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.
“Clipper Ship under Full Sail”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original oil on canvas painting of a clipper ship under full sail. Signed “T. Bailey” lower right. Condition is good. Original gold frame with wear consistent with age. Overall frame...
Canvas, Oil
$512Sale Price|20% Off
Fishing Boat, Seascape Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: Fishing Boat, Size: 8.5" x 12" x 0....
Canvas, Oil
$544Sale Price|61% Off
Lively alley by Pierre Duc - Watercolor
By Pierre Duc
Located in Geneva, CH
Work on arch paper Black wooden frame with glass pane 87 x 67,5 x 1,5 cm
Watercolor, Pastel
$800Sale Price|20% Off
Seashore, Coastal, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: Seashore Size: 11" x 14" x 0.8'' in...
Canvas, Oil
South Bay, Seascape, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: South Bay Size: 29" x 39.5" x 0.8'' ...
Canvas, Oil
Ocean Side, Impressionism Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2024 Style: Impressionism Title: Ocean Side Size: 29.5" x 39" x 0.8'...
Canvas, Oil
$2,000
Moonlight, Seascape, Original oil Painting, Handmade, Canvas Art, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: Moonlight Size: 17.5" x 23.5" x 0.8'...
Canvas, Oil
Elisabeth Voigt – Signed German Landscape Oil Painting, circa 1950s
Located in Zofingen, AG
Elisabeth Voigt (German, 20th Century, d. 1977) Oil on board (likely hardboard / Masonite); Dimensions: • Image: 22 × 16 cm • Framed: 35x29x5 cm Signed lower left. A charming and...
Oil, Panel
Mythological scene, study for the Prize of Rome 1864, French academism, Homer
Located in Norwich, GB
This rare mythological scene depicting the Greek author Homer on the island of Scyros. You will notice the Trojan War being fought in the background. Our painting, dating from 1864, is unsigned, but has a solid attribution to academic artist Henri-Léopold Lévy...
Canvas, Oil
$2,685Sale Price|20% Off
Departure of the infantrymen for the war of 14, signed
Located in Genève, GE
Work on canvas signed lower right Dimension with frame 70 x 80 x 6 cm This striking work captures a group of French soldiers marching determinedly along a dusty road, with the distan...
Oil
“Shipping in Southampton Water”
By Ebenezer Colls
Located in Southampton, NY
Original oil on canvas painting of a large sailing vessel traveling through Southampton waters in England in a dramatic sunset. The artist is the well known British marine artist Ebe...
Canvas, Oil
After Storm, Impressionism Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2024 Style: Impressionism Title: After Storm Size: 29" x 39" x 0.8''...
Canvas, Oil
$640Sale Price|20% Off
Venice, Impressionism Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Subject: Venice, Size: 8.5" x 12" x 0.8'' ...
Canvas, Oil
French Landscape painting Mountain Alps Academic Attributed to THUILLIER 19th
Located in PARIS, FR
Pierre Thuillier (Attributed to) Amiens, 1799 – Paris, 1858 Landscape with moutains Oil on canvas 25 x 37 cm (45 x 54 cm with frame) Traces of a signature lower left, barely legible...
Oil
"Barcelone", City Square with Church and Dome, 19th century Oil Painting
Located in Genève, GE
Dimensions with frame: 30 x 40,3 x 4 cm. Signed "Aug Siegen" in the lower left corner. A richly atmospheric view of a Barcelona city square centered on an elegant church façade and ...
