School of fine arts ( beaux arts ) in Paris.
It was founded by the merger in 1793 of the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture, founded by Charles Le Brun in 1648, and the Académie d'Architecture, founded in 1671 by Jean-Baptiste Colbert . It has traditionally provided instruction in drawing, painting, sculpture, engraving, and (until 1968) architecture. The Beaux-Arts style in architecture has been particularly influential.