Royal Academy Exhibition of 1780

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1780 was an art exhibition staged in London by the Royal Academy of Arts. Held between 1 May and 3 June 1780 it was the first to take place at the academy's new headquarters at Somerset House. 489 exhibits were on display and the event attracted more than 61,000 visitors.[1]

Since the 1769 debut all Summer Exhibitions had taken place in a rented room in Pall Mall. The architect William Chambers designed the new purpose-built headquarters.[2] It took place during the American War of Independence and in which the country faced a growing coalition of enemies. The previous year Britain had been threatened with invasion from a Franco-Spanish Armada. A number of the submissions made reference to the ongoing conflict.

Notable amongst the works on display was Johan Zoffany's The Tribuna of the Uffizi, a royal commission from Queen Charlotte which he had travelled to Florence to produce.[3] Benjamin West submitted a large number of works including history paintings recounting victories in the Nine Years War almost a century earlier. He also showed a range of portraits of the royal family including George III, Charlotte and a joint picture of their sons William, Duke of Clarence and Edward, Duke of Kent. His fellow American John Singleton Copley submitted a full-length depiction of the Highland soldier Hugh Montgomerie.[4] His more limited offering thay year was because he was working on his large The Death of the Earl of Chatham.[5]

Joshua Reynolds, the President of the Royal Academy, demonstrated his versatility with a variety of submissions featuring the young Prince William Frederick and the historian Edward Gibbon. He also showed Justice part of his series featuring the four cardinal virtues.[6] He also produced his own portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte to hang on the walls of the new academy.[4] His Portrait of Lady Worsley featured a fashionable aristocratic wearing a costume inspired by the militia uniform of her husband's regiment.[7] Other war-themed paintings were Francis Holman's The Moonlight Battle featuring a British naval victory over the Spanish while sailing to relieve the besieged garrison at Gibraltar.[8] Philip James de Loutherbourg depicted Warley Camp a painting of a military review by George III of troops gathered to resist invasion.[9]

Thomas Gainsborough submitted a number of painters but was disappointed by their placings in the exhibition, a growing issue with the academy which would ultimately lead to his boycotting it.[10] His work on display included six landscapes and several portraits including his friend Henry Bate Dudley and the actor John Henderson.[11] He also presented a portrait of the German musician Johann Christian Fischer, who was briefly his son-in-law.[12]

References

  1. ^ "1780 Trouble with the Tribuna at the "Temple of Priapus"". chronicle250.com. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
  2. ^ McIntrye p.364-66
  3. ^ Webster p.59
  4. ^ a b McIntyre p.366
  5. ^ Kamensky p.396-97
  6. ^ McIntrye p.356
  7. ^ McCreery p.165
  8. ^ "The Moonlight Battle off Cape St Vincent, 16 January 1780 | Royal Museums Greenwich". www.rmg.co.uk. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
  9. ^ Blunt p.81
  10. ^ Hamilton p.304
  11. ^ McIntryre p.366
  12. ^ Hamilton p.303

Bibliography

  • Blunt, Anthony. The Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen: The Later Italian Pictures. Phaidon, 1969.
  • Hamilton, James. Gainsborough: A Portrait. Hachette UK, 2017.
  • Kamensky, Jane. A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton Copley. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016.
  • McCreery, Cindy. The Satirical Gaze: Prints of Women in Late Eighteenth-century England. Clarendon Press, 2004.
  • McIntyre, Ian. Joshua Reynolds: The Life and Times of the First President of the Royal Academy. Allen Lane, 2003.
  • Webster, Mary. Johan Zoffany, 1733-1810. National Portrait Gallery, 1976.
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