Royal Academy Exhibition of 1843

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1843 was an art exhibition organised by the British Royal Academy of Arts. It was staged between 8 May and 29 July 1843 at the National Gallery in London, the Academy's home since it's move from Somerset House in 1837.[1]

The exhibition took place the same year as the Fine Arts Commission was holding a public contest for works designed for the new Houses of Parliament which were rebuilt following a major fire the previous decade. This drew the efforts of some artists away from the exhibition although many painters submitted works to both.[2] The exhibition featured several representations of the young Queen Victoria, including portraits by the President of the Royal Academy Martin Archer Shee and the future president Francis Grant. In addition Charles Robert Leslie exhibited Queen Victoria Receiving the Sacrament at her Coronation, depicting a scene from her 1838 coronation at Westminster Abbey.[3]

By this stage in his career J. M. W. Turner was the leading British artist, following the deaths of contemporaries such as John Constable and David Wilkie. However the paintings he submitted to the Academy reflected his developing experiments with light and colour, in a style that anticipated impressionism later in the century. Amongst these works was The Sun of Venice Going to Sea, a work that appreciated by the critic John Ruskin.[4]

William Etty submitted the first of four versions that he produced by 1846 of The Bather based on James Thompson's poem Summer.[5] David Roberts displayed The Gateway to the Great Temple at Baalbec, one of a number of oils paintings he produced based on his travels through the Middle East.[6]

See also

References

Bibliography

  • Bailey, Anthony. J. M. W. Turner: Standing in the Sun. Tate Enterprises Ltd, 2013.
  • Guiterman, Helen. David Roberts, 1796-1864, Artist, Adventurer. Scottish Arts Council, 1981.
  • Hamilton, James. Turner - A Life. Sceptre, 1998.
  • Ormond, Richard. Sir Edwin Landseer. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1981.
  • Taylor, Miles. he Victorian Empire and Britain's Maritime World, 1837-1901: The Sea and Global History. Springer, 2013.
  • Upstone, Rober. Exposed: The Victorian Nude. Tate Publishing, 2001.