The easel is the upright support that holds a painting while the artist works. Learn its history from ancient Egypt to modern studio designs, types, and how to choose one.
Walk into any painter's studio and the first thing you will notice is the easel. It stands in the center of the room like a skeleton key, holding the canvas upright at the angle the painter needs. The design has barely changed in 2,000 years. A few pieces of wood, a hinge, a ledge to rest the canvas on, and a way to tighten or loosen the angle. That is it. The easel is one of the oldest tools in art, and it is also one of the simplest.
An easel is an upright support used to hold a painting panel or canvas while the artist works on it. The word comes from the German "Esel" and Dutch "ezel," both meaning donkey, because the stand carries the load the way a donkey carries a pack. Easels are typically made of wood, aluminum, or steel, and they hold the working surface at an angle of about 20 degrees from vertical. The term "easel painting" refers to any painting small enough to have been made on an easel, as opposed to a mural or altarpiece, and most easel paintings are destined to hang framed on a wall.
This entry covers the history of the easel from ancient Egypt to the present, the main types of easels and what each is designed for, and how to choose the right one for your studio practice.
An easel does three things. It holds the painting surface upright so the artist can stand back and see the work from a distance. It allows the angle of the surface to be adjusted, which matters for controlling paint flow and glare. And it keeps the painting stable while the artist applies pressure with brushes, palette knives, or hands.
The basic mechanics are simple. A vertical post or pair of posts supports a horizontal ledge where the canvas rests. A second support, either a third leg or a rectangular base, keeps the structure from falling forward. Some mechanism, usually a threaded bolt or a sliding clamp, lets the artist raise or lower the canvas ledge and adjust the tilt angle. That is the entire principle. Everything else is variation in size, material, and stability.
The angle matters more than people realize. Oil painters typically work at near-vertical to keep wet paint from running. Watercolor painters need to tilt the surface almost flat to prevent puddles from forming. Pastel painters tilt the easel forward so dust falls away from the surface rather than onto it. A good easel accommodates all of these positions.
Easels have been in use since the time of the ancient Egyptians. The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder, writing in the 1st century CE, made reference to a "large panel" placed upon an easel, proving the tool was known in the classical world. But easel painting did not become common until the 13th century, when portable panel paintings began to supersede wall painting in popularity. Before that, most painting was done on walls or on panels laid flat on a table or the floor.
The practice of easel painting with oil colors stems from 15th-century tempera-painting techniques. Jan van Eyck, the Flemish painter often credited with refining oil painting, created technically brilliant portraits on panels that would have been held on easels. As canvas replaced panel as the dominant painting support in 16th-century Venice, the easel became even more useful. Canvas stretched on a wooden frame is lightweight and flexible, and the easel could hold it steady while the painter applied paint. The shift from wall to easel was also a shift from public to private art, from communal decoration to individual ownership.
By the 17th century, the easel was standard equipment in every European studio. Rembrandt's studio in Amsterdam would have contained multiple easels for his apprentices and his own work. Vermeer's 1676 probate inventory listed "twee schilders eesels, drye paletten" (two painter's easels, three palettes) in the front room of his house on the Oude Langendijk in Delft. The easel had become so identified with the profession that it appears in nearly every self-portrait of a painter from the 16th through the 19th centuries.
The 19th century brought two changes. First, the invention of the paint tube in 1841 by John Goffe Rand made plein air painting practical, and with it came the French box easel, a portable design that combined an easel, a paint box, and a carrying strap. Second, the rise of large-format painting in the 19th and 20th centuries demanded bigger, heavier easels. Studio easels from this period could support canvases over 7 feet tall and weighing more than 200 pounds. The largest easels used winches and crank handles to raise and lower the canvas ledge.
The 20th century introduced aluminum and steel as easel materials, though wood remains the preferred choice for most studio easels. Modern manufacturers like Mabef in Italy and Richeson in the United States produce easels in designs that would be recognizable to a 17th-century Dutch painter. The tool has been refined but not fundamentally changed.
The A-frame easel, also called a lyre easel, is built on a triangular structure with two legs in front and one adjustable leg in back. It is the most common studio easel for beginners and students. A-frames are lighter and easier to fold flat than other designs, which makes them practical for small studios and classrooms. They support small to medium canvases well, typically up to about 48 inches. Their main limitation is stability. The three-legged design can wobble under heavy brush pressure, and the back leg takes up floor space behind the easel. A-frames cannot adjust to a horizontal position for watercolor work.
