Joseph-Benoit Suvée

Joseph-Benoit Suvée, born January 3, 1743 in Bruges and died February 9, 1807 in Rome, was a Belgian painter. A pupil of Mathias Fisch, he went to France at the age of nineteen to work in the studio of the painter Jean-Jacques Bachelier. He won first prize for painting in 1771 and arrived in Rome at the end of 1772. Suvée wished to extend his stay at the Académie de France in Rome, but his pension ran out. He left Rome in October 1776, made a trip to Sicily and returned to Paris in 1778.

From Paris, during the turbulent years from 1792 to 1801, Suvée was director of the French Academy in Rome. He arrived in Rome in 1801, and his directorship lasted until 1807. On his arrival in Rome, Suvée decided to abandon the Palazzo Mancini, which had been severely damaged by Neapolitan looting. He hesitated to move the French Academy to the Palazzo Farnese, but when he visited Villa Medici, he immediately tried to convince Napoleon Bonaparte to set up a new headquarters for the institution. Bonaparte obtained the exchange of Villa Medici for the Palazzo Mancini from the Duke of Tuscany. In 1803, Villa Medici became the new home of the French Academy in Rome, and remains so to this day.