The Academy of San Fernando was created prior to the project of the Prado Salon, as its name indicates, it was an initiative of King Fernando VI taken in the year 1752. The enlightened thinking of the Bourbons aimed at creating Academies as educational centers where knowledge could be learned and safeguarded, and to bring our country up to par with the great European capitals such as Rome, Florence, or Paris, which already had these types of societies. Today, many of these institutions still exist, such as the Royal Spanish Academy, the Royal Academy of Medicine, or the Royal Academy of History.