Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
During the Renaissance, the first European fine art academies were established in Italy and would guide the style and standards of visual culture in the following centuries. Academic art became dominant across the continent in the 17th century, with artists coming together to offer instruction in this style of painting and sculpture.
The academic art period represented a significant change from the previous era when painters, sculptors and other artists were part of guilds and seen more as artisans than purveyors of culture. While patronage from the elite and the church remained pivotal, young artists were able to support themselves for the first time through academic exhibitions and an independent marketplace. The leading academies included the French Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture founded in Paris in 1648 (which became the Académie des Beaux-Arts after the French Revolution) and the London Royal Academy of Arts formed in 1768 under the inaugural leadership of painter Joshua Reynolds.
Academy students sketched drawings based on prints, sculptures and, finally, live models. Movements including neoclassicism and romanticism were particularly popular in these art schools and institutions where the influence of Raphael and Nicolas Poussin was prominent. Beaux Arts architecture and furniture design drew on these movements, too, and, as they also originated at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the disciplines share common ground with academic painting and sculpture.
Although academic art was a major shift for artistic status when it began, by the middle of the 19th century it was viewed as stodgy and resistant to new ideas, with the subject matter of artists such as William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Jean-Léon Gérôme generally limited to allegorical or mythological themes. Impressionism, realism and the other movements that engaged with contemporary issues that followed were direct reactions to the academic tradition, although it continued to inform the avant-garde as artists like Gustav Klimt and Pablo Picasso started their practices as academic realists.
Find a collection of academic paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.
1930s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil, Graphite
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pastel
1930s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Crayon, Pencil
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil, Pen
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Mid-20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Crayon
19th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Pencil
1890s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Carbon Pencil
1940s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Board, Ink
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gel Pen, Color Pencil
Mid-20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Graphite
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil, Watercolor
1910s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
India Ink, Color Pencil
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil, Oil Pastel
1980s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper
2010s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Conté, Graphite
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
Mid-19th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Charcoal, Carbon Pencil
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pen, Pencil
Early 1900s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor, Gouache
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
1890s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
19th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Steel
1830s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Charcoal
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
1880s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Gouache, Archival Paper
1890s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
Mid-20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Graphite
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pencil, Color Pencil
1970s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Gouache, Archival Paper
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal, Board
1930s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal, Color Pencil, Pencil, Watercolor, Crayon
1980s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Conté, Archival Paper
1850s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Archival Paper
1920s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Handmade Paper, Carbon Pencil
1870s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal, Paper
1910s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Pastel
1820s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Pencil
1920s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Carbon Pencil
Early 20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor
Late 20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
Late 20th Century Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Conté, Paper
Early 2000s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Watercolor, Graphite
Early 1900s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Paper
1920s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Charcoal, Carbon Pencil
1910s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Carbon Pencil, Color Pencil
1910s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
India Ink
1910s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
India Ink, Color Pencil
2010s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Clay, Panel, Graphite
1870s Academic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Watercolor, Archival Paper