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■IIIIIIIHII 



THE 



ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS 



VOLUME U. 



LOITDOV 
PBIVTBD BT BPOTTIBWOODS AVD CO. 
KBW-STBKBT BQUABB 



THE HISTORY 



OF 



THE ROYAL ACADEMY OP ARTS 



FROM ITS FOUNDATION IN 1768 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF ALL THE MEMBERS. 



BY WILLIAM SANDBY. 



nf TWO VOLUMES. 

VOL. II. 



LONDON: 
LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, ROBERTS, & GREEN. 

1862. 






- , . . • 



/ 



i:.y;;.r 



CONTENTS 



OF 



THE SECOND VOLUME. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THB ROTAL ACADEUT UNDER THE PRESIDENTSHIP OF SIR THOMAS 

LAWRENCE, 1820-1830. 

Death of Geoige IIL — Direct Access to the SoTereign the Prinlege of the Academj 
— Lttwrenoe elected President — His Qualification for the Office — Gold Medal 
and Chain presented bj G^rge IV. to the President — Lawrence's Discourses to 
the Students — ^Proposal to establish a Private School of Art — Society of British 
Artists founded — Purchase of the Angerstein Collection of Pictures for the 
Nation — The Annual Distribution of Prizes to Students — Death of Flaxman, 
Professor of Sculpture — Foundation of Boyal Hibernian Academy aided by 
Boyal Academicians — Establishment of the Boyal Scottish Academy — Pen- 
sioiui to Widows of Artists — Liberality of the President — Artists' Belief Funds 
— liawrence's Collection of Casts and Drawings — The Annual Exhibitions — 
Items of Expenditure — Gifts to the Academy — B. P. Knight's Collection of 
Antiques, Sec — Changes among the Officers and Members — Trayelling 
Students Paob 1 



CHAPTER XII. 

KOTAL ACADEMICIANS ELECTED DURING THE PRESIDENCY OF SIR THOMAS 
LAWRENCE, 1820-1830 21 



CHAPTER Xin. 

ASSOOATES ELECTED DURING THE PRESIDENTSHIP OF SIR T. LAWRENCE, 
WHO DID NOT SUBSEQUENTLY BECOME ROTAL ACADEMIOANS . . 65 



vi CONTENTS OF 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE ROYAL ACADEMY UNDER THE PRESIDENTSHIP OF SIR MARTIN ARCHER 

SHEE, 1830-1850. 

Choice of a President — Chantrey's Proposal for the Office to be held in Rotation 
by the Members — Royal Patronage continued by William lY. to the Royal 
Academy — President's Addresses on Delivery of Gold Medals — Erection of 
a National Gallery — Proposed Removal of the Academy from Somerset 
Honse — Attacks on the Royal Academy answered by the President — Par- 
liamentary Returns called for by Mr. Ewart — Information ftinushed with 
Consent of the King — Exhibition of Works of Deceased Presidents at British 
Institution — Establishment of the Royal Institute of British Architects — 
Select Committee on Institutions connected with the Arts — Evidence of 
Opponents to Royal Academy and of its Officers in Reply — Report of the 
Committee — Address to the King on Removal of the Academy — Farewell 
Dinner at Somerset House — Opening of New Academy by King William IV. — 
Appropriation of the New Apartments — Accession of the Queen — Renewed 
Assurance of Royal Patronage — ^Mr. Hume's Plan for Free Exhibitions opposed 
by the President — Parliamentary Returns of Income and Expenditure called 
for by Mr. Hume — Petition of tiie Royal Academy to the Honse of Commons 
in opposition to the Demand — Debate on the Question — Subsequent Parlia- 
mentary Proceedings on the Subject — Royal Commission on the Fine Arts — 
Illness of the President — Tenders his Resignation, but is solicited to retain the 
Office — Is awarded Pensions from the Academy and the Civil List — Proposed 
Removal of the Academy from Trafalgar Square -» Gifts made by and to 
the Academy — The Exhibitions — Changes among the Officers and 
Members Paob 73 



CHAPTER XV. 

ROTAL ACADEMICIANS ELECTED DURING THE PRESIDENTSHIP OF SIR M. 
A. SHEE, 1830-1850 132 



CHAPTER XVI. 

ASSOCIATES, WHO HAVE NOT SUBSEQUENTLY BECOME ROTAL ACADEMICIANS, 
ELECTED DURING THE PRESIDENTSHIP OF SIR M. A. SHEE, 1830- 
1860 210 



CHAPTER XVn. 

THE ROTAL ACADEMY UNDER THE PRESIDENTSHIP OF SIB CHARLES LOCK 

EASTLAKE. 

Choice of a new President — The late Prince Consort^s Testimony to the Qualifi- 
cations of Sir C. Eastlake for the Office _ The President's First Address — 
The Great Exhibition of 1861 — The Academy Dinner, and the late Prince 



THE SECOND VOLUME vii 

ConsoifB Addrefls — ConvenaEione for Exhibitors established — Distribution 
of Gold Medals — Changes in the Schools — The Science and Art Department 
established — The Qnild of Literature and Art -» Speeches at the Annual 
Dinner, 1862 — Tarnishing Days discontinued — The National Galleij and 
the Turner Collection of Pictures — The new Historical Portrait GhUlerj — 
Formation of the Listitute of British Sculptors — Engravers' Claims to full 
Academic Honours — The Dublin Exhibition, 1853 — The Plresident's Address 
_ Engravers elected as Academicians — Lord Mayor Moon's Dinner to the 
Boyal Academy — The President appointed Director of the National Gallery — 
Paris Exposition, 1855 — Academy Exhibition, 1856 — Laws of Copyright in 
Art — Additional Lectures at the Academy — Gt>ld Medals distributed by 
the President in 1857, and his Address to the Students — Manchester Art- 
Treasoree' Exhibition— The Sheepshanks' Collection— Report of the Commission 
on the Site fat a New National Ghdlery — ParHamentaxy Proceedings relating 
to the Academy, 1858-69 — Proposed Assignment of a Site at Burlington 
House for a New Academy — Lord Lyndhurst's Address to the House of Lords 
— Commnmcation between the Academy and the French Goremment on Art 
— Retirement of Sir Robert Smiike, R.A. — Publication of a Report by the 
Council on the History and Proceedings of the Royal Academy — Alterations 
in the Exhibition Rooms — Admission of Female Students to the Schools — 
Rerised Code of Reg^nlations for Students — - Changes among the Officers and 
Members — Exhibitions, and the Receipts from them — Items of Expenditure 
— Address of Condolence to the Queen on the Death of the Prince Consort — 
List of P>«sent Officers and Members of the Royal Academy . Paob 225 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ROYAL ACADEMICIANS ELECTED UNDER THE PRESID£NTSHIt> OF SIR C. L. 
EASTLAKE 280 



CHAPTER XIX. 

ASSOCIATES, WHO HAVE NOT SINCE BECOME ACADEMICIANS, ELECTED 
DURING THE PRESIDENTSHIP OF SIR CHARLES L. EASTLAKE . . 326 



CHAPTER XX. 

CONCLUSION. 

Influence of the Royal Patronage on the Success of the Royal Academy — 
Abstract of the Laws for its* Regulation and Government — The Privileges 
of Members — ^The Annual Dinner — The Schools, and the Encouragements 
given to the Students — Lectures of the Professors — The Exhibition, and the 
Selection of Contributions — Election of Members ; their Retirement, and 
Diploma Works — The Funds : their Source, and Appropriation — The Charities 
of the Royal Academy — Parliamentary Control uncalled for — Work for the 
Academy in the Future — ^Results of its past Operlttions on the English School 
of Art 357 



viii CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME 



APPENDICES. 

I. List of thv Rotal Acadbmiciams, 1768-1862 .... Paob 393 

II. List of thb Assogiatbs who have not become Boyal Academicians, 

1770-1862 399 

III. List of thb Officbrs, Pbofbssobs, and Honobabt Mbmbbbs 402 

IV. DiPLoacA WoBKs OF thb Rotal Acadbmicians, and some other 

Art-Treasnres in possession of the Boyal Academy 406 

V. List of thb Studbnts to whom Gold Medals have been awarded, 

and of Travelling Students 411 

VI. COKSTITITTION JLSD LaWS OF THB BoTAL ACADBlfT, AlO) OF THB 

Schools 417 

INDEX 466 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



lir 



THE SECOND VOLUME. 



Sm T. Lawbmncs, PJLA Paob 3 

(From the Portrait by Qiarles Landaeer, R.A.) 

Sib M. A. Shu, P.BjL 73 

(From a Portrait painted by hlmaelt.) 

8iB C. L. Eastlaxb, P.RA 225 

(Trcm tlie Portrait by J. P. Knight, R^ presented by him to the Royal Academy.) 

Thb "Tubkbb Mbdal" 262 

(Dealgned by D. Hacllse, R.A^ and modelled by L. 0. WyonJ 

Thb "Siltbb Kidal " awarded by the Boyal Academy as Prises to Students 
— the Bust of the Qaeen on the obverse, and "the Torso" on the 

rererse . * 367 

(From the Design by W. Wyon, R.A.) 

Thb DaaiON fob "thb Difloxa" of the Rotal Acadbxt to face 303 

(From the large BngraTlng by F. Bartolond* RA. made from the Drawing by 

O. B. Cipriani, R.A.) 

Thb " Gold Mbdal" awarded by the Boyal Academy to saooessful Students 
— the Head of George IIL, modelled by T. Pingo — the reverse, 
" Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture,*' designed by Thomas Stothard, 
R.A 411 



THE HISTORY 



OF THE 



EOYAL ACADEMY OF AETS 



-^>9it 



CHAPTEE XL 

THE EOYAL ACADEMY UNDEB THE PRESIDENTSHIP OP SIR 

THOMAS LAWRENCE, 1820-1830 

Death of Oeorffe III. — Direct Access to the Sovereign the PriuQege of the 
Afoademy — Lawrence. eleded President — His Qualification for the Office — 
Chid Medal and Cham presented hy George IV, to the President — ZaW" 
renews Discourses to the Students — Proposal to establish a Private School 
of Art — Society of British Artists founded — Pua'chase of the Angerstein 
Collection of Pictures for the Nation — TTte Annual Distribution of Prizes 
to Students — Death of Flaxman, Professor of Sculpture — Foundation 
of Hoyal Hibernian Academy aided by Hoyal Academicians — Establish- 
tnent of the Moyal Scottish Academy — Pensions to Widows of Artists — 
UberaUty of the President — Artists' HeUef Funds — Lawrence* s Collection 
of Casts and Drawings — The Annual Fxhibitions — Items of Fjcpenditure 
— Gifts to the Academy — R, P. Ehigh^s Collection of Antiques, 8fc, — Changes 
among the Officers and Members — Travelling Students, 

THE long-continued illness of King George III. had 
deprived the Academy of the personal aid and 
encx)urageinent of its Eoyal Founder for many years; 
yet his death, in January 1820, was felt as a mournful 
event by all the members, although very few of those 
originally appointed on the foundation then remained. 
It had been the especial privilege of its officers to transact 
the business of the institution by direct communication 

VOL. II. B 



1 



2 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XI. 

with the Sovereign, without seeking the intervention of 
any official personage; and on every occasion affecting 
the personal welfare of the King, it was the practice of 
the Academicians to offer an address to His Majesty, 
either of congratulation or condolence. Of the former 
kind were those on the twenty-fifth and fiftieth anniver- 
saries of the commencement of his reign ; of the latter, 
the expression of their sympathy in the loss of his 
favourite daughter, and on the death of Queen Charlotte. 
Besides these, other addresses, on subjects affecting the 
Boyal Academy, were occasionally presented by the 
President, — as those in 1800, respecting the succession 
of seats in the Council; in 1812, in reference to the 
memorial of the engravers ; and in 1815, on the proposed 
national monument. The two latter were addressed to 
the Prince Begent, who ascended the throne as King 
George IV. in January, 1820, and who then, in answer to 
the loyal address of the Academicians, assured them that 
all the privileges of personal communication and support 
afforded by his royal father might be looked for from 
himself. 

