(French, “Rome Prize”). Winning the Prix de Rome, a scholarship competition for arts students, was the goal of early-career artists at the Académie Royale (later the Académie des Beaux-Arts) in Paris. The competition for the prestigious award required the submission of an assigned work of art to a jury. Established in 1663, the competition was  originally for painters and sculptors only, but it was opened to architects in 1720, musicians in 1803, and engravers in 1804. Winners were awarded a grant that allowed them to live in Rome for three to five years at state expense.

Jacques-Louis David. Antiochus and Stratonica. Oil on canvas. 1774.
École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. David won the Prix de Rome (on his fourth attempt) by submitting this work.