What remains

The abolition of the Prix de Rome put an end to a mode of training, not to the institution. By transforming itself, the Villa Medici survived: it remains today one of the most prestigious artists’ residences in Europe, open to every discipline.

The verdict is still debated. For some, 1968 freed French art from an elitist and outdated cage. For others, it was the loss of a demanding craft and of a shared culture — that of Rome, of the antique and of drawing — which disappeared with the competition.

Between these two readings, the work of Jean Marc Lange holds a singular place: that of a painter trained in the old school, yet arriving at the Villa at the very moment it was reinventing itself. His Roman horizon bears the mark of that turning point.

The edge of the Bosco, its great trees and a small aedicule