The Académie royale des beaux-arts de Liège is the academy of fine arts of the Belgian city of

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

. The art academy was first established in 1775 by prince-bishop

François-Charles de Velbrück François Charles de Velbrück (1719, Chateau de Garath, near Düsseldorf – 1784, Château de Hex, near Tongres) was a German ecclesiastic. He was prince bishop of Liege from 16 February 1772 to 1784. Early life In 1735, Velbrück was made ...

, and was led initially by Guillaume Évrard and later by Léonard Defrance. The prince-bishop's academy was closed in the

French period In Northern European historiography, the term French period (french: Période française, german: Franzosenzeit, nl, Franse tijd) refers to the period between 1794 and 1815 during which most of Northern Europe was controlled by Republican or Napo ...

, and under the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...

the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp was given a monopoly on certifying art teachers.Jean-Patrick Duchesne, "Modern Times: Visual Arts and Music", in ''History of Liège'', edited by Bruno Demoulin (Brussels, 2017). In the wake of the

Belgian Revolution The Belgian Revolution (, ) was the conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. T ...

, the city of Liège refounded an academy of fine arts in 1837, under the patronage of the Belgian crown. By 1890 there were 650 students enrolled, with another 400 studying at the École Saint-Luc, making Liège a significant centre of art education. In 1898 the alumni association started publishing the art journal ''L'Effort''. In 1976, a course on drawing comics was instituted in the evening section. The academy was originally established in a former

beguinage A beguinage, from the French term ''béguinage'', is an architectural complex which was created to house beguines: lay religious women who lived in community without taking vows or retiring from the world. Originally the beguine institution was ...

, the Hospice Saint-Abraham, but in 1895 moved to a purpose-built

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

structure on Rue des Anglais, designed by Joseph Lousberg.

References

External links

*http://www.academieroyaledesbeauxartsliege.be/ Buildings and structures in Liège 1775 establishments in Europe 1837 establishments in Belgium Art schools in Belgium {{Belgium-university-stub