Brera Academy

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Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera
Established 1776
Type Public
Rector Gastone Mariani
Students 3,800[1]
Location Milan,  Italy
Campus Urban
Website www.accademiadibrera.milano.it

The Academy of Fine Arts of Brera (Italian: Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera), also known as Brera Academy (Accademia di Brera), is a public academic institution located in Milan, Italy. It was founded in 1776 by HIM Maria Theresa of Austria.

Contents

[edit] Overview

The main objective is to teach and research within the creative arts (painting, sculpting, graphics, photo, video, etc.), and cultural historical disciplines.

Under the current Italian MIUR (Ministry of Education, University and Research) regulations, the Brera Academy is included in the university program in the field of the Artistic and Musical Training issuing academic diplomas of first level (equivalent to degree) and academic diplomas of second level (equivalent to graduated teacher).

Within Italy it is the academic institution with the highest rate of internationalization. Brera Academy has about 3,800 students[1], including about 1000 foreigners (mostly postgraduates) from 50 nations.[1]

The Brera Academy maintains links and exchanges students and teachers, through the ERASMUS programme, with many European countries. Since 2006 it has been invited to entertain relations with countries outside Europe such as Japan, China, Mexico and Australia.

In 2005 the teaching of the academy has been classified by UNESCO as "A5". It is also regarded as one of the world’s leading academic institutions.

The current Director of the Academy is Professor Gastone Mariani.[2]

[edit] Timeline

Palazzo Brera entrance: Napoleon Bonaparte, Antonio Canova’s bronze statue.
Piero della Francesca: Pala Brera or Madonna and Child with Saints.
Raphael’s most sophisticated altarpiece: The Wedding of the Virgin.
  • 1572: ownership of the Palazzo Brera, built on the ruins of a convent of the Humiliati, is transferred to the Jesuits. The name "Brera" derives from the German term "braida" [Breite] which indicates a large grassy clearing, referring to the spot where the namesake building that still houses the headquarters of the Academy is located.[3]
  • 1627-1628: restoration of the building entrusted to Francesco Maria Richini.[3]
  • 1772: the Society of Jesus suppressed; the Palazzo Brera receives a new institutional framework, including the Brera Astronomical Observatory and the National Braidense Library (founded by the Jesuits).
  • 1774: Brera Botanical Garden founded.[3]
  • 1776: the Brera Academy founded by Her Imperial Majesty Maria Theresa of Austria. Its main purpose is "Providing teaching in Fine Arts to craftsmen and private artists, subject to public supervision and public opinion". The project was entrusted to the architect Giuseppe Piermarini and that same year hosted the first chair of Architecture. Also in 1776, the Brera Art Gallery (Pinacoteca di Brera) was founded for educational purposes: a collection of exemplary works for the training of students, in which one can copy the real paintings and plaster casts. The Brera Art Gallery, a museum of international standing, houses the most important collection in Milan today. It includes, among other masterpieces, works by Bellini [disambiguation needed ], Boccioni, Botticelli, Caravaggio, Hayez, Leonardo da Vinci, Mantegna, Modigliani, Picasso, Piero della Francesca, Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens, Tiepolo, Tintoretto, Titian and Veronese.
  • 1797: Napoleon Bonaparte transformed the Brera Art Gallery into a veritable museum, exhibiting paintings from the territories conquered by the French armies, and constituted the Lombard Institute of Science and Letters.
  • 1803: the Academic Council, made up of 30 members, expanded and defined teaching subjects: Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Ornato, Engraving, Perspective, Anatomy and Artistic Figure. The Ornato Commission began to exercise control over public monuments, similar to the functions of the modern Superintendency of Fine Arts (Sopraintendenze alle Belle Arti).
  • 1805: launch of the annual exhibitions, which are the most important venue for contemporary art in Italy throughout the nineteenth century. The event provides an overview of the work of students of works by artists in both Italy and Europe. The awards helped to publicize the Brera Academy of Fine Arts at the European level.
  • 1809: adaption of the architectural complex of Palazzo Brera to its new function; demolition of the fourteenth-century facade of the Church of Santa Maria di Brera, attributed to Giovanni di Balduccio from Pisa. The church dedicated to the Virgin dates back to the founding of the convent of the Humiliati around 1229–1230. Despite the negative opinion issued two years earlier by the Ornato Commission, the new Braidense Commission together with Pietro Moscati (General Director of Education) and Eugène de Beauharnais (Viceroy Napoleon) accept the plan proposed by Piero Gilardoni. The consensus is to provide a larger and more accessible headquarters to the Academy Schools of Painting and Sculpture and to enlarge the exhibition halls of the gallery above. After demolition, the bas-reliefs and sculptures and fragments of the facade of the portal of the Church of Santa Maria di Brera are transferred to the Museo d'Arte Antica of the Sforza Castle in Milan (where they are still visible). Some fragments and three windows are incorporated into the facade of Cascina San Fedele Park of Monza. Other fragments are found in the villa Antona-Traversi of Desio. The works (paintings and frescoes that were already detached) that decorated the inside of the church, signed by Bernardo Luini, Bernardo Senale, Bartolomeo Suardi said Bramantino and Vincenzo Foppa, are now visible in the Brera Art Gallery and in the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan. Other parts of frescos attributed to Giusto de' Menabuoi, bases of columns, capitals and wall decorations are still visible in the (external and internal) classrooms used by the Design Department of Design and Applied Arts.
  • 1859: after Napoleon III’s visit, the bronze statue Napoleon I as a peacemaker Mars was placed at the center of the Palazzo Brera court, on a marble pedestal designed by Luigi Bisi. The statue was commissioned by Eugène de Beauharnais in 1807, and produced at Rome in the years 1811-1812 from a model by Antonio Canova.
  • 1861: after the Unification of Italy, the Academy went through a period of crisis due to the advent of photography and general refusal to copy the works of the past.
  • 1863: the Archaeological Museum is founded.
  • 1882: management of the Brera Art Gallery becomes autonomous.
  • 1891: foundation of the School of Architecture
  • 1897-1914: Camillo Boito is president of the academy; among the students of the academy is Luca Beltrami.
  • 1900: Brera Art Gallery acquires the administration of the collection of modern painting.
  • 1923: with the reform of the school promoted by Giovanni Gentile, the next Art School is founded. In the same period the School of Sculpture is held by Adolfo Wildt (followed Francesco Messina and Marino Marini), which has among its students two of the most important figures in the artistic renewal of Milan in the years to follow: Lucio Fontana and Fausto Melotti; the Achille Funi chair is established at Fresco.
  • 1931: the School of Architecture moves to the Politecnico di Milano.
  • 1946: after the Second World War, the Academy continues under the direction of Aldo Carpi, with Guido Ballo as professor of Art History, in addition to the teachers of sculpture Alik Cavaliere and Andrea Cascella, painting professors Mauro Reggiani, Domenico Cantatore, Pompeo Borra and Domenico Purificato.

