Académie royale des beaux-arts de Liège

The Académie royale des beaux-arts de Liège is the academy of fine arts of the Belgian city of Liège. The art academy was first established in 1775 by prince-bishop François-Charles de Velbrück, and was led initially by Guillaume Évrard and later by Léonard Defrance.^[1] The prince-bishop's academy was closed in the French period, and under the United Kingdom of the Netherlands the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp was given a monopoly on certifying art teachers.^[2]: 243 In the wake of the Belgian Revolution, the city of Liège refounded an academy of fine arts in 1837, under the patronage of the Belgian crown.^[2]: 243 By 1890 there were 650 students enrolled, with another 400 studying at the École Saint-Luc, making Liège a significant centre of art education.^[2]: 243 In 1898 the alumni association started publishing the art journal L'Effort.^[2]: 244

In 1976, a course on drawing comics was instituted in the evening section.^[2]: 269

The academy was originally established in a former beguinage, the Hospice Saint-Abraham, but in 1895 moved to a purpose-built Renaissance Revival structure on Rue des Anglais, designed by Joseph Lousberg.^[3]