The image shows a drawing featuring multiple sketches, with the most prominent being a figure on horseback. The figure is shown from a three-quarter rear view, capturing most of the body of the horse and the rider. The rider's position is leaning slightly forward, holding a shield on their back, and pointing with their right arm extended outward. The facial features are obscured by a helmet, and the hair is not visible. The rider's clothing is indicative of armor, providing a sense of historical context, with details such as the helmet and shield being prominent. The horse is detailed, with its head in profile and showcasing the craftsmanship in the depiction of its mane. Around the rider, the background features additional sketches, including another rider in the upper right corner and a lightly sketched, unclothed figure in red chalk in the lower right area of the image. The background is a plain, textured surface, typical of aged paper, with no additional scenery or landscape details. The lack of color beyond the monochrome and red chalk emphasizes the drawing's nature as a study or draft.
Antonio Tempesta, A Soldier on Horseback and Other Studies, pen and brown ink and red chalk on laid paper, laid down on an old album sheet, Gift of Benjamin and Lillian Hertzberg, 2004.140.30

The Early History of the Accademia di San Luca

Explore research and scholarly essays about the Accademia di San Luca in Rome—one of the first academies of painters, sculptors, and architects, founded in 1593.


Initiated in 2007, this project is a collaboration of the National Gallery’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts in association with the Archivio di Stato di Roma and the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca. 
 

About the project

The Early History of the Accademia di San Luca was conceived, under the direction of associate dean Peter M. Lukehart, as a project in two parts: a volume of essays concerning the establishment of the Accademia and a database of rediscovered notarial documents that support current and future study of the Accademia and its members.

The Early History of the Accademia di San Luca features a variety of materials:

  • Scholarly essays in English and Italian
  • A repository of historical material including (1) notarial documents and (2) maps and guidebooks
  • A bibliography
  • An archived website of an earlier iteration of the project. 

The Early History of the Accademia di San Luca migrated to a number of open-source platforms in 2025–2026, offering the project team new opportunities to display its extensive content. 

The migration’s first stage was completed in December 2025: Essays were reissued and grouped into two volumes, organized by year of publication. These fully digital essays are built with Quire and are available as webpages, PDFs, and ePubs. 

The second part of the migration was completed in January 2026, with the launch of a new website housing notarial documents, historical maps, and guidebooks. This site is powered by Canopy IIIF, centering the display on IIIF manifests with transcriptions and annotations. The site offers a robust metadata search using simple words, artist names, location names, document types, years, etc. 

Both platforms—Quire and Canopy IIIF—rely on GitHub repositories, which are publicly available.

The study of academies of art in early modern Europe has always turned on current perceptions of the role of such institutions in the training and support of artists. Depending on one’s cultural and historical context, the academy assumes the role of hero (ushering in self-governance and the end of the guild system) or villain (opposing the avant-garde) in a continuous drama. This story spans nearly five hundred years, from about 1563, with the founding of the Accademia del Disegno in Florence, to the present day. These debates persist—especially within the fine arts departments of American universities that were modeled, to varying degrees, on European fine arts academies.  

The Roman Accademia di San Luca—as one of the oldest, most influential, and longest lived (it flourishes now)—provides a telling example of the critical fortune of European art academies more generally. When the original members of the Accademia met before the notary and laid out their founding principles in March 1593, the deputies cited the nobility of art, the glory of God, and the honor of their profession as their raisons d’être. They also mentioned the importance of the practical education of young artists. Only the last of these points might find resonance in the promotional literature of today’s academies of art. Rather than couching the goals of the profession under the abstract rubrics of nobility or divinity, the Yale University School of Art, on one hand, foregrounds notions of quality, creativity, criticality, and innovation. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, on the other hand, describes its mission as providing a global education, as well as instruction in history and theory, within a humanistic curriculum. Its stated objective is to encourage diverse and creative students to discover and develop their individual excellence in the visual arts.

The project

Recent event

Virtual Workshop :  Navigating Our New Interface

Watch a Zoom recording of our one-hour virtual workshop from March 16, 2026, exploring the new resources website for the Early History of the Accademia di San Luca research project.

