The development of national academies of art richly served the interests of both artists and politicians. They found not only personal and group identity but prestige, support, self-advertisement, and advancement in these institutions, dedicated to promoting the arts, useful industry, and the general welfare. During the early modern rise of nationalism, such benefits contributed to the rapid growth and proliferation of state academies of art, many of which had begun in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as casual associations of artists interested in working to elevate their profession.