In 1748 Pilo was named professor at the Drawing and Painting Academy ("Tegne- og Malerakademiet"), predecessor to the Royal Danish Academy of Art ("Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi"), along with Marcus Tuscher and Johann Friedrich Gerhard. The Academy was then located in the Post Office ("Postamts") building behind the Stock Exchange, and was then managed and supervised by Nicolai Eigtved, architect and royal building master. In late summer 1748 the Academy moved to the floor above the Crown Prince's stables at Christiansborg Palace, where Eigtved had his offices, while the model school continued on "Gammelstrand", where Hieronimo Miani, former leader of the Academy, had started the studio. Eigtved, the first Dane to exercise some control in the Academy to this point, became the Academy's first Director in 1751.