Founded
when Thomas Jefferson was president and the Revolutionary
War was still a part of living memory, the Pennsylvania
Academy of the Fine Arts is America's first art museum
and school, and home to more than two centuries of American
art. Its mission is the same as when it first opened
its doors in 1805: to train and exhibit work by contemporary
American artists. Inside, students paint before the
great works of Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Stuart,
Winslow Homer and Mary Cassat.
