P.M., Sundays, 1.00 P.M. to 5.00 P.M.; fee for special exhibitions; was the first art institute in America, founded, 1805; its history is in no small measure the history of American art itself, and dates back to 1791, when Charles Willson Peale attempted to organize in Philadelphia a school of art; from this grew, in 1794, the Columbianum, which held the first exhibition of paintings, in 1795, in Independence Hall. The permanent collection of paintings and sculpture now includes the Gallery of National Portraiture, with the largest number of portraits by Gilbert Stuart to be seen in any museum; and notable works by other early American painters--Benjamin West, Washington Allston, Matthew Pratt, the Peales, Sully, Neagle, Inman, Eichholz, Trumbull, and Bass Otis; the Gibson Collection, largely composed of the Continental schools; Temple collection of modern American paintings; important works by many of the world’s greatest artists; and the Phillips collection of about forty thousand etchings and engravings. Annual exhibitions are, miniatures, water colors, illustration, and etchings in November and December; oil painting and sculpture in February and March, considered the salon of living American artists; also special exhibitions and lectures on art. The Academy coöperates with the system of International Catalogue Exchange. Since the beginning of the Academy’s existence, men and women whose names have become illustrious in the annals of American art have been enrolled as students. The schools are equipped in every way to teach the technique of painting and sculpture, the faculty is composed of representative artists of the day; collections, galleries, classrooms, models, and casts are admirably fitted to afford instruction fully equal to that obtainable in Europe. Many substantial prizes are awarded annually to students upon the merits of their work. The William Emlen Cresson Travelling Scholarships send, on an average, sixteen students abroad yearly for four months, and enable them to return to the Academy and continue their studies without payment of tuition fee. The Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, organized 1897, sends out annually two exhibitions of original oil paintings by notable artists; one to other cities, the other to the Philadelphia public schools, where they remain one month in each school; while there, the paintings are explained by a member of the Fellowship to school children, thus teaching them true appreciation of art. A Picture Purchase Fund was established in 1912, with which pictures have been bought, from Fellowship Exhibitions, and placed in Philadelphia libraries and public schools.