Academic Art
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.
1890s Academic Art
Oil
Mid-19th Century Academic Art
Engraving
19th Century Academic Art
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Academic Art
Canvas, Oil
1890s Academic Art
Etching
19th Century Academic Art
Ink, Watercolor, Paper, Pen
1880s Academic Art
Oil
Mid-19th Century Academic Art
Pastel
Early 19th Century Academic Art
Engraving
1840s Academic Art
Oil
Late 19th Century Academic Art
Lithograph
1840s Academic Art
Lithograph
Mid-19th Century Academic Art
Watercolor, Woodcut
19th Century Academic Art
Watercolor, Pencil
1860s Academic Art
Oil
1880s Academic Art
Oil
Late 19th Century Academic Art
Canvas, Oil
1880s Academic Art
Oil
1890s Academic Art
Graphite, Archival Paper
1890s Academic Art
Carbon Pencil
1880s Academic Art
Oil
1880s Academic Art
Oil
1880s Academic Art
Oil
1830s Academic Art
Etching, Watercolor
1890s Academic Art
Carbon Pencil
1840s Academic Art
Lithograph
Late 19th Century Academic Art
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Art
Pastel, Crayon
Early 19th Century Academic Art
Engraving
1860s Academic Art
Oil
1860s Academic Art
Watercolor
Late 19th Century Academic Art
Woodcut, Watercolor
19th Century Academic Art
Canvas, Oil
1830s Academic Art
Etching, Watercolor
1860s Academic Art
Pencil
1820s Academic Art
Pen, Ink, Vellum
1870s Academic Art
Lithograph
Late 19th Century Academic Art
Engraving
1830s Academic Art
Etching, Watercolor
19th Century Academic Art
Bronze
1870s Academic Art
Canvas, Oil
19th Century Academic Art
Canvas, Oil
1880s Academic Art
Lithograph
1880s Academic Art
Ink
1840s Academic Art
Lithograph
1840s Academic Art
Wax
Late 19th Century Academic Art
Charcoal, Paper
1830s Academic Art
Lithograph
1880s Academic Art
Archival Paper, Watercolor, Graphite
Late 19th Century Academic Art
Lithograph
1880s Academic Art
Oil
1820s Academic Art
Ink, Pen, Vellum
Late 19th Century Academic Art
Lithograph
1820s Academic Art
Vellum, Ink, Pen
1880s Academic Art
Oil
Early 19th Century Academic Art
Oil
1820s Academic Art
Ink, Pen, Vellum
Late 19th Century Academic Art
Watercolor, Lithograph