Canvas, Oil
Alfred Copestick, Coastal Scene: New York, Oil on Canvas, 1857
Located in Queens, NY
Alfred Copestick (1837–1859) Coastal Scene: New York, 1857 Oil on canvas, in the original giltwood frame 14 ¼ x 20 ⅛ in. (canvas) Signed lower right: A. Copestick NY 1857 Painted at just twenty years of age, Coastal Scene: New York demonstrates Alfred Copestick’s remarkable promise as a marine painter in antebellum America. The scene brims with energy: a single sailboat heels sharply into the wind, its rigging taut against the storm, while foamy waves break against a rugged shoreline. Above, clouds mass and dissolve, illuminated by shafts of storm-lit light. Copestick’s treatment is both romantic and naturalistic, conveying the sublime tension between man, sea, and sky. His confident brushwork captures atmosphere with an immediacy and sensitivity rarely found in so young an artist. The work survives in its original giltwood frame, richly carved in a mid-nineteenth-century American style, which not only underscores its historical authenticity but also heightens the tonal drama of the painting. Alfred Copestick came of age during a fertile moment in American painting, when marine art and landscape were central to cultural identity. Though little is known of his formal training, his works suggest familiarity with and admiration for leading marine painters such as James E. Buttersworth, famed for his racing yachts; Francis Augustus Silva, who later developed a luminist style of coastal painting; and earlier masters like Thomas Birch, whose shipwrecks and storm scenes set a precedent for drama at sea. Copestick also absorbed broader currents in American landscape painting. The Hudson River School, led by Thomas Cole, Asher B...
Canvas, Oil
$800Sale Price|20% Off
Close to Shore, Seascape, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: Close to Shore, Size: 11" x 14" x 0...
Canvas, Oil
Mountain View, Landscape, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: Mountain View Size: 16" x 21" x 0.8'...
Canvas, Oil
Venice, Coastal, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: Venice Size: 12" x 16.5" x 0.8'' inc...
Canvas, Oil
Architecture Sketches Study Drawing, Romane Church in France by Maurice Lambert
Located in Atlanta, GA
Architectural Study for the Restoration of Saint-Pierre Church in Avon, France. This unique architectural study was created as part of a church renovation project in a suburb of Pari...
Ink, Watercolor, Pencil
Sunrise, Impressionism Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2024 Style: Impressionism Title: Sunrise Size: 9" x 13.5" x 0.8'' in...
Canvas, Oil
Paris, Cityscape, Impressionism, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Ara H. Hakobyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Canvas Year: 2015 Style: Impressionism Title: Paris Size: 11" x 14" x 0.8'' inch, ...
Canvas, Oil
Seashore, Coastal Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Seascape, Nautical Original oil Painting Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism T...
Canvas, Oil
$1,800
Landscape in Provence Watercolor Painting by Francois Pascal, circa 1940
Located in Atlanta, GA
Step into the serene charm of southern France with this captivating watercolor landscape artwork by François Pascal (France, 19th century–1948). Expertly painted on paper, this work ...
Watercolor
Marine with Characters
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Maurice BAUDIN (19th Century) Marine "L'Escaut near Anvers" (Belgium) Oil on canvas signed and dated 1893 low left Old frame gilded with leaves Dim canvas : 38 X 70 cm - Dim frame : ...
Oil
Seashore, Coastal Original oil Painting, Large Size Ready to hang
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Coastal Original oil Painting, Large Size Ready to hang Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2019 Style: C...
Canvas, Oil
$2,240Sale Price|20% Off
“Cows at a Stream Sunset”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original oil on canvas painting of cattle watering at sunset by the well known American artist, George A. Hayes. Signed by the artist lower left “G.A. Hays”. Circa 1885. Condition ...
Canvas, Oil
$3,840Sale Price|20% Off
“Rough Seas”
Located in Southampton, NY
Here for your consideration is a very well executed luminous oil on artist board painting by the American artist, Franklin Dullin Briscoe. Signed and dated by the artist lower righ...
Oil, Board
Venice, Architecture, Cityscape, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: Venice Size: 16" x 21.5" x 0.8'' inc...
Canvas, Oil
$9,156
Large landscape oil painting of the Deer Park at Vaynol country estate, Wales
By George Earl
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
George Earl (British, 1824 -1908) Rivals at Dawn, Vaynol The Deer Park at Vaynol is a country estate in Gwynedd, Wales Oil on canvas Signed and dated ‘George Earl. Pinxt 1882’ (lower...
Canvas, Oil
“Pennsylvania Beauty”
Located in Southampton, NY
Here for your consideration is an outstanding example of the landscape mastery of American artist, Edmund Darch Lewis. Fabulous light and clarity of the bucolic scene. Signed lower right and dated 1870. Recently cleaned. Several old patches verso with corresponding in paint. Condition is very good The painting is framed in its original gold leaf period frame which is in fine condition. Overall measurements are 35 by 46.5 inches. Edmund Darch Lewis was born in Philadelphia, the son of a prominent businessman. According to family tradition he was educated at a private school...
