A drawing of a human figure, usually nude or partly nude, made for purposes of instruction. These studies were called académies because such they were assigned in art courses at the Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture in Paris and the Académie de France in Rome, as well as at other official art institutions. Pronunciation here. See also academy.

Gustave Moreau.  Académie of a Man. Graphite. 1860. Musée Gustave Moreau, Paris.