[Architecture; John Sartain:] The First American Art Academy. Reprinted from Lippincott’s Magazine.

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Separately printed article from Lippincott’s Magazine of Popular Literature and Science on the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the oldest art museum and art school in the United States, founded in 1805. The occasion of the article was the construction of PAFA’s new Second Empire and Renaissance Revival building designed by architects Frank Furness and George Hewitt, built from 1871 to 1876.

The vibrant frontispiece engraving by John Sartain (and printed by Henry Sartain) shows the original Greek Revival Academy building demolished in 1870. This print may or may not have been published in Lippincott’s Magazine; it is richly produced here. Three additional plates show a perspective view of the new building plus its ground floor plan and the plan of its exhibition galleries on an upper level. Includes a history of the Academy and some discussion of its notable artworks and exhibitions.

This copy presented to Philadelphia attorney and politician Eli K. Price (1797–1884), an active member of the American Philosophical Society and a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania.

Price: $125.00