Resources

See all resources

Notarial documents

Search and browse transcriptions of notarial documents from the 16th and 17th centuries preserved in Roman archives.

Maps and guidebooks

Explore historical maps and guidebooks that highlight places important to the Accademia’s development.

Publications

Essays :  On Girolama Parasole

Essays by Susan Nalezyty and Evelyn Lincoln, available in English and Italian, published in 2024.

Essays :  On the cameral obligation and notarial tradition

Essays by Antonia Fiori and Laurie Nussdorfer, available in English and Italian, published in 2023.

 

Publication:  The Accademia Seminars: The Accademia di San Luca in Rome, c. 1590–1635

This volume of essays reexamines the establishment and early history of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, one of the most important centers of governance, education, and theory in the arts for the early modern period and the model for all subsequent academies of art worldwide.

Forthcoming June 2026 :  Academies of Art in Europe and the Americas, 1600–1900

Edited by Peter M. Lukehart, Ulrich Pfisterer, and Oscar E. Vázquez, 17 essays from leading and emerging scholars examine academies from Brazil, Colombia, Italy, France, Germany, Mexico, Turkey, the United States, and beyond.

References

The image shows a man seated in a three-quarter view, facing the viewer. He has curly hair, pronounced cheekbones, a pointed chin, and a small beard and mustache. He is wearing a robe over a collared shirt and is holding a rolled-up document or book in his left hand. The background has parallel horizontal lines.

Bibliography

Search and sort a database of bibliographical resources on the history of the Accademia and its most prominent members.

Shown from the waist up, an elderly, balding, light-skinned man with a bushy white beard sits behind a table, facing us, in front of a winged angel who looks on in this shadowy, horizontal painting. The man sits with his body angled slightly to our right, and he turns his head to look in the opposite direction. His eyes are sunk in shadow under deeply furrowed brows, set in his lined face. His sparse, gray and white hair is tousled. He wears only a scarlet-red cloth draped across his lap and over his sinewy left arm, on our right. His open left hand is raised, palm up, at shoulder height. In his other hand, he holds a pen, hovering over a partially unwound scroll. His forearm rests on an open book beneath the scroll. He looks over his right shoulder at the curly-haired angel with snow-white wings. The angel wears a flowing, light blue robe with a golden yellow cloth draped around the chest and over the shoulders. Softly smiling, the backlit angel leans toward the man, face deep in shadow. With arms lifted, one hand gestures with a slightly crooked finger, pointing beyond the picture’s border to our left. In the other hand, the angel holds a golden horn in the dusky background behind the man’s left shoulder. Behind the man and angel and to our right, a single candle sits on two books lying in an arched wall niche. On the desk closest to us are a crumpled cloth on a book, a shiny rust-brown ball, a pair of eyeglasses, an inkpot, an hourglass, and a second book, to our right. Light coming from our upper left starkly illuminates the two people against the shadowed, earth-brown background.

Archived website

A web recorded version of the previous project website (2015–2025) is available at the Internet Archive. Please note that certain features like search and image zoom will not work on the archived site.

In our collection

Many of the artists who participated in the Accademia di San Luca from 1590 through the 1600s are represented by works of art in our collection.