The death of West followed soon after the King's 
accession ; and, by a vote which was almost imanimous 
(since there were only two dissentients). Sir Thomas 
Lawrence was elected, on the 30th of March, 1820, to 
fill the chair vacated by the late venerable President. 
He was then in the prime of life, having early attained 
an amount of popularity and royal and distinguished 
patronage which might well have awakened the envious 
opposition of less successful competitors for fame. But it 
appears to have been agreed by all who could lay any 
claim to succeed to the chief seat in the Academy, that 
Lawrence was the most qualified to fill it. Howard says 
that " from the moment of his election he seems to have 
determined to win all hearts, and no man ever possessed 
greater fascination." He was an example of that happy 
combination of the artist and the gentleman which is so 



Cb. XL] ELECTION OF LAWRENCE AS PRESIDENT 3 

suitable to the position he attained in the Academy and 
in social life ; for while as an artist he was studious and 
inde&tigable throughout his career, as a man he was 
self-possessed, amiable, courteous, and yielding. A spirit 
of gentleness and moderation distinguished him in all 
things ; and as President, he passed through the ordeal 
which the office presents to ordinary dispositions, with no 



excitement to himself or others. Even Fuseli, who was 
rarely satisfied with anything done by others, said, " Since 
they must have a face-painter to reign over them, let them 
take Lawrence ;" and while none could dispute his genius 
as an artist, aU were obhged to confess that no one of the 
Academicians could excel him in the etiquette of the 
station he had to fill ; for while he was a man of the 
world, he had a mastery of his temper and his tongue, 



4 inSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XL 

and was remarkable for being alike prudent, sagacious, 
sensible, and conciliatory, 

Shee, who, ten years afterwards, attained the same dis- 
tinction, wrote to a relative in Ireland, who seems to have 
expected that he would then have been chosen to succeed 
West, saying — 

"I vot-ed for Sir Thomas Lawrence myself; and never gave a 
vote with a more sincere conviction of its justice and propriety, 
both as to the Academy and the arts. « . . He is the best artist 
of his time, — the public recognise him as such, — he has been 
raised in rank by his Sovereign, and selected for a kind of 
mission of art, which gives him a consequence and celebrity 
never before enjoyed by any English artist. He is highly re- 
spectable in his appearance, and gentlemanlike in his manners ; 
and can support the dignity of the situation, as to expense and 
establishment, in a way that no other member of the Academy 
can pretend to." 

The ready choice of the Academicians was confirmed 
by the King, who took the opportunity of his installation 
to show his interest in the Academy by conferring upon 
the President a gold medal and chain, to be worn by Sir 
Thomas Lawrence and all future successors to the office. 
The medal was inscribed, " From His Majesty George the 
Fourth to the President of the Eoyal Academy." 

There is little to record historically in the career of 
Lawrence in his position as President. During the ten 
years in which he held the office, the Academy continued 
to maintain its position, and to fulfil the purposes of its 
institution ; but nothing remarkable occurred to interest 
fiitiu-e generations. Lawrence followed the example of 
his predecessors in taking the opportunity of the annual 
distribution of the prizes to address the students; but 
each year this task became more difficult and less neces- 
sary, since the track had been again and again retraced in 
the interval since Eeynolds first entered upon it, not only 
by his successor in the office, but by the many talented 
professors who had annually been discoursing to the 



Ch. XI.] LAWRENCE'S DISCOURSES 5 

Students on the principles of art. When the first Presi- 
dent addressed them, the ground was untrodden ; the 
history, literature, and philosophy of the arts had been 
but little studied in this country, and were imperfectly 
understood ; and Eeynolds pursued the field of such in- 
vestigation with such careful and judicious scrutiny that 
he left little that was new to be discovered by those who 
followed him. Barry, Opie, and Fuseh had also lectured 
eloquently and learnedly on the same topics before Law- 
rence became President ; and hence we find that his 
discourses had no pretension to be similar to those of his 
predecessors, but were directed mainly to the correction 
of any defects, or the approval of any excellences, in the 
works of the students who were competitors in the several 
schools. They were fiill of good advice, and were de- 
livered with a kindness of manner which proved his 
sincere wishes for their welfare and success. He was 
always just in any observations he introduced as to the 
merits of his brother artists, whether aUve or not ; and 
no feeling of envy or jealousy ever seems to have ruffled 
his spirit. 

In his first discourse to the students, on the 9th of 
December, 1820, when silver medals only were distributed, 
he expressed his disappointment at the slow and inefficient 
progress, in certain respects, of the students in the Life 
Academy, and pointed out the ways in which they might 
benefit by the study of the hving model. In the same 
manner he urged the students in the Painting School to 
take advantage of their opportunity of studying and 
copying the works of the great masters, and congratulated 
the students of the Antique in their continued and 
decided improvement. He concluded his address by 
referring to the instance of the gracious regard of the 
King for the progress of the young artists, afforded by the 
recent presentation, by His Majesty's command, of a 
splendid collection of casts from the antique models in 
the Royal Collection, among which was the celebrated 
Venetian Bronze Horse. 



HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XL 

On assuming the office of President, Lawrence felt 
called upon to do more than he had hitfierto done for the 
benefit of young aitists, although he had always been 
ready, by advice, patronage, and substantial assistance, to 
help them in their early struggles. He now proposed to 
convert his private house — full of art-treasures as it 
was — into a kind of Art School to which the students of 
the Eoyal Academy might resort for study and instruction. 
But it was with regret that he found his affairs so far 
involved that he could not appropriate the money neces- 
sary for carrying out the project, which was therefore 
necessarily relinquished. His friendship with Mr. Anger- 
stein, however, enabled him to obtain entrance to his 
picture-gallery for those who desired to study the works 
of the ancient masters it contained, until it became, a few 
years afterwards, the nucleus of our present National 
Collection. 

In his address on the 10th of December, 1821, when 
the gold medals were awarded, Lawrence congratulated the 
students in the life Academy on the decided improvement 
they had made, and lu-ged them not to depend on genius 
alone, but to give "a constant attention to correctness 
and purity of drawing ; and this, too, in the most minute 
and apparently insignificant parts, as well as in the 
general contour of the whole." In regard to invention, 
he observed that "he who would make us feel, must 
feel himself;" and advised them to consider their subject 
as it would have taken place in reaUty, rendering every- 
thing subordinate to expression. In this discourse are 
found all the observations he ever made in public in 
regard to the works of the ancient masters which he 
had examined in the galleries he visited, especially those 
of Leonardo da Vinci, Eafiaelle, Domenichino, and Eem- 
brandt. 

Another society for the exhibition of paintings, sculp- 
ture, architectural designs, and engravings was established 
in 1823, as "The Society of British Artiste," with the 



Ch. XL] SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS FOUNDED 7 

view to afford additional facilities beyond those which the 
Boyal Academy was able to provide, for the exhibition of 
works by artists who were not members of that institu- 
tion. 'Die founders of the new Society seemed to anti- 
cipate some opposition from the Academy to the formation 
of a rival exhibition, for they asked the concurrence of 
the members of the Boyal Academy before seeking a 
charter of incorporation. The assent was readily given 
in this as in every other instance in which any measure 
having for its object the promotion of art or the benefit 
of artists has been proposed to the Academy. It has 
never withheld its ready countenance and support to any 
kindred institution, so far as is consistent with the preser- 
vation of its own means and opportunities of carrying out 
the purposes for which it was founded. The Society of 
British Artists originally offered the advantage of their 
exhibition-room free to any artist, the rule being that ^ All 
„,„«ey, ^ismg from the ^e of work, in th/exhibWon 
will be paid to the respective artists, without any deduc- 
tion whatever, when received from the purchasers ; " and 
donations and subscriptions were solicited in furtherance 
of the views of the Society. It obtained a Boyal charter 
in 1847, and has now a gallery in Suffolk Street, Fall 
Mall East, containing 700 feet of wall, well lighted ; but 
at the present time it admits only the works of the thirty 
members of the Society fi^e, charging a commission of 10 
per cent on all the other works of art sold, on the 
first price sent with them; making no other charge, 
however, in respect of any works sent for exhibition. 
In 1861 877 works were displayed on these walls, and yet 
the Academy is still compelled to reject, from want of 
space, many hundreds of good works annually sent to 
their exhibition. 

At the distribution of the medals and prizes on the 
10th of December, 1823, Sir Thomas Lawrence, in speak- 
ing to the students at the Boyal Academy, said, " Your 
judges are but students of a higher form It is a 



8 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XI. 

part of the triumph of our art, that it is slow in progress, 
and that although there are frequent examples in it of 
youthful promise, there are none of youthful excellence. 
.... Proceed, then, with equal firmness, humility, and 
hope : neither depressed nor vain." Then he proceeded 
to speak of the rising EngUsh school and its capabilities, 
and of the works of the deceased members of the Academy, 
some of which " more than placed it on a level with the 
most enlightened schools in Europe." He discoursed elo- 
quently on the talents of his distinguished predecessors, — 
of the dazzling splendour of the genius of Eeynolds, re- 
minding the students of the expression of Burke, that 
" iu painting portraits, he appeared not to be raised upon 
that platform, but to descend to it from a higher sphere ; " 
and next of the facile power of West, whose historical 
compositions were at that time collected by his son for 
exhibition, but comparatively neglected. "But though 
unnoticed by the pubUc, the gallery of Mr. West re- 
mains," he continued to observe, "for you, gentlemen, 
and for your instruction ; while the extent of knowledge 
that he possessed, and was so liberal to convey — the 
useful weight of his opinions in societies of the highest 
rank — the gentle humanity of his nature — and that 
parental fondness with which youth and its young aspir- 
ings were instructed and cherished by him, will render his 
memory sacred to His friends and endeared to the schools 
of the Academy, while respect for worth and gratitude 
for invaluable services are encouraged in them." He 
concluded this address (one of the most interesting of 
his discourses) by urging the professors of art to be true 
to the dignity of their vocation, — never to bend a noble 
theory to imperfect practice, — and by reminding them 
that while there may be new combiuations, new excellen- 
ces, new paths, new powers, there can be no new prin- 
ciples in art ; and that the variety of Nature has no limit, 
for the subjects she presents afford ample scope for the 
utmost diversity of thought. 



CH.XL] FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY 9 

The next year was a memorable one in the annals of 
art in England, for it was in the year 1824 that the 
Government first recognised the importance of encoiu^- 
ing the fine arts, and adopted measures to secure for the 
instruction of the people and of artists, some noble exam- 
ples of the works of ancient masters. It had long been 
lamented, as information relating to art became more 
general, that no national collection of pictures existed, 
although many fine works were possessed by private col- 
lectors ; and in 1824, during the administration of the 
Earl of Liverpool, the assent of Parhament was obtained 
to the piuxjhase of the collection of John Julius Anger- 
stein, consisting of 38 pictures, 29 of which were the 
works of Claude, Titian, Eafiaelle, Poussin, Eubens, Kem- 
brandt, Vandyck, Cuyp, Correggio, and other foreign 
masters, and 9 by British artists — the latter including 7 
by Hogarth (his own portrait and the series of ' Marriage 
k la Mode,') Sir J. Eeynolds's 'Lord Heathfield,' and 
WiUde's ' Village Festival.' The sum of £57,000 was 
voted for their purchase, and £3000 for the expenses of 
the establishment, on the 2nd of April, 1824 ; and the col- 
lection was opened to the public in the house of Mr. 
Angerstein, in Pall Mall, on the 10th of May following. 
Four pictures, by Correggio, Titian, Caracci, and Poussin, 
were purchased for £12,800 in 1825-26, and sixteen pic- 
tures were presented by Sir G. Beaumont, Bart., in the 
latter year. No further additions were made until 1831, 
when the Eev. W. H. Carr bequeathed thirty-four pictures. 
The whole collection for the first twenty years was exceed- 
ingly small, but has latterly been enriched by many valu- 
able additions made by the present keeper. Sir C. Eastlake 
(who in 1843 succeeded Mr. Seguier), * and the munificent 



^ When the appointment of feared thej might receive under the 

Kee{>erwa8 first made Dj public com- charge of others. He did not suc- 

petition. Lawrence ofiered himself as ceed, however, and another gentle- 

a candidate for it. beinf desirous, to man^ Mr. Seguier, was selected for 

Bare the pictures nom tne spoliation the appointment 
of cleaning and restoring, whidh he 



1 



10 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XL 

bequests of Mr. Vernon and the great artist Turner, besides 
other contributions. Thus the means of public instruction 
in acquiring a knowledge and taste for art, and models for 
imitation and study by the present professors, which had 
been so long needed, were provided. The formation of 
such a collection was a fruitful source of discussion when 
the Academy was founded, and often subsequently untQ 
this period. In addition to the donations and bequests 
made to the National Gallery, nearly £200,000 has been 
expended by the Government on the purchase of pictures 
up to this time ; and it is therefore evident that no private 
institution such as the Eoyal Academy, deriving its in- 
come, not from the State, but from its own exhibitions, 
could ever have hoped to form a worthy collection of 
works by the great masters which would either illustrate 
the history or display the characteristics of the several 
ancient foreign schools ; and those who had the manage- 
ment of its affairs acted wisely and prudently in resisting 
the efforts made so to divert the appropriation of its funds 
from their legitimate purposes, since it must inevitably 
have proved a failure. 