H-frame easels are built on a rectangular base with two vertical posts connected by a horizontal crossbar, forming the shape of an H. This is the most stable easel design. The wide, square base distributes weight evenly, and the structure resists sideways movement even under heavy pressure. H-frames can support large canvases, often up to 84 inches or more. Many models include a crank handle for raising and lowering the canvas ledge, built-in storage shelves, and casters for moving the easel around the studio. Some H-frames can tilt to horizontal for watercolor. They are heavier and less portable than A-frames, and they take up more floor space. For artists who paint large or use impasto techniques that involve pressing hard with a palette knife, an H-frame is the standard choice.
The French box easel, also called a field easel, was designed for outdoor painting. It combines a tripod easel with a wooden box that opens to reveal storage compartments for paints, brushes, and a wooden palette. The whole unit folds up and has a carrying strap. These easels were developed in the mid-19th century to meet the needs of the Barbizon School and the Impressionists, who wanted to paint outdoors. Monet, Renoir, and Pissarro all used French box easels. They are still made today, though many plein air painters now prefer lighter aluminum tripod easels or pochade boxes.
A pochade box is a compact wooden box that serves as both a paint container and an easel for small panels. The lid opens and adjusts to hold a panel at the desired angle. Pochade boxes are designed for quick outdoor studies, typically on panels rather than stretched canvas. They are small enough to sit on the lap or on a tabletop. The name comes from the French "pochade," meaning a quick sketch.
Tabletop easels are scaled-down versions of studio easels designed to sit on a desk or table. They are useful for artists who work small, who prefer to sit while painting, or who have limited studio space. Some tabletop easels are also designed as storage boxes, with a compartment for supplies inside.
Donkey easels combine a seat and an easel in one unit. The artist sits on a bench with an angled support in front that holds the drawing board or canvas. Donkey easels are common in art school drawing studios, where students work from a model for extended periods. The design allows the artist to sit close to the work while keeping it at the right angle.
Every painter who has worked upright has used an easel, but some have made the tool part of their public identity. Rembrandt's Artist in His Studio (c. 1628, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) shows a painter standing before a large canvas on an easel, the easel itself dominating the composition. The painting is as much about the equipment of painting as about the act.
Vermeer's The Art of Painting (c. 1666, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) depicts the artist at an easel, holding a mahl stick, with a large canvas held upright on the stand. The easel in the painting is a simple A-frame design, essentially identical to what you can buy today.
Court portraits of Empress Marie-Louise show her at an easel, and around 1810 she reportedly presented an easel with her monogram to her painting teacher, the miniaturist Jean-Baptiste Isabey. By the 19th century, the easel had become a symbol of the painter's profession, appearing in studio portraits and self-portraits as a marker of artistic identity.
The Impressionists made the portable easel famous. Monet worked on a French box easel at locations across France, from the cliffs at Etretat to his garden at Giverny. The portability of the easel was what made his series paintings possible. He could carry multiple canvases to a site and swap them as the light changed.
The right easel depends on three things: the size of your paintings, your studio space, and your medium. If you paint large canvases, you need an H-frame. The stability is non-negotiable when you are applying heavy paint to a 60-inch canvas. If you work small to medium and have limited space, an A-frame is sufficient. If you paint outdoors, a French box easel or a pochade box is the practical choice. If you work in watercolor, look for an easel that tilts to horizontal.
Material matters less than construction. Beech wood is the most common material for quality studio easels because it is dense, stable, and resists warping. Aluminum easels are lighter and good for outdoor use, but they transmit vibration more than wood, which can be noticeable when you are painting detail. Avoid cheap pine easels for serious work. The wood is too soft, the joints loosen quickly, and the easel will wobble within months.
Budget for the largest easel your space can accommodate. Artists tend to paint larger over time, and upgrading from an A-frame to an H-frame is an expensive migration. A good studio easel will last decades. Mabef, Richeson, and Jackson's all make reliable models at different price points.
The easel itself is rarely displayed in museums, but you can see it in paintings. Vermeer's The Art of Painting at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is the most detailed depiction of a 17th-century easel in action. Rembrandt's Artist in His Studio at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, shows the easel as a structural element in the studio. For a historical overview of the painter's tools, the Getty Research Institute has published extensively on artists' equipment, including palettes and easels, in their Artists' Things series.
If you want to understand how the easel fits into the broader toolkit of painting, read our entries on the palette, the brush, and canvas. For more on the practice of painting outdoors, see our guide to plein air painting. And if you are setting up a studio for the first time, our post on how to read a painting includes practical advice on studio setup and working habits.
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