  • The image is a drawing of a figure seated in a relaxed posture. The person has a beard, mustache, and short hair. A crown-like headpiece sits on their head. They are dressed in a flowing robe, with one hand on the arm of a chair or throne, and the other hand on the knee. The background is plain.
  • The relief depicts multiple figures in a scene. The central figure is a woman holding a child in her arms, surrounded by other figures. An older man with a beard is seated to the right, while another figure with spread wings is positioned behind and above them. The sculpture is crafted from a dark material, possibly bronze, with a smooth and textured appearance showcasing intricate details of the figures' garments and features. The artwork is octagonal and shows a high level of detail, suggesting a dynamic narrative moment captured in three dimensions.
  • The image shows a circular drawing of a man's upper body in profile, facing left. The man has a distinct facial profile with a prominent nose, mustache, and goatee. His dark hair is combed back, and he is wearing a high-collared garment. The background is light and textured, enclosed within a circular frame on a green square border. No jewelry or objects are visible in the man's hands.
  • This is a drawing of a battle scene with warriors on foot and horseback. The central focus is a fallen figure in armor lying on the ground surrounded by soldiers, while others appear to be advancing or in the midst of celebration and display of victory with raised spears and shields. In the foreground, soldiers in various armors, as well as horses, are depicted. The lines and shading suggest depth and action, capturing the chaotic moments of battle with a background filled with soldiers, banners, and tents, indicating a large-scale military camp behind the front lines.
  • This painting is a portrait of a seated woman, her body turned slightly to the right and her head looking towards us. She has a fair complexion, with round, rosy cheeks, pale eyebrows, large green eyes, and thin pink lips in a neutral expression. Her light blonde hair is styled in short curls close to her head and adorned with pearls and a clip or barrette in the shape of small leaves. She is dressed in a cream-colored dress with intricate embroidery in shades of brown, gold, and black. On top of the dress is a long black garment that flows over her shoulders and upper arms and has a high collar, decorative buttons, and more embroidery. Her gown is paired with a ruffled white collar and lace at her neckline and wrists. Long gold chains drape across her chest, and she wears a pearl necklace around her neck and two small golden rings on her fingers. In her left hand, our right, she holds a small book, while a lace handkerchief is in her right hand, our left. She wears pearl earrings, strands of pearl bracelets, and a decorative brooch in the shape of a white dog with a pink bow. The seat she sits on is wooden with dark red cushions decorated with golden tassels and embroidery, behind her on the left is a draped green cloth, and on the right, a table is covered with music sheets, a stringed instrument, books, and small blue and yellow ribbons. The wall behind the table is brown, and there is some gold lettering in the top right corner.
  • The image shows a man from the upper torso up, with a high forehead, receding brown hair, slightly curled above his ears, and a small goatee. The man looks directly at the viewer with a calm expression and slightly furrowed eyebrows. He is wearing a dark green coat with large buttons and a soft white collar, highlighted by light falling on it. There are no visible jewelry or objects in his hands. The background is a simple, muted brown tone. The name "Cesare Nebia" is inscribed on the lower section of the image, along with other text and numbers, partially cropped by the frame.
  • The image shows a cherubic figure in a suspended position amidst swirling clouds. The cherub has curly hair, a round face, and a serene expression. It is portrayed in classical art style without clothing, draped in flowing fabric. The cherub holds a leafy branch overhead. The background includes detailed clouds and fabric to imply motion and wind. Below the scene is a cartouche with scrollwork, a bearded face, and the words "NON SINE LABORE" inscribed. The artwork is an engraving with detailed line work and classical design elements.
  • Three women, one man, and a winged child gather near a cave opening within a vast, distant landscape in this horizontal painting. The people are small in scale, taking up the lower left quadrant of the composition, and all have pale skin. Near the lower left corner, the man sits on a rock with his back mostly to us, so we see him in profile. Red cloth drapes around his hips and legs, and his chest and arms are bare. He braces a long staff in his far hand, and raises his right hand, closer to us, and points at the women. He is cleanshaven with a straight nose, closed lips, and brown, shoulder-length hair. To our right, two women stand and one sits on a cloth-covered rock. All three have brown hair that has been pulled back. They also have straight noses, and their lips are parted. The woman at the center of this trio wears a coral-red dress under