Awards for Artists

David W. Galenson and Robert Jenson, "Canvases and Careers: The Rise of the Market for Modern Art in the Nineteenth Century"

Favored artists were rewarded by the state and the Academy  in a number of ways. One was through state commissions. A second was state purchases, typically selected from works exhibited  at the Salon.  Works of art acquired in this way were generally distributed among  Frances provincial museums or Paris's museum for living artists, the Luxembourg. A third means of official recognition lay in Salon prize medals, awarded as first, second, or third-class medals, and accompanied by a cash prize. . . .

The government further buttressed the Salon medal system by offering another set of medals awarded at the various art exhibitions held  in conjunction with  the great Expositions Universelle of 1855,  1867, 1876,  1889, and  1900. The  French artists who received these  special medals and  higher cash  prizes almost invariably had  previously medaled at the Salons. With so many opportunities available . . . important French Salon artists who  debuted after  the first quarter of the century often earned at least  three  medals over  their  careers and sometimes more.

Successful Salon  careers then  positioned artists to take advantage of additional components of the award  system that  the  Academy and the state  could  offer artists. The first was appointments to desirable jobs.  These included teaching positions at the Ecole de.s· Beaux-Arts and the coveted position of director of the French  Academy in Rome.  The second was admission to the Legion of Honor, created by Napoleon. The  Legion was divided into four classes of membership, beginning with Chevalier followed by the Officier rank. then Commandeur, and at the top the Grand Cross. The third type of honor for the most  favored artists was election  to the French Academy.

The award system offered artists a measure of financial security by building their reputations steadily over  the course of their  careers. While medals and knighthoods were not in themselves sufficient to guarantee the  personal fortunes of artists, these  honors significantly publicized their  careers in manner entirely unavailable to artists outside the Salon system.  Salon celebrities were given favored access to critical  and  public attention, and  thus served  to attract dealers to buy their  work  and  to act as agents on their behalf.

The Palazzo Mancini in Rome, where winners of the Prix de Rome were supported by the French government from 3-5 years to give them a chance to see and to copy ancient Roman statues and monuments.