Academic Prints and Multiples
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.
1860s Academic Prints and Multiples
Watercolor, Engraving
1870s Academic Prints and Multiples
Etching
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Paper, Etching
1890s Academic Prints and Multiples
Archival Paper, Etching
1880s Academic Prints and Multiples
Etching
1970s Academic Prints and Multiples
Color
Early 19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Engraving
1860s Academic Prints and Multiples
Archival Paper, Engraving
1910s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
Early 1700s Academic Prints and Multiples
Engraving
1970s Academic Prints and Multiples
Archival Paper, Etching
1890s Academic Prints and Multiples
Etching
Late 19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Woodcut, Watercolor
Early 1900s Academic Prints and Multiples
Archival Paper, Photogravure
Early 1900s Academic Prints and Multiples
Archival Paper, Photogravure
Mid-19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
2010s Academic Prints and Multiples
Etching, Aquatint, Paper
2010s Academic Prints and Multiples
Canvas
Mid-17th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Engraving
1890s Academic Prints and Multiples
Etching, Paper, Ink, Laid Paper
1940s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
1940s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
1920s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
1920s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
1920s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
1970s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph, Paper
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Engraving, Etching
1920s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
1920s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
1990s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
1980s Academic Prints and Multiples
Drypoint
1870s Academic Prints and Multiples
Laid Paper, Etching
2010s Academic Prints and Multiples
Photographic Film, Woodcut, Emulsion, Watercolor, C Print, Color, Lithog...
1910s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
1780s Academic Prints and Multiples
Laid Paper, Engraving
1790s Academic Prints and Multiples
Etching, Archival Paper
19th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Paper, Engraving
Early 18th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Engraving
Early 20th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Paper, Photogravure
1960s Academic Prints and Multiples
Etching
Mid-20th Century Academic Prints and Multiples
Engraving
1930s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph
1930s Academic Prints and Multiples
Etching
1990s Academic Prints and Multiples
Lithograph