lapis-blue cloth that drapes across her legs and is held in one hand. Smoke-blue fabric billows behind her. She stands with her body angled to our left, and she looks down at the man in profile. The back of one hand, to our right, rests near that hip, holding the fabric, and she points up with the index finger of her other hand. A peacock with its tail fanned open stands next to her, to our left. The other two women are nude except for a white cloth that partially covers the soft, rounded contours of their bodies. To our left of the peacock and close to it, the second woman holds her drapery so it covers her breasts and her groin. Her body faces us, and she turns her face to look at the central woman. A nude, winged child holding an arrow stands between her and the man. A blue ribbon across the child’s chest holds a quiver of arrows on his back. The third woman is to our right, sitting on a rock draped with a goldenrod-yellow cloth. A white cloth covers her hips, and she leans forward, touching her sandal. A long lance rests under the yellow cloth, and a metal helmet with a red feather sits next to the rock. Six sheep lie or graze along the grassy ground, closer to us. The rocky outcropping with the cave opening rises steeply along the left edge of the composition. A waterfall is tucked into shadows just beyond the cave, and tall trees enclose the left half of the scene. Nearly reaching the top of the canvas, the cluster of trees near the center have dark green canopies. A rocky bank is shown nearly in silhouette in the lower right corner, in front of a deep landscape with a body of water winding through low, marshy areas and a flat-topped formation. Mountains are hazy purple in the deep distance. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition, and the sky above has mauve-pink and lavender-gray clouds sweeping across a vivid blue sky.
  • The image shows a man facing the viewer with a small, pointed mustache and a goatee. He has wavy, medium-length hair, and is wearing a textured cloak with a visible clasp. The background has a grid-like texture. There is a Latin inscription at the bottom of the image.
  • A nearly nude man and woman look up at a bearded man floating in front of a billowing red drapery in midair, accompanied by five chubby children in this horizontal painting. All the people have pale or peachy skin. The man and woman on the ground, Adam and Eve, take up the left half of the composition and are shown near a grove of trees. Adam, to our right in the pair, stands with knees bent, his body facing us. He holds both open hands, palm up, toward Eve, to our left. His head tips to our right and he looks up at the bearded man, God, with dark eyes under raised brows. Adam has a brown beard and curly hair. He wears a ring of leaves across his hips but is otherwise nude. His cheek and nose, hands, knees, and toes are pink, and muscles stand out on his torso, arms, and legs. To our left, Eve kneels on one knee and braces her other leg on her splayed toes. Her body is angled to our left, and she turns back to look up at Adam. She has long blond hair, and her skin is more pale than the others. She also wears leaves around her hips, and her torso and legs are bare. Her left hand, closer to Adam, rests on her thigh. With her other hand, she points to a striped snake on the ground. The trees behind them have dark green leaves and yellow fruit. The dirt ground beneath them has some scrubby green growth. Close to Adam, God and his attendants float above a lion and a lamb on the ground, all taking up the right half of the composition. God’s gray beard and hair blow back as if in a wind. He wears a topaz-blue, knee-length toga. His body faces us, and he leans to our left, almost horizontally, toes pointed off to our right. He reaches his right arm, to our left, toward Adam. His other arm stretches out and rests on a black orb, about the size of a basketball. He is supported to our left by two child-like angels, wearing brick red or golden yellow robes. Three smaller children, like toddlers, gather around the black orb. The red cloth billowing around God and the angels creates a shell-like form that surrounds them. The white lamb lies below and looks at Adam and Eve, and the lion crouches and looks off to our left. Trees and grassy knolls lead back to distant, blue hills. A horse and bear stand, tiny in scale, in the distant landscape. The horizon comes about halfway up the painting, and the vivid blue sky above is clear. In the lower right corner, the inventory number “F.7” is painted in yellow.
  • This drawing features figures and cherubs among the clouds. It depicts multiple celestial beings interacting in an ethereal environment, surrounded by swirling clouds. The drawing uses soft, flowing lines in red and black chalk to convey movement and lightness. The figures wear garments and wings, adding to the dynamic flair of the scene. The composition creates depth through layered arrangements of figures.
