in full Grand Prix de Rome
Art scholarship awarded by the French government.
First established in 1666 by Louis XIV and Charles Le Brun , it enables young French painters, sculptors, architects, engravers, and musicians to study in Rome. Grand-prize winners in each artistic category study at the Académie de France in Rome for four years. Many of the greatest French artists and musicians of past centuries have been prizewinners, including Jean-Honoré Fragonard , Jacques-Louis David , Hector Berlioz , and Claude Debussy . The prizes are still being awarded, though their prestige has diminished.