On the 10th of December, 1824, Sir Thomas Lawrence 
distributed the silver medals and prizes awarded to the 
students. In congratulating them on their efforts and pro- 
gress, he said that the Council would have given a larger 
number of medals to mark their approval of their attain- 
ments, but that, " by referring to tie laws which had the 
sign-manual of his Majesty, they found they could not 
depart this year from their usual course of giving only 
one in each department." Puseli, the Keeper of the 
Schools, was at the time lying seriously ill (it was his 
death-sickness, for he died the following year), and the Pre- 
sident spoke feelingly of the loss the students were likely to 
sustain, and designated him as ^ a master frx)m whom the 
most distinguished artists in Europe would be proud to 
receive instruction." 

The next year (1825) the gold medals were distributed. 



Ch. XL] PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 11 

but Lawrence had been absent on one of his visits to the 
Continent, and only returned to London the day preced- 
ing, — the 9th of December. He apologised, therefore, for 
being unable to give that lengthened address usual on the 
occasion, but observed that it was scarcely necessary for 
the President any longer to conform to the usage ; saying 
that 

^ Sir Joshua Beynolds, with the usual propriety of his fine 
judgment, justifies himself for undertaking an office not specified 
in the laws of the Academy, by many considerations which fully 
authorise it, but veils the real circumstance by which it was 
occasioned. At the commencement of the institution, the prin- 
ciples of taste were less generally diffused, and that nobler 
theory unknown which he so essentially contributed to form. 
This partial ignorance had its effect on the instruction of that 
period, and a professorship — not then graced by the ability of 
a Barry, an Opie, a Fuseli, and a Phillips — was felt to be 
inadequately filled for the great purposes of the institution. 
As the most substantial good often results from temporary ill, 
we owe to that unfavourable circumstance attending the 
struggling efforts of an infant society, one of the purest and 
most permanent triumphs of this country." 

The following year (1826) was notable in the annals 
of the Academy as being that in which it lost its first 
Professor of Sculpture — the gentle Flaxman, — to whose 
merits Lawrence paid a graceful tribute in his address to 
the students at the distribution of the silver medals on the 
10th of December. The great sculptor had just died, 
but was not then buried ; and the President spoke feel- 
ingly and tenderly on the loss of so talented and good a 
member of their arfr-family. " It is just that you ^should 
admire and revere him ; it is just, on every principle of 
taste and virtue, that you should venerate his memory. 
And is it not equally so that you should mourn for him 
who toiled to do you service ? You remember the feeble- 
ness of his frame, and its evident though gradual decay. 
Yet it was but lately that you saw him with you, sedulous 
and active as the youngest member ; directing your studies 



21 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XI. 

with the affection of a parent, addressing you with the 
courtesy of an equal, and conferring the benefit of his 
knowledge and his genius, as though he himself were re- 
ceiving obligation." He then expatiated on his works as 
a sculptor of sentiment rather than of form, and of the 
acknowledgment which all lovers of art then, and in 
future ages, would give to the comprehensive talents with 
which he was endowed. 

"The Eoyal Hibernian Academy," which had been 
granted a charter on the 5th of August, 1823, and was ap- 
pointed to consist of fourteen Academicians and ten Asso- 
ciates, opened its first exhibition in Dublin in 1826 — Mr. 
Francis Johnston, the President, having generously and 
nobly presented a piece of ground, and erected a hand- 
some and commodious building upon it, consisting of 
exhibition rooms, schools, keeper's and business apart- 
ments, &c., for the use of the Academy. The friendly 
feeling of the members of the Eoyal Academy of London 
is acknowledged in the prehminary address issued on the 
opening of the Exhibition, which also records that " Sir 
Thomas Lawrence presented them a fine cast of the 
' Barberini Faun ; ' Sir Eichard Westmacott, RA., one 
of his charming works, ' The Houseless Wanderer ; ' and 
Charles Eossi, E.A., one of his splendid groups of ' King 
Edward I. and Queen Eleanor.' " Shee, himself an Irish- 
man, had taken a lively interest in the cause of art in 
Ireland ; and Sir Thomas Lawrence showed his sympathy 
with the new Academy there by sending over some of 
his works to their exhibitions. 

Encouraged by the success of the Dublin society, the 
artists of Scotland in the same year made a similar effort 
to estabUsh a National Academy of Art. A "Eoyal 
Scottish Institution " had been in existence for some years 
previously, with which artists were connected as Asso- 
ciates only, having no voice in its management; the 
governing body being noblemen and gentlemen, patrons 
of art. Some unhappy misunderstanding arose between 



CH.XL] ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY 13 

the foimders of the new Academy and the members of 
the Institution, although it was proposed, very liberally, 
that all the Associates of the one should be created 
Academicians of the other, and their assent obtained to 
the plan. An appUcation for a charter was made to the 
Government in September 1826 ; but from a report made 
by the Lord Advocate, unfavourable to the Academy, the 
grant of it was delayed till the 12th of November, 1838, 
when Her Majesty signed the long-wished-for document, 
incorporating it as "The Boyal Scottish Academy or 
Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture." Meanwhile, the 
artists well sustained their reputation in their exhibitions, 
and still continued to promote the taste for art in Scotland. 
There are thirty Academicians, and sixteen Associates ; 
and by the terms of their charter, one third of the profits 
of the exhibitions must be reserved to estabUsh a fund for 
the relief of members and widows of members, and the 
residue, after paying expenses, is to be apphed to the 
advancement of art, in the purchase of pictures, casts, 
models, books, &c, and in estabUshing schools of art. 

A letter written by Lawrence, in the year in which 
these kindred societies were estabhshed, illustrates the 
benefit they are designed to confer upon the professors of 
art and their famihes, by supplying some provision for 
them in cases of necessity. Mr. Eippingille, in his 
" Personal Becollections of Great Artists," recently pub- 
lished in the "Art Journal," mentions that, in 1826, the 
widow of a recently-deceased artist was about to make 
application for one of those grants which are so unosten- 
tatiously dispensed to those who need them by the 
Academy, when Lawrence wrote to him, saying — 

*' You will do me a paxticular kindness by giving me the 

direction of Mrs. . * If you are on intimate terms with her, 

and know that her situation requires assistance from the Boyal 
Academy, prevail on her to write a statement of it (attested, so 
our forms demand) by some respectable person or persons — 
no sanction would be more effectual than your own — and send 



14 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch, XI. 

it either to me, as President, or to Mr. Howard, our Secretaiy. 
Immediately on the close of the exhibition, cases of this nature 
are taken into consideration ; and hers, should she determine to 
offer it, will be one of the first attended to." 

Thus courteously, and without the slightest appearance 
of patronage or favour, was the President anxious to help 
forward the interests of the widow of a deceased artist 

Nor was it simply by his influence that he was thus 
useful to artists, or those connected with them. His purse 
was at their service, and much of his embarrassment was 
caused by the ready assistance he sometimes lavishly 
extended to applicants for it. That his domestic affairs 
were ill-managed, and that his taste for collecting drawings 
and works of the ancient masters was an expensive one, 
is undoubted ; but it is no less true that his natural 
kindness of heart continually prompted him to acts of 
benevolence which never reached the pubUc ear. Some- 
times he would purchase the works of undistinguished 
struggling artists ; at others, he would give a present to 
those who came to him with tales of sorrow or distress. 
There were two societies for the benefit of artists and 
their famihes in existence during his Ufetime, which are 
still flourishing, to which also he was a liberal contributor. 
The one was " The Artists' Fund," founded in 1810, to 
which a Royal Charter of Incorporation was granted in 
August 1827. It consists of two separate branches, the 
" Artists' Benevolent Fund " (supported by subscriptions 
and donations), for the relief of the orphans and widows 
of those who are members of the Artists' Annuity Fund, 
which is maintained by the contributions of its members 
for their own relief in sickness, and superannuation in old 
age. The other was "The Artists' General Benevolent 
Institution," estabhshed in 1814, but which did not obtain 
a Eoyal charter of incorporation until 1842. Its object 
is to extend relief to all distressed meritorious artists, 
whether subscribers to its fimds or not, " whose works are 
known and esteemed by the pubUc, as well as to their 



CH.XI.] SIR W. SCOTT AT THE ACADEMY 16 

widows and orphans," — merit and distress constituting the 
claims to its benevolence. To both of these the President 
of the Boyal Academy gave his ready support; and 
their council and officers are still partly constituted of 
Academicians and Associates. 

At the anniversary dinner of the Eoyal Academy, in 

1828, Sir Walter Scott was present, for the first time, as 
an honorary member, having been elected Antiquary to 
the Academy the year before. After the usual toasts, Sir 
Thomas Lawrence said, " Before we part, I have to pro- 
pose the health of one with whose presence we are 
honoured, and of whom it may well be said, in the words 
of the poet he most resembles, — 

* If he had been forgotten^ 
It had been as a gap in our great feaat^ 
And aU things unbecoming.' " 

Leslie, who was present, says, " The enthusiasm with 
which the toast was received exceeded anything of the 
kind I ever witnessed ; and when Scott rose to reply, the 
applause for some time prevented his speaking. As soon 
as he could be heard, he said, *Mr. President, — When 
you acquainted me with the honour the Boyal Academy 
had done me by induding me among its members, you 
led me to beheve that the place would be a sinecure. 
But I now find that I then reckoned without my host, for 
on my first appearance here, as a member, I am called on 
to perform one of the most arduous of duties, — that of 
making a speech.' He then, in a few words, returned 
thanks." 

It was at the annual dinner of the Artists' Fund, in 

1829, that Lawrence gave expression to some few words 
which seemed to indicate that he felt he had nearly closed 
his career as an artist, although he was then only in his 
sixtieth year, and apparently in the fiill vigour of health. 
His health had been drunk, and loudly cheered by the 
assembled company, when, in returning thanks, he said, 
" I am now advanced in life, and the time of decay is 



16 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XI. 

coming ; but come when it will, I hope to have the good 
sense not to prolong the contest for fetme with younger, 
and perhaps abler men. No self-love shall prevent me 
from retiring, and that cheerfiilly, to privacy ; and I con- 
sider I shall do but an act of justice to others as well as 
mercy to myself." 

His departure was nearer than he, or any who listened 
to him, then supposed. After a few days' illness, in 
January 1830, the announcement of his death startled 
the public, and distressed the whole conmaunity of artists. 
All possible honour was shown to his memory ; and at 
the state funeral in St. Paul's, on the 20th of that month, 
besides the Academic body, and a large circle of illustrious 
personages, there were eight noblemen and gentlemen 
selected as pall-bearers. These were the Earls of Aber- 
deen, Gower, and ClanwiUiam ; Lord Dover ; Sir Eobert 
Peel; Sir George Murray; John Wilson Croker; and 
Mr. Harte Davis. 

The architectural casts collected by the late President 
were purchased by the Eoyal Academy for the sum of 
£250, and presented to the British Museum, for the use 
of architectural students. After retaining them for some 
years, the Trustees returned them to the Eoyal Academy, 
where they now are. Li 1831, the sum of £1000 was 
voted by the Academy towards a subscription for the 
purchase, for the use of the nation, of the drawings by 
old masters collected by Lawrence. Sir John Soane also 
offered £1000 towards it, but the subscription failed ; and 
as the purchase of the collection had been decUned by 
the Government and by all the other parties to whom it 
was to be first offered by its owner's will, it was at length 
dispersed by auction, and the sum offered by the Academy 
was not, therefore, required. Sir Thomas Lawrence's love 
of art led him to give enormous prices for these works. 
There were specimens of the Italian, German, Flemish, 
and Dutch painters ; cartoons by L. da Vinci ; drawings by 
Eubens, Eembrandt, and others ; 120 sketches by Michael 



Ch. XI.] THE EXHIBITIONS 17 

Angelo, and more than 200 by Eaffaelle ; besides numerous 
etchings. It was estimated by Mr. Woodbiu*n (who sub- 
sequently possessed the larger number of them) that 
Lawrence had expended £60,000, besides much valuable 
time, upon their purchase. They reahsed about a fourth 
of that sum at the time, but have recently been resold, 
at a price much higher, and nearer their true value. 

The British Institution, in 1830, resolved, as a mark of 
respect to the late President, that their exhibition should 
consist chiefly of his works ; and ninety-one of his best 
pictures were collected from their different owners for the 
puipose, including twenty-one lent by the King, being 
those which were painted for the Waterloo Gallery at 
Windsor. The exhibition proved very attractive, and 
displayed the powers of the deceased artist to great 
advantage. 

