The ‘practice’ of design in the formative project of the Academy of St. Luca

Abstract

The activity developed by academic institutions as centres of critical elaboration of the artistic thought emerges as a paramount theme in the defi nition of the cultural histories that enlivened Europe in the 18th century. This brief article analyses the role and infl uence exerted by the Roman Academy of St. Luca as regards its organization and the practice of competitions. The practice of design was one of the key aspects of the formative project of the Academy, with the birth of a particular ‘kind’, the ‘representations on the occasion of the competitions’, which occupies autonomous application fi elds in comparison to those engaged in professional design.