[edit] General information

Brera Academy has risen from 4 traditional addresses to 11 triennial courses level of 1°, 19 two-year courses level of 2°, 1 advanced and 3 master. It also enabled 6 courses enabling biennial teaching in secondary schools (COBASLID), in 6 classes of competition that relate to the specific visual arts.

Brera has four 'traditional' departments:

Since 1997-98, it has included four 'experimental' ones with yearly intake limited to 20 students:

  • Contemporary Sacred Art
  • Restoration of Contemporary Art
  • Communication and Education applied to Art
  • Multimedia Communication

It is allowed to extend the course duration with one year, bringing the maximum overall course duration to five years.

Attendance of classes is compulsory. If attendance is irregular, a student’s name may be cancelled from the institution registers. Serious motives justifying absence from classes should be stated officially by the 15th of March of the academic year concerned. If not stated by then, one runs the risk of being excluded from exams, which may occasion the loss of one year study time.

[edit] Admission of foreign citizens

Foreign citizens wishing to enrol as students at the Brera Academy should present their application to the Italian Consulate in their country not later than 15 March of the year in which they intend to begin their studies at Brera.

Together with their application they should submit an educational curriculum (complete with relevant diplomas), and an indication of the course of their choice. The consular authorities will verify the equivalence of study titles and will send the translated documentation to the secretariat of the Academy.

Upon completion of this procedure, the candidate will be invited to participate in the entry examinations, which consist in a test of artistic ability pertinent to the course chosen, and a test of general cultural awareness. Foreign citizens will also have to pass a written Italian language test.

[edit] Heritage

  • The Collection of Sculptures and Gypsum Copies
  • The Historical Archive
  • The Historical Fund
  • The Cabinet of Drawings and Prints
  • The Picture Gallery
  • The Photographic Archives
  • The Contemporary Art Library of the Brera Academy

[edit] Academics

[edit] Undergraduate courses (3 years)

Department of Visual Arts:

  • Painting
  • Sculptor
  • Graphics
  • Decoration

Department of Design and Applied Arts:

  • Theatre Design
  • Restoration
  • Artistic Design for the Enterprises
  • New Technologies for the Arts

Department of Communication and Art Teaching:

  • Branches of Development of Cultural Heritage
  • Communication and Education applied to Contemporary Art

[edit] Graduate courses (2 years)

Department of Visual Arts:

  • Painting
  • Sculptor
  • Graphics
  • Decoration
  • Anthropology and Contemporary Sacred Art

Department of Design and Applied Arts:

  • Theatre Design
  • Costume Design
  • Stage Design for Film and Television
  • Restoration of Contemporary Art
  • Product Design
  • Fashion Design
  • Multimedia Interactive and Performative Arts
  • Multimedia Arts Film and Video
  • Photography

Department of Communication and Art Teaching:

  • Creative Communication for Cultural Heritage
  • Communication and Organization for Contemporary Art

[edit] Specialization courses (2 years)

In agreement with Psychiatry Faculty of the University of Pavia:

  • Theory and Practice of Art Therapeutics

[edit] Notable students and professors

[edit] See also

Portal icon Visual arts portal
Portal icon Italy portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "Milano. Grande Brera rischia di non partire". patrimoniosos.it. http://www.patrimoniosos.it/rsol.php?op=getarticle&id=86399. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 
  2. ^ http://www.accademiadibrera.milano.it/rita_vo1_fr.asp
  3. ^ a b c "Accademia di Brera - Storia". www.accademiadibrera.milano.it. http://www.accademiadibrera.milano.it/rita_vo1_fr.asp. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 

[edit] Address

Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera - Via Brera 28 20121 Milano Italia

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 45°28′19.20″N 9°11′16.43″E / 45.472°N 9.1878972°E / 45.472; 9.1878972

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