ROYAL ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS ANTWERP
Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp was founded in 1663 by artist David Teniers the Younger and is one of the first art schools in the world and has grown over the centuries into an institution in the international world of art and higher art education. The Royal Academy developed into an internationally acclaimed institute for Fine Arts, Architecture and Design and from the nineteenth century, the academy attracted young artists from abroad. Charles Verlat or Karel Verlat (25 November 1824–23 October 1890 was a professor of drawing and director of the Antwerp Academy when Vincent van Gogh spent a brief period as a student at the Academy in 1886. Today the Academy offers three distinctive programs; Visual Arts and Design, Conservation Studies and a one-year dedicated teachers training. Some 500 students, including some 200 who are international, work in the four main buildings located in the heart of the city, including Mutsaardstraat, for design and fine arts.