From its establishment in 1648 until its disbanding in 1793 after the French Revolution, the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture was the centre of the Parisian art world. Taking the reader behind the scenes of this elite bastion of French art theory, education, and practice, and drawing on both art-historical and anthropological frames of analysis, this engaging study uncovers the fascinating histories ? official and unofficial ? of that artistic community.