A plaster work by French sculptor James Pradier (1790-1852) is on show at Shanghai Museum through Feb 9.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The term Beaux-Arts was born in Europe in the 17th century and is closely related to the development of the Royal Academy, the predecessor of the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, according to Patricia Stibbe, vice-president of the school.

As an educational institution, the school has a collection of artworks that have been "scattered on campus", Stibbe says. "They were placed in the classrooms, offices and studios, studied, observed and copied by the students every day."