises, the ex-convent complex of S. Giovanni delle Monache.
The nucleus of that convent goes back to 1593. The
monastery was closed under the reign of Murat in the early 1800s, but
later reopened. In the 1850s, a massive restructuring
of this ancient area (adjacent to the submerged Greek
walls of the city) included the demolition of a nearby
city gate and the laying of a new street that divided
the convent church from the convent itself. The
convent was then closed by the new Italy and restored
to become the new art academy by Errico Alvino (1809-1876),* a professor at
the academy and the architect in charge of the general
rebuilding of the entire area.
The academy is near
the Bellini Theater,
the National Archaeological
Museum and the music
conservatory. The entrance is marked by two
bronze lions, the works of Tommaso Solari
(1829-1897), a prominent Neapolitan sculpture of the
day. The entrance fronts on a pedestrian mall with the
sidewalk cafes typical of many such places in Europe
where young artists and musicians gather. Inside,
there is a monumental double stairway (guarded by a
replica of Michelangelo's David—photo, above) that leads up to
a small theater, lecture halls, workshops, library,
and art gallery on the two floors above and around the
central courtyard; the stairway is the work of Giuseppe Pisanti
(1826-1913)*2.
The art gallery holds a large collection, mostly of
works by artists connected in some way with the
academy itself.
Currently, the
curriculum is structured around courses of study of
two years and three years in six departments:
decoration, graphic design, painting, art restoration,
stage and set design, and sculpture. The department of
art restoration provides an additional two-year
graduate program specializing in modern and
contemporary art.
*Alvino was from Rome but was particularly active
in Naples. His architectural output was prodigious.
Besides the Art Academy, his other works in the city
include designing the façade of the church of S. Maria di Piedigrotta
[1853]; laying out (with others) what was effectively
the first tangenziale
in the city, the long east-west road, Corso Maria Teresa
(today called Corso
Vittorio Emanuele II, completed in 1870);
planning the restoration of the façade
of the Naples cathedral;
redesigning (with others) the seaside park, the Villa Comunale, and
adjacent area; and designing the main train station
(1866), (eventually replaced in 1960).
*2
Pisani studied under Alvino at the art academy.
When Alvino died in 1876, Pisani took over his
position. He worked to finish his teacher’s projects;
on his own, he designed primarily religious
architecture in Naples and elsewhere in southern
Italy. He had a reputation as a very creative
architect and, above all, a humble person. He
gave away his possessions towards the end of his life
and retired to a single small room. His tomb at the
Poggioreale cemetery was designed by one of his
students, Silvio Castrucci.
to
alphabetical index to portal index for art
|
