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.
$2,000Sale Price|20% Off
Torah Scholar, Shimshon Holzman
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Shimshon Holzman (1907-1986) Title: Torah Scholar Year: 1962 Medium: Watercolor and graphite on wove paper Size: 13.75 x 19.75 inches Condition: Excellent Inscription: Signed...
Watercolor, Graphite
Seashore, Coastal, Original oil Painting on linen, Framed
Located in Granada Hills, CA
Artist: Karen Darbinyan Work: Original Oil Painting, Handmade Artwork, One of a Kind Medium: Oil on Linen, Year: 2021 Style: Impressionism Subject: Seashore, Size: 28.5" x 39.5" x 0...
Canvas, Oil
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Coup de Vent
Located in Paris, IDF
Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in the United States and China. His wor...
Canvas, Oil
$28,450Sale Price|36% Off
Pair 19th Century French Whimsical Oil on Canvas "Cherubs and Putti Children"
Located in LA, CA
Charles Joshua Chaplin (French, 1825-1891) A Very Fine and Charming Pair of 19th Century French Whimsical Oils on Canvas of Cherubs and Putti, after François Boucher (French, 1703–17...
Canvas, Oil
19th Century gouache of a visit to Pompei on the Grand Tour
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Neapolitan school (early 19th Century) A visit to Pompei on the the Grand Tour Gouache on paper Inscribed ‘Porzione del quartiere a Pompei’ and ‘In Nap...
Paper, Gouache
Feeding the Young
By Edmund Adler
Located in Mc Lean, VA
A rural interior scene by Austrian artist Edmund Adler. The scene is typical of Adler's paintings of Austrian culture and rural life. It is full of gemütlichkeit.
Canvas, Oil
$27,200Sale Price|20% Off
Jupiter and Mercury received by Philemon and Baucis
Located in New York, NY
Canvas size: 57 3/4 x 45 1/2 inches A striking and impressive French Academic painting in a high quality Italian style gold leaf frame. Gorguet was an Academic French artist who was trained by Boulanger, Gerome, Bonnat and Morot. His academic training was so strong that he was asked by the Opera House to illustrate many of their posters and he made his living illustrating many books of the time. In the market today this is most of what circulates and comes to light by the artist. He was ultimately made a professor of Drawings at L’Institut. However, Gorguet was also a Symbolist artist and did works aligned with the Art Nouveau movement. Many of these works are quite impressive but rarely have surfaced in the art market. Jupiter and Mercury Received by Philemon and Baucis is more of an Allegorical work and Gorguet switched gears to do a painting which would garner International attention at the important Concourse du Prix de Rome competition. 1891 was a year where the competition would be stiff and he knew he had to do an impressive painting with a compelling historical or allegorical content. In this painting, Gorguet is depicting their Jupiter and Mercury’s arrival at their home and the indication that Philemon and Baucis will share what they have with them despite their poverty-stricken means. The technical execution of this work is exceptional as the figurative work is done masterfully and any small detail within the canvas demonstrates tremendous attention of subtlety of tone and modeling. An example is the strand of cloth that crosses Jupiters chest and the delicate shades of pink and gray and how it is modeled. More than ever, the academic artists of this period are to be appreciated for the quality and creativeness of their work. And the timelessness of these classical allegories are still applicable to our lives today. So we predict a turn back toward work like this as qualitatively we know it will never be done again. Story of Jupiter and Mercury Visiting Philemon and Baucis (one interpretation) According to ancient Roman mythology and Ovid's Metamorphoses (8.631, 8.720.), Philemon and Baucis had lived out their long lives nobly, but in poverty. Jupiter, the Roman king of the gods, had heard of the virtuous couple, but based on all his previous experiences with humans, he had serious doubts as to their goodness. Jupiter was about to destroy mankind but was willing to give it one final chance before starting over again. So, in the company of his son Mercury, the wing-footed messenger god, Jupiter went about, disguised as a worn and weary traveler, from house to house among the neighbors of Philemon and Baucis. As Jupiter feared and expected, the neighbors turned him and Mercury away rudely. Then the two gods went to the last house...
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Italian gouache painting of Mount Vesuvius and Naples, summertime
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
A beautiful and naive painting of Naples from the sea in summertime from the 19th Century. The beautiful light blue tones of the sea highlight the architecture of Naples and Vesuvius beyond. Circle of Gioacchino La Pira...