  • The image shows a group of four figures from their waists upwards. Three figures are seated while one stands. They are gathered around a sleeping child on a soft surface, possibly a cushion. The child has a serene expression, eyes closed, and curled hair. One figure seated on the right holds the child, while another on the left looks at them. The background figure stands with voluminous hair and large wings. All figures are dressed in flowing garments with intricate folds. The setting appears to be an interior space with a hint of a landscape seen through a window or arch in the background.
  • The image shows two full-body figures placed within an interior setting. On the left, an angel with large wings and curly hair is shown with one hand raised and the other holding a stem of flowers. The angel wears flowing garments with drapery detailing. On the right stands a woman, possibly a virgin, with long hair and delicate features, dressed in robes and extending one arm forward. The space around them includes clouds with cherubic faces and architectural elements such as a window with patterns and a book on a slanted surface. The background features structured interior elements like arches, columns, and fabric textures.
  • The bas-relief sculpture depicts Pope Urban VIII in profile, wearing intricate clerical vestments with floral and vine patterns. The sculpture is made of copper, giving it a reddish-brown hue with visible textures. The lettering around the upper edge reads "URBANVS VIII PONT MAX A V." The piece is small and circular, resembling a medal or commemorative coin.
  • This free-standing, white marble sculpture shows the head, shoulders, and upper chest of a balding, bearded man. In this photograph, his body faces us and he looks straight ahead. Bushy eyebrows arch low over deeply set eyes, and his forehead hollows inward at his temples. He has high cheekbones and the skin of his cheeks draws slightly in. His thin lips are set in a straight line within a full beard. His high-necked robe falls slightly open over his chest and is cut also away over the shoulders to show the crinkled fabric of the garment beneath. The bottom edge of the sculpture curves upward in a very shallow U across the bottom, and is supported by a square pedestal foot decorated with scroll designs. The background behind the bust lightens from charcoal gray along the top edge to pale gray across the bottom, and the sculpture casts a shadow behind its base.
  • The drawing depicts a full-length figure of a person standing in a slightly turned position with the head turned to the left. The facial features are minimal, and the hair is styled simply. The individual wears draped, flowing garments that suggest a robe or gown, with folds and layers adding volume and texture. The figure's arms are bent at the elbows, holding up a portion of the garment. There are no visible accessories or objects. The background is plain, drawing attention solely to the figure. The artwork is rendered in reddish-brown hues, indicative of a sepia or sanguine sketch on paper.
  • The image shows an engraving of a man's bust. He is positioned slightly turned to his left, looking directly at the viewer. The man has a prominent nose, deep-set eyes, and a mustache that curls upward. His hair is short and slightly unkempt, and he has a pointed beard. He wears an intricately detailed garment with a large ruffled collar and decorative patterns. The garment shows detailed cross-hatching work and looks rich in texture. He wears a chain with a cross pendant. The background is plain, with no visible scenery or objects. The engraving is framed within an octagonal border, with text around the frame, presumably identifying the subject and the artist.
  • The sculpture depicts a woman in a flowing robe holding a child. The woman has short, dark hair, rosy cheeks, and wears a serene expression. Her eyes are looking downward. She is dressed in richly patterned and colorful garments with a palette of gold, red, and dark green hues. One of her hands is extended outward, while the other holds a child. The child, dressed in a brown garment, looks directly ahead with wide eyes and a calm demeanor. The child has curly brown hair and extends one arm outward. At the base of the sculpture, four cherubic faces emerge from the bottom of the woman's robes. Two of them look upward, towards the woman, while the other two look off to the sides.
  • This is a drawing depicting a complex allegorical scene. The central figure appears to be carved from stone with flowing hair and a headpiece resembling feathers or leaves. A cherubic figure with wings holds a small trumpet nearby. Various items like a basket and a scroll are scattered on the ground. The line work creates rich texture and intricate detail, defining the leaves, fabric, and mythical figures in the drawing.
  • This is a drawing of celestial beings and creatures in a mythological scene. The drawing shows a grandiose spectacle with figures in various stages of action and contemplation. In the top section, winged figures are assembled around two dragon-like creatures, set against a backdrop of light from a sun. Below, a bearded figure draped in a garment is reclining on a raised platform, looking towards the scene above. The drawing uses sepia ink washes, giving it an ancient and elegant appearance.
