Academic Figurative 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.
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
17th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Panel
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Wood Panel
Early 19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Board, Oil
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil
1880s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
1960s Academic Figurative Paintings
Carbon Pencil
Early 20th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Pencil, Charcoal
Mid-19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
Late 19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Board
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Panel
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Early 19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
18th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil
1880s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Late 17th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil
20th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Late 19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
Mid-19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Linen, Acrylic
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Cotton Canvas, Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Cotton Canvas
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Cotton Canvas
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Cotton Canvas
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Cotton Canvas
21st Century and Contemporary Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Canvas
1960s Academic Figurative Paintings
Watercolor, Graphite
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Cotton Canvas
19th Century Academic Figurative Paintings
Acrylic
1870s Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Board
1870s Academic Figurative Paintings
Oil, Board
1960s Academic Figurative Paintings
Carbon Pencil