Paper, Gouache
Samantha Haring, "Enough" Oil on paper on panel
Located in New York, NY
Samantha Haring "Enough," 2024 Oil on paper on panel 20 x 20 in. (hari024)
Paper, Oil, Panel
Samantha Haring "Sic Transit" Oil on paper on panel
Located in New York, NY
Samantha Haring "Sic Transit," 2023 Oil on paper on panel 16 x16 in. (hari020)
Paper, Oil, Panel
French 19th Century oil painting of The rescue of Deianara by Emile Menard
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Emile Rene Menard (French, 1862-1930) L`enlevement de Dejanira (The rescue of Deianara) Oil on canvas Signed `E R Menard’ (lower left) and inscribed with t...
Canvas, Oil
$115,000
The Crossing, 19th Century Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Signed, Framed
Located in New York, NY
The Crossing, 1855, by Theodore Frere (1814-1888) Oil on wood panel 9 x 14 inches unframed (22.86 x 35.56 cm) 17 ¾ x 22 ½ inches framed (45.085 x 57.15 cm...
Oil
"Portrait of a Woman" Edward Percy Moran, Early American Portrait, Bucolic
Located in New York, NY
Edward Percy Moran Portrait of a Woman Signed lower right Oil on canvas 30 x 20 inches Provenance: The Madison Gallery, Atlanta Percy Moran was the son of marine painter Edward Mo...
Canvas, Oil
CLASSICAL Antique PRE-RAPHEALITE Grecian Ladies on a MARBLE Painted TERRACE
By Henry Ryland
Located in New York, NY
Ryland studied under Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant (1845-1902), Gustave Boulanger (1824-1888), and Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911) in Paris, and also at the South Kensington Art Sc...
Watercolor
$2,200Sale Price|20% Off
Untitled (Cafe Interior), Shimshon Holzman
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Shimshon Holzman (1907-1986) Title: Untitled (Cafe Interior) Year: 1962 Medium: Watercolor and graphite on wove paper Size: 27.75 x 19.75 inches ...
Watercolor, Graphite
The Musician
Located in New Orleans, LA
Alfred Weber 1859-1922 I Swiss The Musician Signed “Alfred Weber” (lower left) Oil on panel This work by Swiss ecclesiastical genre painter Alfred Weber, best known for his humorous and meticulously detailed paintings, features a cardinal enjoying his leisure time. Weber's talent for rendering opulent interiors and his keen sense of comic narrative are evident in this painting. The cardinal, looking blissfully content, sits in his lavish living space playing the violin, accompanied by a flutist. Alfred Charles Weber...
Oil, Panel
Magnolia Grandiflora, Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Elizabeth Zanzinger's (US based) "Magnolia Grandiflora" is an oil painting that depicts a nude figure in the foreground with a bright red backgroun...
Oil, Panel
Courtship Oil Painting on Canvas, Academic Style, 20th Century, Framed
Located in Naples, Florida
Courtship by Belgian artist Edward Antoon Portielje (1861–1949). This intimate interior scene reflects Portielje's celebrated ability to capture quiet moments of everyday life with ...
Canvas, Oil
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Instantané
Located in Paris, IDF
Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in the Unite...
Oil, Panel
Fossils, Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Elizabeth Zanzinger's (US based) "Fossils" is an oil painting that depicts nude forms suspended in air between highway and underpass. Elizabeth Z...
Oil
The Water Tower
Located in Greenville, DE
Coastal landscape painting by Giovanni Casadei, "The Water Tower." Oil on panel. Framed dimensions 12.5 x 17.5 inches. Casadei’s approach to painting is to communicate to the viewer ...
Oil, Panel
$11,800
Young Beauty
Located in Mc Lean, VA
An Orientalist figurative or genre painting by Conrad Kiesel.
Oil, Wood Panel
$15,000
Children's Book Cover - Mid-Century Blond Girl - Female Illustrator
Located in Miami, FL
Pioneering Female Illustrator Barbara Briggs Bradley was an in-demand illustrator in the 1950s. Merrill Publishers of their famous children's books hired Barbara Briggs Bradley to d...