During his brief tenure of the office of President, no 
changes had taken place in the internal government of 
the Academy, nor had any opposition arisen from with- 
out. Art societies were multiplying both in London 
and in the capitals of Scotland and Ireland, and artists 
were rising in importance as a body, and combining 
together for their mutual interest in days of adversity. 
StiQ the Eoyal Academy found its schools as well 
attended, and its exhibitions as full of works of art 
and of visitors as when no other similar displays were 
made elsewhere. Indeed, there was a decided advance : 
in 1820, there were 1072 works exhibited; in 1829, 
there were as many as 1223 ; and the income arising 
from the exhibition, which was £4650 14^. in the former 
year, increased to £4872 2^. in the latter, when the total 
income of the Academy from all sources amounted to 
£6233 2^. The general appearance of the exhibitions 
at this period may be readily imagined by those who can 
picture to themselves a collection in which the most 
conspicuous and attractive objects were portraits by 
Lawrence, Beechey, Jackson, Phillips, and Shee ; enamels 

VOL. II. c 



n 



18 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XL 

by Bone ; compositions by Sir W. Allan, H. P. Briggs, 
the two Chalons, Abraham Cooper, Etty, Eastlake, 
Hilton, Howard, Leslie, Landseer, Mulready, G. S. Newton, 
Pickersgill, Wilkie, and Ward ; landscapes by Callcott, 
Collins, Constable, Turner, Daniell, and the Westalls; 
and the sculptures of Baily, Chantrey, and Westmacott. 

Among the items of expenditure diuing the same 
period, besides the ordinary charges for maintaining the 
Academy, the Exhibition and the Schools, the salaries of 
officers, pensions, and donations, there are some few of 
special interest. Thus in 1820 Fuseli's lectures were 
presented to the Dijon Academy of Science ; and three 
several donations of £50 were made in the years 1823, 
1825, and 1826, towards the support of the English 
Academy at Kome. Of a more complimentary cha- 
racter, was a vote of £50 for plate to be presented to 
Sir Anthony Carlisle, on his resignation, in 1824, of the 
Professorship of Anatomy, which he had held for sixteen 
years previously ; and the presentation of a gold snuff- 
box to Henry Thomson, RA., when he resigned the 
office of Keeper of the Schools, in 1827. Some interest- 
ing additions to the art-treasures of the Academy were 
also made during the period embraced in this chapter ; 
thus Eeynolds's portrait of Marchi was presented in 
1821 by H. Edridge, A.RA. ; a bust of Wilton by Lady 
Chambers, in 1824 ; a portrait of John Opie, RA., 
by himself; some Eaffaelle and other drawings, by 
H. Thomson, RA., in 1827 ; and a medallion by Flax- 
man, presented by his sister in 1828. 

The Eoyal Academy for several years retained pos- 
session of a box which was deposited with the President 
by Mr. Eichard Payne Knight, with directions that it 
should be opened after his decease, which took place 
on the 24th of April, 1824. The box was then found to 
contain a will (dated 1808), by which he had bequeathed 
his collection of antiques, and other works of art (chiefly 
ancient bronzes and Greek coins) to the Eoyal Academy. 



Ch. XL] CHANGES AMONG MEMBERS AND OFnCERS 19 

Another will, had, however, been subsequently made, by 
which he had bequeathed them to the British Museum ; 
and thus the gift he originally intended to make to 
the Academy was cancelled. The bill legalising the 
acceptance of the collection (estimated as worth £50,000) 
by the trustees of the British Museum received the 
Koyal assent on the 17th of June, 1824. The brother of 
the testator wrote to the Secretary of the Academy, to 
explain the change in the original bequest, made by 
the will dated in 1814 ; and stated that it had not arisen 
from any feehngs of diminished respect for the Eoyal 
Academy, but solely because, under the arrangements 
made at the British Museum subsequently to the date of 
his will in 1808, Mr. R P. Knight thought that his 
collection being added to those of his late friends Mr. 
Townley and Mr. Cracherode would be more useful to 
the members of the Eoyal Academy and to the public. 

It only remains for us to mention the changes which 
had taken place among the members and officers of the 
Academy during the period of Lawrence's presidentship. 
Eleven Eoyal Academicians died between 1820 and Janu- 
ary 1830 ; these were E. Cosway and J. Yenn in 1821 ; 
J. Farington in 1822 ; NoUekens and Eaebum in 1823 ; 
George Dance, FuseH, and Owen in 1825 ; J. Flaxman 
in 1826 ; Bigg in 1828 ; and George Dawe in 1829. 
Five Associates, viz., H. Hone, J. Downman, G. Garrard, 
W. Ward, and H. Edridge, had also passed away. These 
were, of course, succeeded by new members, whose 
career will be detailed in the succeeding chapters. The 
office of Treasurer was filled during the whole period by 
Sir E. Smirke, appointed in 1820 ; Stothard remained 
as the Librarian; Fuseli was Keeper till he died, in 
1825, when he was succeeded by H. Thomson, who 
resigned in 1827, and was followed by William Hilton. 
Thomas Phillips succeeded Fuseli as Professor of Paint- 
ing in 1825. Sir John Soane remained during the whole 
period Professor of Architecture ; and J. M. W. Turner, 

c 2 



20 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XI. 

of Perspective. John Flaxman, the first Professor of 
Sculpture, died in 1826, and was succeeded by Sir 
E. Westmacott Sir A. Carlisle resigned the Professor- 
ship of Anatomy in 1824, and was followed by J. H. 
Green. Prince Hoare remained Secretary for Foreign 
Correspondence ; WiUiam Mitford, Professor of Ancient 
History ; and Sir H. Englefield continued to occupy the 
post of Antiquary till 1826, when he was succeedai by 
Sir Walter Scott. 

During the Continental war the practice of sending 
travelling students abroad, receiving an allowance from 
the Eoyal Academy towards their expenses for three 
years, was necessarily discontinued. Those who were 
thus denied the opportunity of studying the remains of 
ancient art, or the works of the best masters, received a 
pecuniary compensation instead of the allowance to 
which, as successful competitors for the gold medal, 
they would have been entitled. The peace enabled the 
Eoyal Academy to resume the plan ; and one gold medal 
student was sent abroad in 1818. Three more were 
granted the same advantage during the ten years of 
Lawrence's presidentship, these were Joseph Severn, in 
1821, who gained the gold medal in 1819 for a histo- 
rical painting — * The Cave of Despair ;' WilUam Scoular 
in 1825, to whom the gold medal was awarded in 1817 
for an alto-relievo — *The Judgment of Paris;' and 
Samuel Loat, in 1828, who gained the gold medal in 
the preceding year for the best architectural design for 
a National Gallery. 



21 



CHAPTER Xn. 

BOYAL ACADEMICIANS ELECTED DURING THE PRESIDENCY 
OF SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE, 1820-1830. 

The TTwrd President: SiB T. Lawkence. 

PamUrs: R. Cook, W. Danxbll, R. R. Rsinagle, Geo. Jones, C. R. 

LssuBy H. W. PiCKEBSGiLLy W. ExxT^ and J. Constable. 
SaOpiar: R H. Bailt. 
ArckUecU: Sm J. Wtattillb and W. Wiletns. 

SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE, P.R.A., had long been 
a public favourite, when he attained the eminent 
position of President of the Royal Academy ; and 
his imdisputed claims to eminence in his profession were 
recognised in his election to that office by the choice of 
his brother artists, who, but for the many proofs of 
talent exhibited by him from a very early age, would 
have looked with jealousy, rather than with approval, 
upon one who had long possessed the favour of the 
Court, and monopolised a large portion of the pubhc 
patronage in the branch of art to which he devoted 
his skilL 

He was bom on the 4th of May, 1769, at Bristol. The 
house was situated in the parish of St. Philip and Jacob, 
a few doors from the birthplace of Robert Southey. He 
was the youngest of sixteen children, only five of whom 
were alive in 1797, the year in which Sir Thomas lost 
both his parents. His elder brother was afterwards the 
Rev. A. Lawrence, who died at Haslar Hospital in 
August 1821 ; the younger was Major William Read 
Lawrence, 72nd Foot, who died in 1817. One sister 
became the wife of the Rev. Dr. Bloxam ; and the other 



22 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL AC.U)EMY [Ch. XH. 

married Mr. Meredith, a solicitor. His father had been 
a solicitor, was something of a poet and an artist, 
understood a little of the classics, and married a clergy- 
man's daughter, named Lucy Eead. Subsequently he 
became a supervisor of excise, and was so employed 
when his son Thomas was born. At Midsimimer 1769 
he quitted the Excise, and took the " White Lion " Inn, 
in Broad Street, Bristol Not prospering there, in 1772 
he became the landlord of the " Black Bear " at Devizes, 
which was the resort of all persons of distinction who 
passed through the town on the way to Bath, then the 
centre of fashion. 

Young Lawrence early displayed a taste for poetry, 
theatrical recitation, and painting ; and being of gentle- 
manly address and attractive manners, his father intro- 
duced him to his guests, that he might exhibit before 
them his precocious talents in repeating passages from 
Milton or other authors, or in taking their portraits. 
In 1775 Lord and Lady Kenyon visited the "Black 
Bear," and the young prodigy was introduced to them. 
Many others who saw him as a boy in his father's house 
(among whom Garrick, Sheridan, and Wilkes are named) 
subsequently became his friends and patrons in the days 
of his fame as an artist. From among these persons he 
obtained, while still a boy, permission to visit some of 
the collections of pictures in the neighbourhood ; and on 
one occasion he was missed by his friends, and was found 
at Corsham House, belonging to Mr. Paul Methuen, 
standing before a picture by Eubens. He was with 
difficulty led away from it ; and as he went he mimnured 
with a sigh, " Ai, I shall never paint like that." His 
first sketch was made in his sixth year ; a portrait of 
him at seven years old, taken by himself, was afterwards 
engraved by Sherwin ; at nine he copied a historical 
picture of ' Peter denying Christ,' and at a little more 
than ten years old he began to draw portraits profes- 
sionally. 



CH.Xn.] SIR T. LAWRENCE 23 

His school education must necessarily have been 
scanty. He was only so taught for three years — ^from 
six to eight ; afterwards he learnt Latin from the Eev. 
Mr. Jervis, and his mother taught him a Uttle French ; 
but the volumes of Milton, Shakespeare, and other poets 
were his study, and his naturally elegant turn of mind, 
and his sympathy with the beautiful in nature and art, 
combined with intercourse with distinguished persons, 
supplied what was incomplete in his education, both in 
the acquisition of knowledge and in outward demeanour. 
When, afterwards, he attained to eminence in his pro- 
fession, his handsome exterior and highly-poUshed address, 
and his animated and intellectual conversation, procured 
for him the personal friendship of the highest personages 
in the land, as well as that of men of learning ; and the 
position in society which he thus attained tended to 
elevate the profession of which he was a member in the 
opinion of the world of fashion. 

His father early determined to make his son's talents 
known ; for he took him first to Weymouth, afterwards 
to Oxford, and subsequently to Bath, where he hired a 
house in 1782. A crayon copy on glass of the 'Trans- 
figuration,' by Kembrandt, done in this year, was sent to 
the Society of Arts in March 1784 ; but it failed to 
obtain the prize offered, simply because the condition of 
the drawing being made " within a year " had not been 
compUed with. The Council, however, awarded to the 
young artist the "greater silver palette gilt, and five 
guineas," to record their approbation of his skill. Mean- 
while, it had become the fashion to sit to him for his oval 
crayon likenesses in black chalk heightened with white. 
He generally received four sitters a day, sketching from 
them for half an hour each, and working on each draw- 
ing for half an hour afterwards. For these he obtained 
at first a guinea, and soon a guinea and a half. A 
gentleman of fortune was so struck by his ability that he 
offered to give him a thousand povmds, to study at 



24 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL AC.VDEMY [Ch. XU. 

Rome ; but his father refused it, saying his son's talents 
required no cultivation! In 1786 he painted a full- 
length figure (his first work in oil) of ' Christ bearing 
the Cross,' and soon afterwards his own portrait, a head, 
three-quarter size. Wliile at Bath he made also a very 
elaborate drawing of * Mrs. Siddons as Aspasia, in the 
Grecian Daughter.' 

