Current and coming.

A Philadelphia bicentennial

While there is no evidence that he ever made good on his pledge, in June 1806 Thomas Jefferson replied to Charles Willson Peale's appeal for funds to establish the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, writing: "I shall cheerfully contribute my mite to your Academy of fine arts by inclosing you 50.D on my next pay day." Peale stands out among the group of seventy-one founders of this institution, because he was one of only three artists (the others were William Rush and Peale's son Rembrandt), and he was one of the most experienced and indefatigable of the organizers. The overwhelming majority of the original members were Philadelphia bankers, lawyers, and businessmen, all of whom convened at Independence Hall on Boxing Day in 1805 in order to adopt the academy's Articles of Association.

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In 1806 the academy opened in a domed classical structure on Chestnut Street designed by the amateur architect John Dorsey specifically to house the academy.

By 1807 the Pennsylvania Academy's founders had not only put together a collection, but they had organized their first exhibition, comprised of plaster casts, paintings by British and American artists, and objects borrowed from the collection of Robert Fulton. Beginning in 1811 the academy held the first of what became annual exhibitions of the works of American artists. These shows were initially comprised of more than five hundred works of art, and they continued to be important in furthering an artist's career until 1969.

In the wake of a particularly devastating fire in 1845, which claimed numerous casts and European paintings, the academy began to rebuild its holdings by purchasing from these exhibitions. The academy's current home is an impressive and beautifully restored landmark Victorian building designed for the museum and school by Frank Furness and George W. Hewitt and built between 1872 and 1876.

By 1880 the academy had ceased collecting European art in order to concentrate on works by American artists. Fortunately this period coincided with a number of financial bequests specifically for acquisitions. This venerable American institution today prides itself on a remarkable collection of more than two thousand paintings and thirteen thousand works on paper by American artists and maintains its role as a leading institution for art instruction.