Mixed Media, Gouache, Pencil
$28,000Sale Price|20% Off
Blond Girl with Basket of Flowers "Rosemary's Playmate"
Located in Miami, FL
This is an almost lifesize portrait of a charming blond holding a basket of freshly picked flowers. The girl set against a verdant landscape with blue sky and cumulus clouds. The subject is the friend of the artist's daughter. 78 x 42in. framed. This joyful image of youth looks better in person due to its impressive size and clearly will be a statement piece in any home. Francis Luis Mora ( ( Uruguayan / American, 1874-1940) Studied under Edmund Charles Tarbell...
Canvas, Oil
French Contemporary Art by Pascal Plazanet - Barfleur
Located in Paris, IDF
Rapidography & Indian ink on canvas Pascal Plazanet is a French artist born in 1963 who lives and works in Paris, France. For more 30 years, he consta...
Canvas, India Ink
"Rowboat in a Summer Landscape" George Bacon Wood, Pleine Air Landscape
Located in New York, NY
George Bacon Wood Rowboat in a Summer Landscape Signed lower left Oil on wood panel 6 1/4 x 8 inches Born in Philadelphia, landscape painter George Bacon Wood, Jr., studied at the ...
Oil, Wood Panel
Solitude
Located in New Orleans, LA
Signed “G-Seignac” (lower right) Oil on canvas French Academic painter Guillaume Seignac was renowned for his masterful treatment of the idealized nude. His languishing female subje...
Oil, Canvas
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Swing des Oranges
Located in Paris, IDF
Artwork located in Los Angeles, USA. Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in th...
Oil, Panel
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Noblesse Oblige
Located in Paris, IDF
Artwork located in Los Angeles, USA Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibit...
Oil, Canvas
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Omaha
Located in Paris, IDF
Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in the United States and China. His works e...
Oil, Panel
" At The Port" 19th Century Academic Realist Landscape Oil Painting on Panel
By Andreas Schelfhout
Located in Jacksonville, FL
"Sunrise on the Shore" by Andreas Schelfhout stands as a testament to the extraordinary talent of the Dutch artist, born in The Hague in 1787. A prominent figure of the Romantic move...
Oil, Board
$12,500
The Fair Student
By Henry Wyatt
Located in Mc Lean, VA
Signed and dated '1835' center right
Canvas, Oil
$124,500
The Potter
Located in New Orleans, LA
Léon Olivié-Bon 1863-1901 French The Potter Oil on canvas Signed and dated "Olivie-Bon 1888" (lower right) This monumental masterpiece by French artist Léon Olivié-Bon is one of ...
Canvas, Oil
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - L'Insoutenable Légèreté
Located in Paris, IDF
Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in the United States and China. His works e...
Oil, Panel
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Au Fond l'Espoir
Located in Paris, IDF
Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in the United States and China. His wor...
Canvas, Oil
Marine at twilight from Nederland
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
VAN KOPP (19th Century) Dutch School Marine at twilight from Nederland Oil on canvas signed low right Old frame re-gilded with gold leaves Dim canvas : 50 X 100 cm Dim Frame : 72 X 1...
Oil
$2,000
French Contemporary Art by Pascal Plazanet - Paris depuis l’Hotel de Ville
Located in Paris, IDF
Rapidography & acrylic onto canvas Pascal Plazanet is a French artist born in 1963 who lives and works in Paris, France. For more 30 years, he constantly uses rapidograph pens in hi...
Canvas, Acrylic
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - L'Envolée Légère
Located in Paris, IDF
Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in the United States and China. His works e...
Canvas, Oil
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Chapelle Sixtine
Located in Paris, IDF
Artwork located in Los Angeles, USA. Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibi...
Canvas, Oil
The Love Letter
Located in Mc Lean, VA
Signed and dated '1884' lower right
Canvas, Oil
Orientalist Scenes in Pair - Dutch Painting 19th Century
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
VAN WYK Henri (1833-NC) signed HENRI Orientalist scenes in pair Oil on wood panel signed low left Old frame re-gilded with gold leaves Dim wood : 22 X 41 cm Dim frame : 33 X 55 cm V...
