The Accademia di San Luca, (the "Academy of Saint Luke") was an association of artists in Rome, founded in 1593 with the directorship of Federico Zuccari, with the purpose of elevating the work of "artists" above that of craftsman. Over the first centuries after its inception, Papal patronage and control dominated the institution. The academy was named after the evangelist Saint Luke, who, legend has it, made a portrait of the Virgin Mary, and thus became the patron saint of painters' guilds.