In 1787 his father brought him to London, visiting 
Salisbury on his way, and obtained for him an intro- 
duction to Sir Joshua Eeynolds. In the exhibition of 
that year there were seven of his works ; and in Septem- 
ber following he became a student at the Eoyal Academy. 
" His proficiency in drawing," says Mr. Howard, " was 
such as to leave all his competitors in the Antique School 
far behind. His personal attractions were as remarkable 
as his talents ; altogether he excited a great sensation, and 
seemed to the admiring students as nothing less than a 
young Kaffaelle, suddenly dropped among them. He was 
very handsome, and his chestnut locks flowing on his 
shoulders gave him a romantic appearance." The ' Fight- 
ing Gladiator ' and the ' Apollo Belvidere ' were his first 
drawings in the Academy, and surpassed all competition. 
They were distinguished by a beauty of finish and by a 
closeness of imitation, that made his studies on white 
paper where lights are left, resemble exquisite drawings 
in chalk in which the lights are put on. His first 
commission was received from Mr. Payne Knight, the 
subject of the picture being ' Homer reciting the Diad to 
the Greeks.' A likeness of Miss FarreU, afterwards 
Countess of Derby, painted in 1790, showed his power 
in portraiture to great advantage ; and in 1788 he was 
instructed to paint likenesses of the Queen and the 
Princess Amelia, then in her seventh year. He had 
obtained an entrance to the best Uterary and fashionable 
society, and the King honoured him with an audience 
and many proofs of his favour. 

To His Majesty's influence with Sir J. Eeynolds, the 



Ch. XIL] 



SIR T. LAWRENCE 



25 



young artist was indebted for being proposed as an As- 
sociate of the Eoyal Academy in 1790, when he had not 
reached his 22nd year. By the laws of the Institution, 
he could not be admitted as an Associate till he was 
twenty-four years old ; and it was at first proposed that 
he should be elected an extra or supplemental Associate 
till his age might entitle him to the usual appointment. 
Eeynolds and West were both anxious to assent to the 
wish of the King to number the young painter at once 
among the Associates ; but the measure was opposed in 
the Academy, as an innovation upon the laws, and 
Wheatley was at that time chosen to fill the vacancy.* 

Another year passed, and the difficulty still remained, 
for he was yet far fi:om twenty-four ; but on the 1st of 
November, 1791, he was, in accordance with the Eoyal 
wish and the majority of votes of the Academicians, 
elected an Associate — an exception to the strict letter 
of the law being made in his fiavoiu*. In the fol- 
lowing year, on the death of Eeynolds, Lawrence was 
appointed portrait-painter in ordinary to the King, and 
also to the Dilettanti Society. The latter appointment 
was offered to Hamilton (for whom Lawrence long 
cherished a warm fiiendship), but he declined it in favom* 
of his yoimg brother in art. On this occasion Lawrence 
received a commission to paint portraits of the King 
and Queen, to be presented by Lord Macartney to the 
Emperor of China. But while steadily rising in court 
favour and public patronage, he encountered the violent 



^ It was on this occasion that 
Peter Pindar wrote his Ode entitled 
"The Rights of Kings," in which 
are some spirited lines of mock in- 
dignation at the rejection of Law- 
rence by the Academicians : — 

** Hov Sin ! on Majesty's proud corns to tresd t 
)f emfevn Academlrlans, when yon *re dead. 
Where can your Impudences hope to goT 
Refaae a moaarcb's miflrbty orders ! 

•• It smells of treason — on rebellion borders I 
S'death, Airs I It was the Quern's fond wish as well. 
That Master Lawrence should rome In 1 
Against a queen ao gentle to rebel I 



This Is another crying sin I 
What, not oblige. In such a trifling thing. 
So sweet a queen and such a goodly king 1 . . . 

** Lo I Majesty admlreth yon fiilr dome. 
And dcemeth that he is admired agiiln : 
The king is wedded to it — 'tis his home — 
Ho watches It, and loves it even to pain : 
And yet this lofty dome Is hoard to soy, 
Poh, pohl— pox take your love I— away, 
away I . . . 

*' Go, Sirs, with halters round your necks, 
Which some contrition for your crime bespeaks. 

And much offended Majesty implore : 
Bay, piteous kneeling, in the royal view ~ 
* Have pity on a sad alwndoned crew. 
And we, great King, will sin no more. 
Foi^ve, dread Sir, the crying sin. 
And Mlstot.Lawrenoo shall come In.' " 



26 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Oh. XIL 

criticism and abuse both of Peter Pindar and Anthony 
Pasquin, whose satire and ridicule were a trying contrast 
to the praise and adulation he had received in his boy- 
hood : yet their observations, acutely painful to his sensi- 
tive disposition, only made him resolve to assert his 
claims to the enviable position to which, as a very young 
artist, he had attained. 

On the 10th of February, 1794, he was elected a 
Eoyal Academician, but his diploma was not signed till 
the 4th of December, 1795. There is no parallel in 
the history of the institution of so young an artist attaining 
the full honours which it is in the power of the Academy 
to bestow. On this occasion he presented, as his diploma 
picture, * A Gipsy GirL' Commissions now accumulated 
rapidly ; but he seems to have formed extravagant tastes 
and habits, and was indebted to Mr. Angerstein at this 
period for advances of money to meet his engagements. 
There is no doubt, however, that his father's early ten- 
dencies to recklessness, and his subsequent dependence on 
his son, had much to do with his difficulties. When he 
first came to London, he hved in Leicester Fields (or 
Square), with his father; subsequently he kept two 
houses — apartments at 41 Jermyn Street for himself (at 
a milliner's shop, opposite the church, afterwards occupied 
by Sir M. A. Shee), the other in Greek Street, Soho, for 
liis parents, to whom he made an allowance of £300 a 
year. Late in Ufe he said, "I began life wrongly; I 
spent more money than I earned, and accumulated debts 
at heavy interest." On the other hand, he declared, " I 
have neither been extravagant nor profligate in the use of 
money ; neither gaming, horses, curricle, expensive enter- 
tainments, nor secret sources of ruin from vulgar Ucen- 
tiousness have swept it from me." He was, however, 
generous even beyond his means, and always ready to help 
those who needed his aid. In 1797 he lost both his 
parents : his mother died in his house in May ; his father 
in the following October, while he was absent, painting in 



Ch. XIL] sir T. LAWRENCE 27 

Bond Street This was a great affiction to him, for he 
loved them both with tender affection to the last Later 
in his career, he removed to 65 Eussell Square, where he 
arranged all his paintings by old and modem masters, 
and the drawings and etchings he collected during his 
lifetime. 

Li 1797 he exhibited his 'Satan calling his Legions' 
at the Eoyal Academy, which was bitterly satirised by 
Pasquin. Fuseli complained that " Lawrence had stolen 
his devil from him," and others were not altogether 
pleased. The painter was, however, apparently satisfied 
with his work ; but there is no doubt that his employment 
as a portrait painter was too lucrative and incessant to 
indine him to give sufficient thought and study to historical 
subjects, and he did not make any more attempts in that 
style, with the exception of his " half-history picture," as 
he called it, of * Coriolanus at the hearth of Aufidius,' in 
1798. A noble portrait of Mrs. Siddons, and another of 
Kemble, succeeded these works ; but they were both cen- 
sured violently by his implacable enemy Pasquin, in the 
criticisms he was then publishing on the exhibitions. 
He had formidable rivals as a portrait painter when he 
commenced; but Reynolds died in 1792, Opie in 
1807, Hoppner in 1810. After that time there was no 
competitor left whom he had any need to fear, although 
Owen, Beechey, and Shee were steadily rising in fame. 
When Hoppner died, he raised his price to 100 guineas 
for heads, and 400 for full-length portraits ; and in 1820 
a further advance was made to 200 for a head, or three- 
quarter size ; kit-cat, 300 ; half-length, 400 ; full-length, 
600 ; and an extra size, 700. He received 1500 guineas 
for the picture of *Lady Gower and her Child,' and 700 
for * Master Lambton,' from Lord Durham. 

Several years were filled up with continued and lucra- 
tive employment in portraiture. Among these works 
were ' The Princess of Wales ' and * The Princess Char- 
lotte,' and many likenesses of noble and beautiftd ladies 



28 HISTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch.XIL 

and persons of distinction. His portrait of * The Children 
of Charles B. Calmady,' painted in 1824, was his best picture 
of the kind, — " One of the few I should wish hereafter 
to be known by," was his own opinion of its value. Fashion- 
able portrait painting had, however, its disagreeables ; 
for when the unfortunate difference between the Prince of 
Wales and the Princess led to an inquiry, known as " the 
deUcate investigation," Lawrence, who had painted the 
portrait of the Princess (when residing with her daughter 
at Montague House, Blackheath, in 1801), and had been 
a frequent visitor in the house since that period, found 
scandal attributing his visits to improper motives; to allay 
which he was fooUshly advised to make a solemn affidavit, 
repudiating the allegation, which was formally published 
on the 24th of September, 1806. But for the notice he 
took of it, the false accusation would have been forgotten 
among the many others which were rife at the time. 

The most important work in which Lawrence was 
engaged was that which resulted from the close of the 
continental war. In May 1814, the Prince Eegent gave 
him a commission to proceed to Paris, to make portraits 
of all the illustrious personages who had contributed to 
bring the war to a conclusion. He commenced his 
labours with painting those of the King of Prussia, 
Count Platoff (the Cossack leader), and Blucher. The 
escape of Napoleon from Elba seemed likely to stop the 
whole scheme ; but after the great victory of Waterloo, 
he was again able to resume his task. On the 22nd of 
April, 1815, he had the honour of knighthood conferred 
upon him, as a mark of the Prince Eegent's favour to one 
who had done so much to raise the character of British 
art in the estimation of Europe. In September 1818, he 
went to Aix-la-Chapelle, that he might avail himself of 
the meeting of the Allied Sovereigns there, and in that 
town he painted the Due de Eicheheu, the French 
minister ; Count Nesselrode, the Eussian minister ; 
Alexander L, Emperor of Eussia ; Francis H., Emperor 



Ch. Xn.] Sm T. LAWRENCE 29 

of Austria; completed that of Frederick William III., 
King of Prussia (commenced in 1814), and of Prince 
Hardenberg, the Prussian minister. In 1819 he went to 
Vienna, where he painted the Archduke Charles ; Prince 
Schwarzenberg, Field-Marshal and Commander-in-Chief 
of the Austrian and Eussian armies in 1814 ; Major- 
General Czemicheff ; Prince Metternich ; and Count Capo 
dlstria. From thence he went to Eome, to paint por- 
traits of Pope Pius Vil. and his minister, Cardinal 
Gonsalvo. The other portraits in the series (thirty-one in 
all, the majority of which are full-lengths) were King 
George IV., in the robes of the Order of the Garter ; 
Lord Castlereagh, afterwards Marquis of Londonderry; 
the Duke of York, Commander-in-Chief; the Earl of 
Liverpool ; the late Duke of Cambridge ; Charles X. of 
France and his son ; Major-General Sir G. A. Wood, who 
commanded the Artillery at Waterloo; the Duke of 
Brunswick, who was killed there ; the Duke of Wellington, 
the great hero of the war ; Canning ; Count Alten, of the 
German AuxUiary Legion; Count Munster, Hanoverian 
minister; Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State; General 
Overoff ; and Baron Wm. von Humboldt, brother of the 
celebrated traveller, and Prussian Foreign Minister. 

This was a noble commission — for he received his 
usual prices for each work, and £1000 for travelling 
expenses and loss of time — and likewise added greatly 
to his fame- He said, "I look to the honour I have 
received, and the good fortune of being thus distinguished 
in my profession, as the chief good resulting from it, for 
many unavoidable circumstances make it of less pecuniary 
advantage." A wooden house of three rooms was shipped 
by the Government to receive his pictures at Aix-la- 
Chapelle, but it did not arrive there in time ; and in the 
interval the magistrates had fitted up the Hotel de Ville 
as his painting-room, — the best, he declared, that he ever 
had. It could hardly be expected that all these portraits 
would be of equal merit ; some few, especially the Pope 



80 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XH. 

and his minister (his best works), the Emperors of Austria 
and Prussia, the Due de Eichelieu, and Blucher are 
admirable. The great Duke of Wellington is, unfor- 
tunately, one of the least successful. The painter came 
back to England laden with honours and gifts ; he 
was elected a Member of the Academy of St. Luke, at 
Eome, of the Academies of Florence, Venice, Bologna, 
Turin, Vienna, and Denmark, and of the American 
Academy of the Fine Arts; and was presented with 
diamond rings by the Emperor of Austria and the King 
of Prussia, and a dessert-sendee of Sevres china by the 
King of France, who also conferred on him the cross of 
the Legion of Honour. Canova conveyed to him the 
wish of the Academy of St. Luke to possess his portrait. 
" I have never painted myself, except when a boy," he 
replied ; " and have never been painted by others. I 
could wish, indeed, to defer the task till age had given my 
countenance some lines of meaning, and my hair, scanty 
and grey as it is, some silvery hues, like those of our 
venerable President, Mr. West." In the mean time, how- 
ever, he sent his brother's portrait to the Eoman 
Academy. 

