Tekenacademie van de Haagse kunstschilders 1751

Simon Fokke made this engraving, Tekenacademie van de Haagse kunstschilders, which translates as 'Drawing Academy of the Hague Painters' sometime between 1712 and 1784. The image shows students learning how to draw the human form in a studio. This particular academy was founded in 1682. Academies became more commonplace in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. They established a hierarchy of genres of painting, with history painting at the top, followed by portraiture, genre painting, landscape, and still life. At the same time, the academies established drawing from life as a key element of artistic training, but nudes were usually only drawn by male students. Note the model is a male figure. The academy was also a place that consolidated social networks between artists, as can be seen here. Studying images like this, alongside archival resources like student lists, allows us to understand more about the institutional conditions that shaped the production and reception of art.