Oil
French Contemporary Art by Pascal Plazanet - Provencale No. 6
Located in Paris, IDF
Rapidography & acrylic on paper + white frame Pascal Plazanet is a French artist born in 1963 who lives and works in Paris, France. For more 30 years, he constantly uses rapidograph pens in his artworks on paper or onto canvas. The rapidograph is a special pen with a capillary tubular tip in which flows a black pigment, an ancient drawing tool...
Paper, Acrylic
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - L'Espoir en Rose
Located in Paris, IDF
Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in the United States and China. His works e...
Oil, Canvas
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Songe d'une Nuit d'Été
Located in Paris, IDF
Artwork located in Los Angeles, USA. Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in th...
Oil, Panel
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Sky is the Limit
Located in Paris, IDF
Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in the United States and China. His works e...
Oil, Panel
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Reve d'Aivasovsky
Located in Paris, IDF
Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in the United States and China. His works e...
Oil, Canvas
"The ribbons bent"
Located in Edinburgh, GB
The picture "Stozhki nakhilis" transports the viewer to the winter fairy tale of Transcarpathia, where a sunny day envelops the snow-covered slopes of the mountains with warm rays. O...
Canvas, Oil
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Douce France
Located in Paris, IDF
Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in the Unite...
Canvas, Oil
After Dinner Rest Awhile - Quintessentially British Domestic Scene
Located in London, GB
Margaret Dovaston (1884–1955) After Dinner, Rest Awhile Oil on Canvas Signed M Dovaston (lower right) 46 x 61 cms / 18 x 24 inches This finely detailed scene by British artist Marga...
Canvas, Oil
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - La Cathédrale Engloutie
Located in Paris, IDF
Artwork located in Los Angeles, USA. Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as i...
Canvas, Oil
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Humeurs Brouillonnes
Located in Paris, IDF
Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in the U...
Oil, Canvas
Composition of Roses With Lute and score
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
GODCHAUX Emile (1860) Big Composition of roses with Oil on canvas signed low right Frame gilded with gold leaves Dim canvas : 90 X 129 cm Dim frame : 118 x 159 cm GODCHAUX Emile (1860 - nc) French School - 19th century - Born in 1860 Painter of genre scenes, landscapes, waterscapes, marines, flowers, still lives. He sold his paintings on the public place, and sometimes in Lotteries. He is related to Alfred Godchaux...
Oil
Across the River by Sir David Murray
Located in New Orleans, LA
Sir David Murray, R.A., H.R.S.A., R.S.W., R.I. 1849-1933 • Scottish Across the River Signed and dated D. Murray 1907 (lower left) Signed and inscribed “Across the River/by David M...
Canvas, Oil
Antique SUNSET VIEW OF SAN LAZZARO, VENICE
Located in New York, NY
Up for sale is a wonderful Italian Venetian Sunset painting by Bernhard Stange (1807-1880). Painting for sale depicts SUNSET VIEW OF SAN LAZZARO, VENICE It is absolutely colorful a...
Oil
Watercolor Painting - Flowers with China Porcelain vase
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
ROSENSTOCK Isidor (1880-1956) Still Life of Flowers with China Porcelain Vase Watercolor on card signed low right Old original frame gilded with leaves and Glass Dim card : 38 X 58 c...
Watercolor
View of Venice - Painting 19th Century
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
KAUFMANN KARL (1843-1901) Pseudonym : CARNIER Venice view Oil on canvas signed CARNIER low right Framed by Gault (Paris) gilded with leaves Dim : canvas ...
Oil
Pair of Bird Still Lifes 1871 by Michelangelo Meucci, Oil on Cardboard
Located in Berlin, DE
A finely executed pair of 19th-century trompe-l’œil bird still lifes by Italian painter Michelangelo Meucci (1840–1890), each meticulously rendered in ...
Oil, Cardboard
Girl with Bouquet
Located in Mc Lean, VA
Monogrammed lower right
Canvas, Oil
"Faistenau" oil painting of snow covered landscape Salzkammergut steeple
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
Plein-air landscape painting of Faistenau, in Austria. A snow covered foreground meets a structure filled horizon, a church tower reaches upward, dissecting the blue sky. Frame opt...
Oil, Panel
French Contemporary Art by Franck Bailleul - Go Bang
Located in Paris, IDF
Franck Bailleul is a French painter born in 1964 who lives & works in Abbeville, Normandy, France. He has exhibited nationally as well as in the United States and China. His wor...
Panel