On the 20th of March, 1820, Lawrence arrived in 
England. The venerable Eoyal Founder of the Academy 
was dead, and West also had recently departed. He was 
chosen to succeed him in the office of President, and 
with this honour others followed ; by virtue of his office, 
he was a trustee of the British Museum ; and he was 
also created a Fellow of the Eoyal Society and an LL.D. 
of Oxford. His subsequent career as President we have 
already traced ; but while the duties of his office occupied 
a large share of his time and attention, his talents were 
still in request by the celebrities of his time, and the 
monopoly of his practice was such that not a family of 
rank in the kingdom would be satisfied with any portrait 
which did not proceed from his hand. After his death, 
his studio was found crammed with beginnings — mere 



Ch. Xn.] Sm T. LAWRENCE 31 

sketches — of men, women, and children, commissions with 
which the furor of fashion had surrounded him, and 
which were forced upon him without the possible chance 
of his Uving long enough to finish them. It was suffi- 
cient to have sat to Lawrence, without the remotest 
prospect of ever getting the portrait completed. Yet 
while his practice was so lucrative that his income must 
have varied from £10,000 to £15,000 a year, he was 
not, to the end of his career, free from embarrassment. 
His collection of drawings, &c., by old masters, absorbed 
a large amount : but Lawrence seemed neither to know 
what he received nor what he spent. For some years, 
Farington managed his afiairs ; but after he died, the 
President sometimes found his purse exhausted when he 
wished to give away money to help a striving artist, 
until payment for a picture yet unfinished was made. 
The sale of his efiects realised after his death £15,445, 
a simi about equal to the demands on his estate. 

A sudden and severe illness terminated his career, to 
the r^ret of all his countrymen, on the 7th of January, 
1830. He had been at work till the day before his 
death ; and although slightly imwell for two or three 
days previously, no alarm was felt until a few hours 
before his end. Disease of the heart and depletion of 
the blood-vessels, were the causes assigned for his death, 
by Dr. Holland and Sir Henry Halford his medical 
attendants. He was buried on the 20th of the same 
month, with all the honour and respect due to his 
position and his genius, in St. Paul's Cathedral, his 
remains having been removed to the Eoyal Academy 
on the day preceding the fimeral. In person he very 
much resembled George Canning, of middle size, with 
mild and gentlemanly aspect, speaking in a soft pleasant 
manner, giving his opinions on art or any other subject 
with modesty and humility. He was accessible to all 
who sought him, being ever ready to give advice or aid 
to those who needed it. As a boy, he was fond of games 



82 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. Xn. 

and athletic sports ; in early manhood he was a masterly 
billiard-player, a good shot, an expert courser, and not a 
bad actor. In this latter capacity he took part in the 
private theatricals at the Marquis of Abercom's, at the 
Priory at Stanmore, in January 1803, when he assumed 
the character of Lord Eakeland in the " Wedding Day," 
and of Grainger in "Who's the Dupe." To amuse his 
leisure hours he sometimes wrote verses, specimens of 
which are given in Williams's " Life of Lawrence," vol. i. 
pp. 382-391. His correspondence (also printed in the 
same work) was very large, and was characterised by a 
sprightliness and pleasantry which indicated a happy 
spirit. When relating to art, or when describing the 
works he saw on the Continent, his letters gave evidence 
of his true appreciation of what is beautiful. He had 
many lady correspondents, and many admirers ; indeed 
he is described as making himself fascinating to so 
many, that each thought he must be in love with her. 
Latterly a change came over both his health and feelings ; 
he was more sedate and thoughtful, and many of his 
later letters breathe of piety and a respect for God's 
ordinances which was new to him. He loved the conver- 
sation of devout men, felt scruples about working on 
Sundays (formerly his habit), and was regular in atten- 
dance at church. 

His custom was to paint standing, and to put in the head 
of his portrait at once, without sketching out the position 
of his figure. He drew the true outline, and complete 
detail and expression of the face, in black, white, and 
red chalks. These he would copy on his canvas in 
colours, and keep the chalk drawing beside him, for his 
guide in the absence of the sitter. The characteristics of 
his style, and the estimation of his genius, have been 
judiciously summed up by Mr. Howard, RA., who says : — 

**In the intellectual treatment of his portraits^ he has pro- 
duced a surprising variety of happy and original combinations, 
and has generally conveyed, with the feeling and invention of a 



CH.XIL] SIR T. LAWRENCE 33 

poet, the best representation of his subject, seizing the most 
interesting expression of countenance which belonged to each. 
In this respect, perhaps, he has shown a greater dramatic power 
than either of his illustrious rivals ; and certainly in painting 
heauty^ he yielded to none. He has sometimes been censured 
for rather a theatrical taste in his attitudes, approaching to the 
meretricious; but in general they are dignified, graceful, and 
easy. Early in life he aimed at a depth and richness of tone 
more readily to be found in Titian and the best Italian colourists 
than in the hues of nature in this climate; but he gradually 
quitted this style, and imitated closely the freshness of his 
models as he found them, striving to give his works the utmost 
brilliancy and vigour of colour of which his materials were 
capable. Hence, if his pictures seldom possess the mellow 
sweetness of Beynolds, he often surpassed him in some of the 
above-mentioned qualities. In vivid and varied chiaroscuro he 
has perhaps no rival, and may be said to have enlarged the 
boundaries of his art, changing by degrees the character of our 
annual exhibitions, and giving them, at length, one of acknow- 
ledged and unprecedented splendour. The extraordinary force 
and vivacity of effect, the gracefulness of his manipulation, and 
those animated expressions of the human face divine which his 
powerful skill in drawing enabled him to fix so admirably on 
canvas, constitute his peculiar distinction and glory as an 
original artist, and his claim to the title of a man of genius." 

There are several fine specimens of Lawrence's portraits 
in the National Collections — J. P. Kemble as Hamlet, 
Mrs. Siddons, Mr. Angerstein, Benjamin West, Sir J. 
Macintosh, Eight Hon. W. Windham, Fawcett the 
comedian, Mrs. Kobertson, Miss Carter (in crayons), and 
George IV. and the Dowager Countess of Darnley, the 
two latter unfinished. 

We have now to notice the artists who became Eoyal 
Academicians during the period in which Lawrence filled 
the omce of President. They were eleven in number. Of 
these, eight were painters, viz. Eichard Cook and William 
Daniel], elected in 1822; Eichard Eamsay Eeinagle, 
in 1823 ; George Jones, in 1824 ; Charles Eobert Leslie 

VOL. II. D 



34 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XH. 

and Henry William Pickersgill, in 1826 ; William Etty, in 
1828 ; and John Constable, in 1829. One sculptor, 
Edward Hodges Baily, elected in 1821, and two archi- 
tects, Sir Jeffry WyatviUe and William Wilkins, elected, 
respectively, in 1824 and 1826, complete the list of new 
members raised to the higher grade between 1820 and 
January 1830. 

EiCHARD Cook, E.A., was bom in London in 1782, and 
entered the schools of the Koyal Academy in 1800. He 
was known as a constant contributor to the exhibi- 
tions between the years 1808 and 1822, when he painted 
several landscapes not destitute of poetic beauty, scenes 
from the " Lady of the Lake," displaying taste and talent, 
and, in 1817 (having been elected an Associate in the 
preceding year), a more ambitious work, entitled, ' Ceres, 
disconsolate for the loss of Proserpine, rejects the solici- 
tations of Iris, sent to her by Jupiter.' In 1822 he 
attained the rank of Eoyal Academician ; and almost from 
that time forward, and certainly for many years preceding 
his death, he seems to have reUnquished his profession, 
and ceased to contribute any of his productions to the 
annual exhibitions of the Academy. His private fortune 
enabled him to Uve independently of his art ; but he was 
fond of showing hospitality to the members of the 
Society which had admitted him to their company. He 
died on the 11th of March, 1857, in his 74th year. 

William Daniell, E.A., was bom in 1769 ; and in 
his fourteenth year accompanied his imde Thomas 
Daniell, E.A., to India, for the purpose of assisting him 
in depicting the scenery, costumes, &c., of that interesting 
country. During the ten years of their absence^ from 
England, they travelled many thousand miles when 
Europeans had few faciUties for journeying in the East 
Immediately on their return, their large work entitled 
♦* Oriental Scenery " was commenced, and continued with 



CH.Xn.] WILLIAM DANIELL 36 

the utmost ardour till its completion in 1808. The plates 
in five of the volumes were engraved by or under the 
superintendence of William Daniell ; in the sixth volume 
the twenty-four views of excavations, &c., were " drawn 
by James Wales, and engraved under the direction of 
Thomas Daniell." Between 1801 and 1814, WiQiam 
Daniell also published " A Picturesque Voyage to India," 
" Zoography," " Animated Nature," " The Docks," a series 
of views, and " The Hunchback," after Smirke. 

In 1814 he commenced another gigantic undertaking, 
"A Voyage round Great Britain," and two or three 
months in esch summer were spent in collecting drawings 
and notes. The work was completed by his imassisted 
labours in 1825. Such a task would not now be diflScult ; 
but in those days he complamed of great fetigue, and ex- 
posure to all sorts of weather, wretched fare, and want of 
accommodation on his route. In 1832 he executed the 
panorama of Madras, in conjunction with Mr. Farris, and 
subsequently painted, unaided, two others, * The City of 
Lucknow,' and ' The Mode of hunting Wild Elephants in 
Ceylon.* Among his best views were those of * Fyzabad 
in Oude,' 'The Mosque at Jaunpore,' 'The Dead Ele- 
phant,' ' Hindoo temples,' &c. His colouring was rather 
hard and red, perhaps from his early acquaintance with 
the climate and scenery of India, and the eastern style of 
drawing. He was particularly successful in depicting the 
ocean in all its varied aspects ; and his glowing representa- 
tions of Oriental scenery are well known to the public by 
his splendid " Oriental Annual." 

He became a student at the Eoyal Academy in 1799, 
was elected an Associate in 1807, and E.A. in 1822. He 
died in London on the 16th of August, 1837. 

BiCHABD Eamsat Beinagle, was the son of Phihp 
Beinagle, RA., a landscape, animal, and panoramic 
painter of considerable ability, and was bom in 1775. 
He became an Associate of the Eoyal Academy in 1814, 

D 2 



36 raSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XH. 

and was elected a Eoyal Academician in 1823. In the 
latter capacity he proposed to the General Assembly that 
Hne engravers should be admitted to fiill membersliip, a 
course which was not then adopted, although the principle 
has since been recognised by the new law relative to 
Academician Engravers. 

Unfortunately circumstances occurred in 1848 which 
led to a committee of Academicians being appointed to 
inquire into certain charges pubUcly preferred against 
him, the result of which was that the truth of the state- 
ment was confirmed, and Mr. Eeinagle was requested to 
resign his seat amongst them. The nature of the offence 
charged against him impugned both his truth and just 
deaUng : it was alleged that he purchased at a broker's 
shop a picture painted by a young and comparatively 
unknown artist, named Yamold, and subsequently exhi- 
bited it at the Eoyal Academy, and sold it as his own. 
In reply to this charge he contended that he had painted 
it over, so that in reahty it was his own work. But it 
was proved that, except a few unimportant touches on 
the sea and sky, it was entirely the work of another ; and 
painful as it must have been to the Eoyal Academicians to 
require his withdrawal from among them at his advanced 
age, the course was the only one which they could take 
with due regard to their own integrity and the honour of 
the institution of which they were members. 

To show that no personal ill-feeling prompted the de- 
cision, it need only be mentioned that, both before and 
after this painful event, Mr. Eeinagle was largely assisted 
from the funds of the Academy, and is still in receipt of 
a liberal allowance from them. He had a very talented 
and promising son, PhiUp, who died in 1833, when a very 
young man, having shown great abihty as a painter of 
marine subjects. 

George Jones, E.A., was bom on the 6th of January, 
1786, and is the only son of John Jones the mezzotinto 



Ch. Xn.] GEORGE JONES 87 

engraver (the friend of Sir Joshua Eeynolds and Edmund 
Burke), and the god-child of George Steevens, the anno- 
tator of Shakspeare. He was admitted as a student at 
the Eoyal Academy in 1801, and continued for some 
years to devote himself to the study of painting, until 
the Peninsular war awakened in him a mihtary ardour ; 
when leaving the pursuit of art till more peaceful 
times, he first joined the South Devon MiKtia, became 
afterwards a lieutenant in the King's Own StaflTord, and 
subsequently a captain in the Eoyal Montgomery Mihtia. 
He volunteered with his company to the fourth divisional 
battalion under Lord Dartmouth, which was not com- 
pleted, and subsequently served with the force under 
Wellington, and formed part of the army of occupation 
in Paris in 1815. 

