The story

A story from ancient sources

Perched on the Pincio hill overlooking Rome, Villa Medici is located on a site occupied since ancient times first by the Etruscans, who erected a tumulus dedicated to the divinities of Fortune and Hope, and then by the Romans. It was on this hill, nicknamed “the hill of gardens” by the Romans, that the Roman general Lucullus (117-56 BC) established a vast and luxurious estate on the site of today’s Villa Medici. A network of gallery cisterns and private access to theAqua Virgo aqueduct would have been in place by this time. Under the Empire, the Lucullus estate passed through the hands of various owners, including the Empress Messalina and the descendants of the Pinci family: it was they who, at the end of the 4th century, gave the Pincio hill its present name. To this day, the north-eastern side of the hill is bounded by the imposing walls built by Emperor Aurelian (c. 214-275). Almost a century later, the last Western Roman emperor, Honorius (384-423 AD), had his palace built here to reassert his authority over Rome after Alaric’s sack in 410. In 1999, archaeological excavations carried out by the École française de Rome under the piazzale of Villa Medici uncovered the remains of his imperial palace.

Renaissance metamorphoses

During the Renaissance, the Crescenzi family erected a building on the remains of an ancient estate that had become a quarry for reused stone, and this served as the foundation for the present residence. In 1564, Cardinal Giovanni Ricci of Montepulciano (1497-1574) acquired the property and undertook the first alterations with the architects Nanni di Baccio Bigio and Giacomo della Porta. After his death in 1576, Ferdinand de’ Medici (1549-1609) purchased the property. At the age of 26, he was a young cardinal, humanist and collector. He entrusted sculptor and architect Bartolomeo Ammannati, a close friend of Michelangelo, with the task of enlarging and embellishing the existing buildings and garden to showcase his prestigious collection of antique marbles. In addition to the garden facade, a second tower was built, the loggia was raised, a new wing was added to the main building, and ornamental gardens were created. The interior decoration was entrusted to the Florentine Mannerist painter Jacopo Zucchi (1541-1590), who designed refined paintings for the upstairs apartments. In 1587, when Ferdinando became Grand Duke of Tuscany under the name of Ferdinand Ist after the death of his brother, he left Rome for Florence and work came to an abrupt halt.

Birth of the French Academy in Rome

Back to Paris. In 1666, the French Academy in Rome was created at the instigation of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV’s Minister of Finance at the time. Its aim was to offer young French artists who had won the prestigious Prix de Rome competition the opportunity to stay in the Eternal City and perfect their art. For the winners, the Prix de Rome meant a career crowned with honors. Initially housed in a modest house on the slopes of the Janiculum hill, the Academy moved to Palazzo Caffarelli in 1673, then to Palazzo Capranica in 1684, and finally to Palazzo Mancini in 1725. Painters, sculptors and, officially from 1720, architects were admitted. During their stay, which lasted four or five years, they were subject to iron discipline: waking up at the crack of dawn, communal meals, a strict study program and the obligation to produce regular works sent to France: copies from nature or from the antique, painted sketches and history or landscape paintings. In the 18th century, Boucher, Fragonard and David were just some of the famous fellows of the Academy, a name that originally referred to the pension granted by the King.

Reforming the Academy, transforming Villa Medici in the 20th century

In 1961, André Malraux, General de Gaulle’s Minister of Culture, appointed the painter Balthus (Balthasar Kłossowski de Rola, known as Balthus) to head the Academy, and he embarked on a comprehensive transformation of Villa Medici and its gardens. With the help of restorers and fellows, Balthus uncovered the Renaissance frescoes and created the mural decor that runs throughout Villa Medici. Using a skilful technique that brings out the material in successive layers, he creates a unique, vibrant, color-changing patina in each room, which, on the upper floors, responds to the rediscovered and restored 16th-century friezes. The work is now carefully preserved and restored. Balthus’ vision is global: in addition to his pictorial intervention, he infuses diversity into the furniture. Going against the grain of the palatial style, he acquired antique furniture from all over Italy, often rustic or vernacular, which he did not hesitate to repaint – church furniture, peasant cupboards, bookcases – and launched into the creation of lighting fixtures. In terms of programming, he initiated an ambitious exhibition policy, with retrospectives dedicated to Auguste Rodin, Gustave Courbet, Alberto Giacometti and Georges Braque. In 1971, the Prix de Rome was abolished in favor of a competition open to all disciplines, including art history and restoration.

A singularity reaffirmed in the 21st century

The French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici is the oldest residence for artists, and is now a national public institution under the authority of the French Ministry of Culture. The entire grounds – gardens and buildings – are listed as historic monuments in France and protected by the law on cultural property in Italy. The Academy enjoys a unique position in the network of foreign art and archaeology academies and institutes in Rome (nearly thirty), and more widely on the Roman art scene. It affirms the transversality of its missions, its attachment to multidisciplinarity and its quest for constant dialogue between heritage and contemporary creation.

 

Villa Medici is the subject of a vast redevelopment program initiated in 2022, Réenchanter la Villa Médicis, bringing together contemporary design, craftsmanship and restored heritage.

Further information: general bibliography on Villa Medici and the French Academy in Rome (Fr)