Canvas, Oil
“Danish Clipper in Twilight”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original oil on canvas painting of a Danish clipper ship in twilight by the painter, P. Toft. Signed “P. Toft” lower right and dated 1919. Condition is excellent. Professionally ga...
Canvas, Oil
Ocean Breeze Large Seascape Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Large Size oil Painting Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2019 Style: Classic Art, Impressionism, Subj...
Canvas, Oil
$7,500Sale Price|40% Off
“Watering the Cattle”
Located in Southampton, NY
Oil on canvas painting by the American artist, Edmund Darch Lewis. Signed lower right and dated, 1891. Several small punctures which will be professionaly restored. Old reline of ca...
Canvas, Oil
Ocean Cliff, Seascape, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: Ocean Cliff Size: 15.5" x 23.5" x 0....
Canvas, Oil
Farmer, Landscape, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: Farmer Size: 16.5" x 21.5" x 0.8'' i...
Canvas, Oil
Ocean Cliffs, Seascape, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: Ocean Cliffs Size: 29.5" x 39.5" x 0...
Canvas, Oil
$1,125Sale Price|25% Off
Waves, Seascape, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: Waves Size: 12" x 17" x 0.8'' inch, ...
Canvas, Oil
$585,000
"In the Canadian Rockies" 19th Century Oil Painting on Canvas
By Albert Bierstadt, 1830-1902
Located in Jacksonville, FL
The art is signed AB..6. lower right corner Albert Bierstadt, a luminary of 19th-century American landscape painting, was born on January 7, 1830, in Solingen, Prussia (now Germany)...
Oil
$1,760Sale Price|20% Off
“Sailing along the Rocky American Coast”
Located in Southampton, NY
*A seascape by Warren Long captures a sailboat navigating choppy blue waters near a dramatic rocky coast under a cloudy, bright sky. Oil on canvas. Signe...
Canvas, Oil
$22,217
Large British turn of the 20th Century oil painting of boys at the rockpool
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
A stunning, large scale, oil painting by British artist Harry Watson of bathers at a rockpool. HARRY WATSON RWS ROI (BRITISH, 1871-1936) BATHERS AT A ROCKPOOL oil on canvas signed ...
Canvas, Oil
$9,600Sale Price|20% Off
“Summer”
Located in Southampton, NY
Here for your consideration is a wonderful large panoramic original oil painting by the well known American artist, Charles Wilson Knapp. Signed lower right. Circa 1880. Condition...
Canvas, Oil
Fun Day, Coastal, Beach, Figurative, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Ara H. Hakobyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Canvas Year: 2017 Style: Impressionism Title: Fun Day Size: 16" x 20" x 0.8'' inch...
Canvas, Oil
Portrait Of Jean Gerard Vonderbank & Family, Early 19th-Century Oil Painting
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This finely observed early 19th-century oil painting, attributed to German artist Carl Adolf Mende (1807-1857), depicts Jean Gerard Vonderbank, a German surveyor, instrument designer...
Canvas, Oil
The Young Shepherdess: Late 19th Century Academic Oil Painting
By Charles Amable Lenoir
Located in New York, NY
The Young Shepherdess by Charles Amable Lenoir (1860-1926) Oil on canvas 48 x 32 inches unframed (121.92 x 81.28 cm.) 58 ½ x 42 ¾ inches framed (148.59 x 10...
Oil
Gondolier on a Venetian backwater, oil on canvas, by Antoine Bouvard senior
By Antoine Bouvard (Marc Aldine)
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Antoine Bouvard (French, 1882–1956) Gondolier on a Venetian Backwater Oil on canvas Signed ‘Bouvard’ (lower left) 21.25 x 32 in. (54 x 81.5 cm) In this tranquil Venetian scene, Anto...
Canvas, Oil
Venice The Lagoon, Painting 19th Century
By Alfred August Felix Bachman
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
BACHMANN Alfred Félix August (1863-1956) Venice Lagoon and Doge Palace Oil on canvas signed Low Right Frame gilded with leaves Dim canvas : 73 X 54 cm Dim frame : 78 X 95 cm ...