  • A young woman plays a small pipe organ while a winged angel holds up a piece of sheet music in this horizontal painting. A strong light source illuminates the scene from our right, creating deep shadows in the dark background. Both the woman and angel have pale skin, flushed cheeks, and light brown hair. Shown from the knees up and taking up the left half of the painting, the woman’s body is angled to our right as she sits at the organ, which is near the right edge of the composition. Her hair is pulled back into a braid, and wisps fall on her forehead. Her skin is smooth, and her head tilts down toward the organ. Her cherry-red dress has a squared neckline and olive-green sleeves over a white shirt. The voluminous sleeves are pushed back over her forearms as she rests her fingertips on the keys of the organ. Gazing toward the woman, the angel has short, curly hair, silvery gray wings, and wears a topaz-blue garment. Two lines of music on the paper the angel holds have notes written in and one staff is empty. The small organ is angled away from us so we see one narrow end and the row of low pipes along its back. The dark brown background lightens behind the young woman’s head.
  • The image shows a drawing of a person's upper body in a side profile view. The person's head is slightly tilted upwards, with detailed facial features including pronounced cheekbones and a strong jawline. The person has short, neat hair and what appears to be the start of a beard or facial hair. The drawing does not depict any clothing color variations but appears to show a collar. The person is not wearing any jewelry or holding any objects. The background is plain and unembellished.
  • A group of four men with pale skin, shown from the waist up, almost fill this square painting. Light pours onto the scene from the upper left and falls across the upturned face of the bearded, bare-chested man, Saint Bartholomew, who is situated with his back facing us and his arms spread wide. In the top right corner, his right wrist is lashed to a pole that extends off the top edge of the painting. His other arm is bent at the elbow near the lower left corner, and he holds that hand palm up. His profile, facing our left, is bright against the shadowed background. His mouth is slightly agape, and his eyebrows are raised as he looks up toward the light that bathes his lithe, muscular body. His long beard is streaked with gray, and he has receding black hair. A second, broad-shouldered man, draped in a brown cloak, stands facing us behind and just to our left of Saint Bartholomew. The younger man holds a knife in one hand resting against a black, rod-like sharpener held in the other. He turns his head to gaze at Saint Bartholomew, his eyes deep in shadow. He also has a furrowed brow and a craggy, ruddy complexion. Two more men stand behind him, to our left, filling the left side of the painting. The man on the far left has smooth skin, a trimmed beard, and short brown hair. He stands in profile looking to our right and wears a cranberry-red cloak. Barely visible beyond him, to our right, is a man wearing a gray-green hood hiding half his face. His features are loosely painted and faint, but he also looks up, either toward the young man or the light from above. All four are surrounded by deep shadows against a brown background.
  • Twelve people and one child stand, sit, or kneel along a riverbank in this horizontal painting. All the people have pale or tanned skin, and are muscular. They are in various stages of undress, wearing robes of golden yellow, ruby red, petal pink, azure blue, or cream white. To our right of center, a man, Jesus, stands facing us with his arms crossed over his chest. He wears a blue robe wrapped loosely across his shoulders and across his hips. He looks down, his blond hair falling alongside his face, as another man, wearing red, pours water from a shallow dish onto his head. A white dove flies with wings spread overhead. To our right of Jesus, one kneeling person wearing white holds up Jesus’s blue robes and another looks on, wearing a sage green robe and holding a voluminous rose-pink cloth. To our left, a group of five men react by throwing up hands, pointing upward, or looking up. One man with a gray beard and hair stands and bows his head over praying hands. A young boy wraps the arm we can see across the praying man's hips. Three more men to the left of this group pause as they undress to look toward Jesus. All the men stand or sit among puddles as a river spans the width of the painting behind the group and winds into the distance to our right. At the center of the composition, three men stand or recline on a grassy mound on the far side of the river. Tucked under trees at the peak of the mound, a smudge of white could be another kneeling person. Two more people walk along a path that crests the mound to our left. Mountains in the distance are slate blue beneath a vivid blue sky streaked with white clouds.
  • The image shows a landscape with a tree on the left and architectural structures in the distance. There is a prominent obelisk-like structure on a raised plinth. The painting features fine and intricate brushstrokes, capturing the texture of the tree bark and the outlines of the architecture. The color palette is monochromatic, using a sepia or brown ink. The composition is balanced with the tree in the foreground and the architecture in the background, creating a serene landscape.