After the termination of the war, he again resumed his 
first profession, and became an Associate in November 
1822, and a Eoyal Academician in February 1824. In 
1834 he was appointed by William IV. Librarian to the 
Academy, and in that capacity superintended the removal 
of the library fi-om Somerset House to Trafalgar Square 
in 1837, arranged it in its present position, and made the 
catalogue of its contents. He resigned this appointment 
in 1840, when he became Keeper, an office which he 
relinquished in 1850. The better to quahfy himself for 
his duties in the latter office, he travelled through a great 
part of Europe for the purpose of examining the foreign 
schools of art, that he might thus be enabled to improve 
anything which was defective in the schools of the Eoyal 
Academy. He was so popular as Keeper, that one 
hundred of the students commemorated the close of the 
Academic season in 1845 by presenting him with an 
elegant silver Etruscan tazza, to express their gratitude 
for " his undeviating kindness of manner, and his affec- 
tionate r^ard for their interests, progress, and success." 
During the last five years of the lifetime of Sir M. A. 
Shee, his ill-health rendered it necessary for a deputy to 



88 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XH. 

act as President ; aad Mr. Jones undertook the conduct 
of the business at the general assemblies, and to take 
the place of his friend on all public occasions. From 
his first connexion with the Academy, he has devoted 
his abilities, time, and means to its service, and has been 
zealous in maintaining its independence, and in uphold- 
ing the principles of its constitution. He has been a 
liberal subscriber for many years to the Artists' Bene- 
volent Institution, and has contributed upwards of 600 
guineas to its funds. 

In the beginning of his career as an artist, he painted 
the efiective street scenery of continental towns, as well 
as views of English cities; these subjects have always 
been ably rendered by him, and he has created many 
pleasing and excellent pictures from this source. He 
afterwai-ds entered upon a different style, choosing battle- 
scenes of ancient and modem date as subjects for his 
pencil, and he depicted them with such force and ac- 
curacy that hig own military experiences evidently proved 
of great advantage. At a later period he has inter- 
spersed his works in landscape and battle-scenery with 
representations of incidents in sacred and profane history 
and tradition, and has painted some pictures of events in 
modem English history, as * The passing of the Catholic 
EeUef Bill,' * The opening of new London Bridge,' &c 
All these varied subjects he has treated with great skill, 
producing strong and marked effects of light and shade in 
the manner of Eembrandt. 

The Peninsular war especially occupied his attention, 
and afforded him materials for depicting many striking 
scenes, in which he has displayed his peculiar powers as 
a painter of battle-pieces to great advantage. The Duke 
of WeUington particularly admired the correctness and 
general effect of his representation of 'The Battle of 
Waterloo ' (which he has painted several times), and the 
British Institution awarded him in 1820, and again in 
1822, their premiums of 200 guineas for his pictures of 



Ch. Xn.] JONES — LESLIE 39 

that famous victory. He painted the battles of Vittoria 
and Waterloo for George IV., and also for the Earl of 
Egremont. He has also represented many subsequent 
engagements of the British army in India and the 
Crimea — * Meanee,' ' Hyderabad,' ' The Alma,' &c. Be- 
sides his nimierous finished pictures of this class, he has 
executed in outline a large number of drawings of 
battles, under the direction of the commanders, and 
niunerous historic and poetic sketches in sepia and chalk, 
principally in the collection of C. H. Turner, Esq., of 
Book's Nest Park. 

There are four specimens of his works in the Vernon 
Collection, in the formation of which he took a chief 
part, as the liberal donor relied greatly on his taste and 
judgment. Two of the pictures by him in this collection 
were painted in 1829, ' The Battle of Borodino, in 1812,' 
and 'A View of Utrecht;' a third, dated 1832, is ' The 
Burning Fiery Furnace,' an efiective scene, fiill of strong 
lights and shades ; and a fourth, painted in 1833, repre- 
sents *Lady Gk)diva starting on her Journey through 
Coventry from her Lord's Castle.' All of these were pur- 
chased at sales by Mr. Vernon, with the exception of the 
view of Utrecht, which was a commission to the painter. 
In 1849 he published a book entitled " Sir Francis 
Chantrey ; Eecollections of his life. Practice, and Opinions, 
by George Jones, RA.," an interesting memorial of the 
eminent sculptor, dictated alike by personal friendship and 
admiration for his genius. 

Chables Bobebt Leslie, B.A., was bom in the parish 
of Clerkenwell, on the 19th of October, 1794, of American 
parents who were descended from Scottish and English 
families which emigrated to Maryland in 1745. His 
father, who was a man of mechanical genius and a friend 
of B. Franklin, carried on an extensive business as a 
watchmaker in Philadelphia. He engaged a partner 
named Price to take charge of it while he came to 



40 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XII. 

England, where his son was bom. On his return to 
America in 1799, after five years* absence, he found his 
partner dead and his affairs in hopeless confusion. He 
shortly afterwards died, and his widow opened a boarding- 
house to earn a provision for her children. One of her 
daughters, EUza Leslie, an elder sister of the artist, after- 
wards became a favourite writer of tales and satirical 
sketches in the American periodicals. Young Charles 
Leslie had been placed at the University of Pennsylvania, 
but would have been removed at his father's death but 
for the kindness of the professors, who remitted their 
charges that he might not be prevented, by the altered 
means of his family, from pursuing his studies. 

Visits to his uncles in the country awakened his love of 
nature ; and from his earliest years he was so fond of draw- 
ing that his mother at first intended to apprentice him to 
an engraver, but eventually bound him, in 1808, to a 
publishing firm in Philadelphia, Messrs. Bradford and 
Liskeep. The boy's great delight was to examine the 
beautiful plates after Stothard, Smirke, and others, illus- 
trating the books which came over from England ; and he 
says in his autobiography that the windows of the print- 
shops " were so many Academies " to him. He had a love 
of theatricals also, and went to see G. F. Cooke, the actor, 
of whom he made a sketch which struck all who saw it 
with admiration ; and a subscription was raised by his 
master, Mr. Bradford, among the wealthy merchants of 
the city, to enable the young genius to study painting in 
Europe for two years. 

Accordingly in 1811 he came to England, bringing 
with him letters of introduction to West, Beechey, and 
other artists. The President received him with much 
interest, and introduced him to Washington Allston, a 
native of the country he had so recently left, and a man 
of pure and refined taste. Amidst the whirl of excite- 
ment in art, books, and theatricals which followed upon his 
arrival in London, Leslie was attacked with a severe ill- 



CaXIL] C. R LESLIE 41 

ness which made him sigh for home. He recovered from 
his iUness and his home-sickness, however, and continued 
to study art with great earnestness. 

After some preUminary instruction given him by 
Allstpn and by West, he entered the schools of the Eoyal 
Academy in 1813. Puseli was then Keeper, and LesUe 
remarks that he did not teach the students much by 
talking about their art, but simply watched them at then* 
work, sitting often in their midst with his book, and 
afterwards commenting on what they had done, thus act- 
ing upon the adage, " Art may be learnt but cannot be 
taught." He gained two silver medals — one given 
by Fuseh, in the absence of West, for his drawing from 
the 'Laocoon;' the other awarded in the life School, 
for a figure set by Maxman. In his early works LesKe 
essayed historical painting on a large scale, and seemed 
to venture on all styles, micertain in which he could best 
succeed. In 1813 he exhibited 'Murder,' from "Mac- 
beth ;" and in the De Tabley collection is one of his first 
large paintings, ' Saul and the Witch of Endor,' which was 
sent to the British Institution in 1814, but excluded 
as unfinished, not being varnished. West took it into 
his own studio, from whence it was purchased by Sir 
J. Leicester, afterwards Lord de Tabley. But the pic- 
ture which made most sensation at the time was that 
painted in 1818 for his friend, Mr. Dunlop, ' Sir Eoger de 
Coverley going to church, accompanied by the Spectator,' 
a subject which he afterwards repeated for the Marquis 
of Lansdowne, and which was the first specimen of the 
style in which he so greatly excelled. 

In September of the preceding year he had visited Paris 
with W. AUston and WiUiam ColUns, and there formed 
a friendship with Gilbert S. Newton. The method of 
the latter and of Constable influenced his own style of 
painting, and he evidently derived great advantage both 
from his judicious choice of friends on his first arrival 
in England, and from the power of profiting by their 



42 raSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XH. 

abilities, which he possessed. Coleridge took a great fancy 
to him ; so did Washington Irving, with whom he gene- 
rally dined every day, in company with Newton, at the 
York Chop-house in Wardour Street Although he con- 
tinued from the first until the end of his career to paint 
portraits occasionally, he seems at an early period to have 
determined on following the style by which he since 
acquired his fame, for he stands almost alone as the illus- 
trator of the works of Addison, Lesage, Cervantes, Sterne, 
Smollett, and Fielding, and is an admirable interpreter of 
the plays of Shakspeare. Among his early works in 
this style were, * May-day in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,' 
(1821), ' Sancho Panza and the Duchess' (1824), * Anne 
Page, Shallow, and Slender' (1825), &c. 

In November 1821, he was elected an Associate of the 
Eoyal Academy. " I was on every account," he says, 
" much elated with the event ; one of the great advan- 
tages resulting from which was the opportimity it af- 
forded me of frequent intercourse with the best artists," 
for " it is the etiquette for a newly-elected member to 
call immediately on all the E.A.'s." In April 1825 he 
married; the next year he became a Eoyal Academi- 
cian, and obtained the patronage of Lord Holland, paint- 
ing portraits of his lordship and some members of his 
family. Lord Egremont, for whom he had painted 
' Sancho Panza ' and other works of the same class, in- 
vited him with his wife and family every autunm to visit 
Petworth, and was a steady and munificent patron of the 
artist, as may be judged by the number of his works con- 
tained in that nobleman's collection. The galleries of 
Mr. Naylor, Mr. Gillott, and Mr. Miller in Lancashire and 
Birmingham are also rich in his works. In 1825 LesHe 
painted, besides * Slender courting Anne Page,' already 
mentioned, ' Sir H. Wotton's Departure from Venice,' and 
six drawings to illustrate Walter Scott's novels. The next 
year he exhibited " Don Quixote deceived by the Curate, 
the Barber, and Dorothea ; ' and in 1827 a very graceful 



CH.Xn.] C. R. T.RSTJR 43 

composition of 'Lady Jane Grey persuaded to accept 
the Crown,' which has been engraved on a large scale- 
Two years afterwards he painted ' Sir Eoger de Coverley's 
fortune told by Gipsies,' and in 1831, ' Unde Toby and 
the Widow,' and a scene from " The Merry Wives of 
Windsor " — ' The Dinner at Page's House.' The next 
year a very elaborate picture of some dozen male and 
female members of the Grosvenor family, painted for 
the Marquis of Westminster, excited admiration by the 
tasteful arrangement of the group. A scene from the 
" Taming of the Shrew " was also exhibited this year, 
and in the next a scene from "Tristram Shandy,'* a 
pleasing bit of nature — 'The Mother dancing to her 
Child,' and a sacred group, ' Martha and Mary.' 

