The American Academy of the Fine Arts, New York, 1802-1842. (Volumes I and II)

In 1802, Robert R. Livingston, the United States Minister to France, conceived of the American Academy as a salon that would inspire American artists and uplift the minds of others. His brother Edward, Mayor of New York who also believed that the city\u27s leaders were responsible for the cultural enlightenment of artists and the general public, generated financial support from the city\u27s ruling elite. Neither the Livingstons nor the members, however, planned for the Academy\u27s operation. The institution languished until Mayor De Witt Clinton assumed the Academy presidency in 1813. With the help of his friend John Pintard, Clinton placed the Academy on a more stable footing. For the grand re-opening exhibition in 1816, the Academy attracted loans from New York\u27s most prominent collectors and artists, including John Trumbull whose moralistic history paintings suited the Academy\u27s principles perfectly. Trumbull became the institution\u27s president in 1817 and enriched and strengthened the Academy\u27s plan for disseminating high aesthetic and moral standards and developed the institution as a distinguished organization for art patrons. This study, which chronicles the Academy\u27s history by examining key episodes, begins with a discussion of the Academy\u27s founding by the Livingstons and its revival under Clinton and continues with a consideration of Trumbull\u27s presidency and John Vanderlyn\u27s service as the Academy\u27s envoy to Europe. Issues considered in subsequent chapters include the Academy\u27s prized possession, Sir Thomas Lawrence\u27s portrait of Benjamin West, the five discourses the officers sponsored between 1824 and 1827, artists\u27 relationship to the Academy and the founding of the National Academy of Design, the exhibitions, and the Academy\u27s leaders after Trumbull\u27s resignation