Royal Academy Exhibition of 1838

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1838 was the seventieth annual Summer Exhibition of the British Royal Academy of Arts. It was held between 7 May and 28 July 1838 at the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square in London, the second year of was staged there following the move from the Academy's traditional home at Somerset House. It featured submissions from leading painters, sculptors and architects of the early Victorian era.[1]

Queen Victoria had come to the throne the previous year and her coronation took place in June 1838 while the Exhibition was taking place. It was the first Academy Exhibition that Victoria visited as queen.[2] Major attention was drawn to David Wilkie's The First Council of Queen Victoria which depicted Victoria meeting with leading figures of the kingdom at the beginning of her reign. The work has been commissioned by the queen herself, but Wilkie struggled to secure sittings from those who appeared in the painting.[3] Above it hung Queen Victoria Enthroned in the House of Lords a portrait by George Hayter produced for the Guildhall.[4] Hayter would subsequently replace Wilkie in the queen's favour and she later commissioned him to produce paintings of major public events during he reign such as The Marriage of Queen Victoria.

J.M.W. Turner submitted three paintings including the contrasting Ancient Italy and Modern Italy. Amongst the works displayed by Edwin Landseer was A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society.[5] The President of the Royal Academy Martin Archer Shee submitted several portrait paintings including one of the previous monarch William IV.

References

  1. ^ https://chronicle250.com/1838#catalogue
  2. ^ Forbes p.82
  3. ^ Tromans p.101
  4. ^ https://chronicle250.com/1838#catalogue
  5. ^ Ormond p.111

See also

  • Salon of 1838, a contemporary French exhibition held at the Louvre in Paris

Bibliography

  • Forbes, Christopher. The Royal Academy (1837-1901) Revisited: Victorian Paintings from the Forbes Magazine Collection. Forbes, 1975.
  • Hamilton, James. Turner - A Life. Sceptre, 1998.
  • Ormond, Richard. Sir Edwin Landseer. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1981.
  • Tromans, Nicholas. David Wilkie: The People's Painter. Edinburgh University Press, 2007.
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