Oil
Winter Day in Old Yard, Original Oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Ara H. Hakobyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Canvas Year: 2019 Style: Impressionism Title: Winter Day in Old Yard Size: 18" x 21" x 0.8'' inch, (45x53x2cm), Unframed, Stretched on wooden bar, Ready to Hang, Artist Bio Ara H. Hakobyan is an Armenian artist and art critic, Doctor of Sciences (arts, 2017), professor (2018) and a member of Artist Union of the Republic of Armenia (1999). Ara H. Hakobyan was born in 1973 in Yerevan in the family of art historian Hravard Hakobyan. In 1997 Mr. Hakobyan graduated from the Yerevan State Academy of Arts, Department of Painting. During 1997-2000 Ara Hakobyan...
Canvas, Oil
$11,250Sale Price|25% Off
'Peau d’Âne' Large 19th-Century French Allegorical Pastoral Painting
Located in New York, NY
Pastoral Scene with Young Woman and Turkeys Oil on canvas 118.5 × 153.5 cm The frame is extremelly heavy, better to sell without it. Signed low-right This large-scale and finely ex...
Canvas, Oil
Fishing Boats, Seascape, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Title: Fishing Boats Size: 26" x 35" x 0.8'...
Canvas, Oil
$512Sale Price|20% Off
Venice, Impressionism, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressionism Subject: Venice, Size: 8.5" x 12" x 0.8'' ...
Canvas, Oil
$3,400Sale Price|29% Off
“Continental Landscape”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original oil on wooden oak panel of a traditional figural landscape of an incoming storm with figures fishing in the foreground. No visible signature. Condition is excellent. Wonder...
Oil, Board
Waves, Seascape Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Seascape Original oil Painting, One of a Kind Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2023 Style: Impressioni...
Canvas, Oil
Children on the Beach Marine Landscape French Antique Oil Painting
Located in Norwich, GB
The setting is the French coast, on a tranquil summer's evening. Clouds are drawing in, the sky is turning dusky pink and purple, but there is still time left for play, for the children on the beach...
Canvas, Oil
$420Sale Price|20% Off
“Classic Sailboats”
Located in Southampton, NY
Beautiful, original watercolor on archival paper of two classic American sailboats by the well known marine artist, Ron Saporito Signed by the artist lower right. Condition is excel...
Watercolor, Archival Paper
$800Sale Price|20% Off
Fall Landscape, Impressionism, Original oil Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Ara H. Hakobyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Canvas Year: 2018 Style: Impressionism Subject: Fall Landscape Size: 24" x 30" x 0...
Canvas, Oil
Landscape, Impressionism, Original Painting, One of a Kind
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Ara H. Hakobyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Acrylic on Canvas Year: 2019 Style: Impressionism Title: Landscape Size: 24" x 30" x 0.8'' inch, (61x76x2cm), Unframed, Stretched on wooden bar, Ready to Hang, Artist Bio Ara H. Hakobyan is an Armenian artist and art critic, Doctor of Sciences (arts, 2017), professor (2018) and a member of Artist Union of the Republic of Armenia (1999). Ara H. Hakobyan was born in 1973 in Yerevan in the family of art historian Hravard Hakobyan. In 1997 Mr. Hakobyan graduated from the Yerevan State Academy of Arts, Department of Painting. During 1997-2000 Ara Hakobyan...
Canvas, Acrylic
19th Century Animated Landscape Painting in Oil on Canvas
Located in Genève, GE
Work on canvas
Oil
Boulders
Located in Greenville, DE
Original landscape oil on canvas by American illustrator N.C. Wyeth. Painted in his hometown of Chadds Ford, PA c. 1911-12. The work is unsigned but is included in the artist's catal...
Canvas, Oil
$2,974Sale Price|20% Off
Sheperd in Oriental Dress with Sheep by the Water, Early 20th Century
Located in Genève, GE
monogram artwork, oil on canvas Dimension with frame : 49.5 x 67.2 x 5 cm his monogrammed oil on canvas depicts an evocative Orientalist pastoral scene, featuring two figures in trad...
Oil, Canvas