Brera Academy of Fine Arts

The Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, also known as the Accademia di Brera, is a public university based at Brera 28 in Milan. The Academy was founded in 1776 by Maria Teresa of Austria with the purpose of " Teaching fine arts to craftsmen and private artists, to submit it to public scrutiny and public opinion »[without source]. The emperor's plan foresees the creation of a gravitational cultural center around the seventeenth-century Palazzo di Brera (which became public property in 1773) comprising, in addition to the Academy, the Lombard Institute of Science and Letters, the Braidense National Library, Astronomical Observatory and the botanical garden. The work was entrusted to architect Giuseppe Piermarini, who, in the same year, obtained the first chair of Architecture of the Academy [1]. Advertising poster for IV Triennial Exhibition (1900) In 1803 the Academy was reformed in the framework of a general reorganization of artistic teaching; The academic council was formed, consisting of thirty members, who expanded and defined the subjects of teaching: Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Ornate, Engraving, Perspective, Art Anatomy and Figure Elements. Two years later, the annual exhibitions began to become the most important contemporary art event in Italy throughout the nineteenth century [without source]; There were exhibitions of both Academy students and other Italian and European artists.