In 1833 Leslie's brother procured for him the appoint- 
ment of teacher of drawing at the Military Academy at 
West Point, on the Hudson Eiver ; and his family and 
friends urged him to accept it. He did so ; but so great 
was the r^ret of his patrons and admirers in England 
when he quitted it, that after his arrival in America he 
seemed to feel that he had left his home and his proper 
sphere in leaving the country of his adoption; and as 
the feeling of regret deepened with his absence, he re- 
turned to England after spending two years abroad. In 
1835 he again appeared as an exhibitor at the Boyal 
Academy, contributing 'Columbus and the Egg,' and 
' Gulliver's Introduction to the Queen of Brobdignag.' 
In 1836-37 he painted two scenes from "The Winter's 
Tale" and "Old Mortahty," and in 1838 he exhibited 
'The principal characters in "The Merry Wives of 
Windsor." ' Lady Holland obtained for him a ticket to 
view the Queen's coronation in Westminster Abbey, the 
result of which, he tells us, was twofold — first a resolu- 
tion never again to wear a court suit, and next a commission 
to paint a picture of ' The Queen receiving the Sacrament 
at the Coronation.' This task brought him the honour 
of personal communication with Her Majesty and the 



44 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIL 

members of the Eoyal family, which he could not other- 
wise have enjoyed. In 1839 he contributed four works 
to the exhibition, two of them love scenes, and ' Sancho 
Panza' and 'Dulcinea,' The next year his only work 
was an admirable portrait of Lord Chancellor Cottenham. 
In 1841 he exhibited a scene from " Le Bourgeois Gentil- 
homme," * Fairlop Fair,' and * The Library of Holland 
House.' Scenes from "Twelfth Night" and "Henry 
Vin." followed in 1842 ; and in the next year portraits 
of Mr. Travers an eminent surgeon and of Mr. H. 
Angelo, ' The Coronation ' picture, a scene from the 
"Vicar of Wakefield," and another from "Le Malade 
Imaginaire." Li 1844, besides repeating * Sancho Panza,' 
he exhibited a scene from " Comus," a composition for a 
fresco for the summer-house at Buckingham Palace. 
Among his subsequent works were a scene from "Les 
Femmes Savantes," ' Heading the Will,' ' Charles Dickens 
as Captain Bobadil,' ' Lady Jane Grey reading Plato,' 
' The Masque Scene ' in " Henry VIH." ' Juliet,' ' Falstaff,' 
' The Eape of the Lock,' ' Beatrice in the Garden,' * Sophia 
Weston and Tom Jones,' 'Queen Katharine,' and other 
similar productions, many of which, as well as of those 
previously mentioned, are now national property, twenty- 
four of his pictures and studies having been presented by 
Mr. Sheepshanks (who was an especial admirer of his 
works), and two by Mr. Vernon. In 1857 he exhibited 
'Sir Roger de Coverley,' and in 1858, 'Christ and 
the Disciples at Emmaus.' His last works, 'Jeannie 
Deans appealing to the Queen,' and ' Hotspur and Lady 
Percy,' were opened to public exhibition at the Eoyal 
Academy on the 4th of May, 1859, and on the following 
day the talented artist who had painted them died at his 
house in Abercom Place, St. John's Wood, leaving a 
widow to mourn his loss, with whom he had Uved a life 
of unclouded happiness for thirty-three years, and 
children to lament the removal of the most loving, self- 
sacrificing, and tender of fathers. Besides his exhibited 



CH.XIL] 0. R. LESLIE 46 

works, he painted many pictures which were sent direct 
to America, and others for his varied patrons in this 
coimtry. 

Of his personal character and the purpose of his 
works, it has been well said by Mr. T. Taylor, that, — 

•*In his whole life we see the man of cautious, trustful, 
respectful nature, slow in the formation of his judgment, dis- 
posed to defer to others in his art and out of ii^ but strong in 
principle, and apt to hold stubbornly to convictions once 
grasped ; not given to court notoriety or publicity, and rather 
shrinking from than provoking conflict; asking only leave to 
pursue the even tenor of his way in the practice of the art he 
loved ; among the quiet friends he valued, equable, affectionate, 
self-respecting to the point of reserve and reticence; valuing 
good taste and moderation as much in art as in manners, averse 
to exclusive theories and loud-sounding self-assertion in all 
forms, closing a happy, peaceful, successful, and honomred life 
by the calm and courageous death of a Christian, and. leaving 
behind him pictures stamped in every Une with good taste, 
chastened humour, and graceful sentiment — pictures which it 
makes us happier, gentler, and better to look upon — which 
help us to love good books and to regard our fellow-creatures 
with kindlier eyes. As a painter of dramatic subjects, he is 
unrivalled in the power of telling a story with but few acces- 
sories. They show how earnestly and thoughtfully he had 
studied the works of the authors he illustrated, till he could 
depict each individual character as living portraits of men and 
women, as the poet or the novelist drew them. Each picture 
was carefully elaborated, both in the preliminary study and in 
the careful execution of all its details; but in order to be 
appreciated, they require to be studied. His drawing was 
always good, correct, and graceful ; his coloiuing was generally 
rich and harmonious, sometimes (especially in his later works) 
it was cold and crude ; but he was a thorough master of the 
technicalities of his art. In his delineation of females, he 
invests them with more of mental than of physical beauty, and 
gives them an air of womanly dignity ; while his men are full 
of living character, whether of humour or quaintness, or of a 
higher cast." 

His literary productions are of considerable value 



46 mSTORl' OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIL 

especially to artists. In 1843 he published in 4to. a 
" life of Constable," a simple piece of biography, com- 
piled chiefly from his letters, which open out the mental 
character and artistic views of one of our great landscape 
painters. It was afterwards republished in 8vo. without 
the plates. In November 1847 he was imanimously 
elected to the office of Professor of Painting at the Eoyal 
Academy, which he retained till 1852, when he resigned 
it on account of delicate health. In 1855 the lectures 
he dehvered to the students were published as a 
"Handbook for Young Painters" in 12mo. ; and, as the 
result of the observation, reflection, and experience of a 
painter of Leshe's skill and ability, this remodelling of 
the materials of his lectures is interesting not only to 
the painter, but also to the student of the history of art 
in England. 

He took an active interest in the afiairs of the Aca- 
demy — having at various times proposed the grant of an 
allowance to the President, the election of engravers as 
Academicians, the opening of the exhibition in the 
evening, and the restriction of members to sending only 
six works. In 1828 he joined the Sketching Club, which 
had been established twenty years before by the brothers 
Chalon, and only withdrew from it when his health 
failed him in 1842. Weekly meetings of the members 
were held at each other's houses — the host being pre- 
sident, who gave the subject from which each made a 
design. They supped at ten, and afterwards reviewed 
the drawings, which remained the property of the host 
Leslie was in the habit, all through his life, of writing down 
accounts of anything of importance that occurred ; and 
from these notes, and from letters, he composed " The 
Autobiographical Eecollections," which were published 
after his death in two volumes, by Mr. Tom Taylor. They 
are fiill of anecdotes of his artist contemporaries and of 
many distinguished persons with whom he was associated. 
The second volume is chiefly composed of his corre- 



CH.Xn.] H. W. PICKERSGILL 47 

spondence with Washington Irving and other Mends, and 
illustrates both the excellences of his own character and 
the estimation in which he was held. His " Life of Sir 
Joshua Eeynolds, with Notices of his Contemporaries," is 
advertised for publication. 

Hknby William Pickersgill, R A., was bom in London 
on December 3rd, 1782. When a mere child he was 
taken fix>m home by a connexion, Mr. Hall, engaged in 
the silk manufacture in Spitalfields, and adopted by 
him ever afterwards. He was sent to a school kept by 
Mr. Stock, in the house at Poplar formerly occupied by 
Sir Eichard Steele, and there received an education far 
above the average, his preceptor being a man of science 
and fond of experimental philosophy, and taking great 
pains to impart his knowledge to his pupils. Leaving 
the school at sixteen or seventeen, he returned to Mr. 
Hall's house, and pursued the business xmtil the French 
war took place, which involved such serious losses that 
the manufactory was closed. During the idle days which 
followed on the cessation of his ordinary employment, 
young Pickersgill paid a visit to the Koyal Academy 
Exhibition for the first time ; and the effect of the display 
of pictures he then saw was such that he returned home, 
expressing his determination to become a painter. While 
at school he had already displayed his talent as a 
draughtsman ; and after much opposition, and with some 
diflSculty, his friends at last consented to place him for 
three years as a pupil with George Amald, A.RA., with 
whom he remained till his twenty-second year, learning 
little except the mode of using colours, as landscape paint- 
ing was not to his taste. A severe illness came upon him 
at this time ; and the surgeon who attended him, seeing his 
taste for art, obtained for him, through E. Edwards, A.RA. 
an introduction to Fuseli, by whom he was admitted as 
a student at the Eoyal Academy in 1805. Li the begin- 
ning of his career as an artist he painted historical. 



48 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIL 

mythological, and poetical subjects, and still exhibits 
works in the same style; but for many years he 
devoted himself exclusively to portraiture, and was in 
fuU employment in that branch of art, although he had 
in the beginning of his career many eminent rivals to 
contend with. After the death of PhiUips, he was espe- 
cially the favourite with those who desired to have large 
full-length portraits painted for presentation and honorary 
gifts ; and he was thus employed in painting likenesses of 
men eminent in rank, pohtics, science, and letters. His 
works are faithful and expressive as portraits, and his 
style is quiet and pleasing. He has the power of catching 
and placing on his canvas the most intelKgent expression 
of his model, producing an unquestionable likeness, 
without the affectation of prettiness or the seduction of 
flattery. His colouring is vivid and yet not overdone, 
and there is a firmness and force in it which he has 
maintained even in his latest works. One of his chief 
patrons was the late Sir Eobert Peel, who continually 
employed him to add to his collection at Drayton por- 
traits of his personal and pohtical friends, and other 
celebrities. For him he also painted Owen, Cuvier, 
Humboldt, and Hallam ; and for Lord Hill, a portrait of 
the Duke of WeUington. Before commencing this work, 
he visited Italy, that he might examine the best speci- 
mens of the styles of the great masters. He also painted 
a full-length portrait of General Lord Hill, now in pos- 
session of his family. Many of his best works are in the 
college halls at Oxford, His portrait of Wordsworth is 
in the National Portrait Gallery ; and Mr. Murray, of 
Albemarle Street, possesses his portraits of John Murray, 
sen., and J. G. Lockhart, the son-in-law of Sir W. Scott. 
In 1846 he painted the portrait of Mr. Vernon, the donor 
of the collection of pictures named after him, which is 
now in the National Collection, where is also a picture by 
Pickersgill, entitled *The Syrian Maid^' a very fair 
specimen of his manner of giving historical, instead of 



CH.Xn.] H. W. PICKERSGILL — W. ETTY 49 

fancy portraitiire. He married in early life a lady 
talented as a writer of poetry, and has lost a son and 
daughter both possessed of literary abilities. He was 
elected an Associate in 1822, and a Eoyal Academician in 
1826. He succeeded Mr. Uwins in 1856 as Librarian to 
the Academy, an office which he still retains ; and he is now 
pursuing his art with an industry and enthusiasm which 
would seem to indicate that, although in his 80th year, 
there is but little diminution in his physical and mental 
enei^es. 

William Ettt, E.A., was bom at York on March 10th, 
1787. His father kept a baker's shop in the fine old 
city, and erected a mill in the vicinity. His son assisted 
in the shop till his twelfth year, when he was apprenticed 
to a letter-press printer named Kobert Peck, at HuU, 
where he spent an xmcomfortable servitude of very hard 
work, away from all his friends, and unable, except by 
stealth, to pursue his passion for drawing, which he had 
formerly cultivated by studies in chalk on his father's 
shop-floor. His seven years' apprenticeship over, he was 
invited by an uncle in London to join him that he might 
become a painter ; this relative being himself " a draughts- 
man in pen and ink," who saw promise of power in the 
boy's crude sketches. He was a kind and generous man, 
for besides the help he afforded his nephew during his 
life, he bequeathed to him a sufficient sum to enable him, 
after his death, to prosecute his studies. Etty was reh- 
giously educated, and continued steadfast to his early 
training, retaining throughout his life a love and fear of 
God, and a desire to refer every action to the Divine 
Will. 

After he came to London he drew from prints or 
nature, " or anything he could ; " his first academy being 
a plaster-cast shop in Cock Lane, Smithfield, kept by an 
Italian named Gianelli. There he drew 'Cupid and 
Psyche,' and took his copy to Opie with a letter of 

VOL. II. B 



60 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XH. 

introduction. Through him, in 1807, he became known 
to Fuseli, who admitted him as a probationer to the 
schools of the Academy. There he met Collins, Hilton, 
and Haydon as fellow-students. In July 1808 his uncle 
paid a premium of 100 guineas to Lawrence to admit the 
young painter as an in-door pupil to his studio in Greek 
Street. There he watched his masterly execution, until 
he almost despaired of attaining . a like facihty, for Law- 
rence had httle leisure to assist him in acquiring it. 
However he was a most diligent student, both in his 
studio, and at the Eoyal Academy, and copied several 
works at the British Institution ; nevertheless all his con- 
tributions to the exhibitions were returned to him year 
after year, and he tried in vain to gain either the gold or 
silver medals awarded by the Academy. He was fre- 
quently employed by Lawrence to make copies, and he 
sought his advice in his distress at failure. " He said," 
Etty writes, " I had a very good eye for colour, but that 
I was lamentably deficient in almost all other respects." 
So he set to work day and night to correct his faults, and 
in 1811 he was comforted by finding one of his pictures 
hung at the Eoyal Academy, — 'Telemachus rescuing 
Antiope,' — and from that time he always obtained an 
entrance for some of his works at the Academy or the 
British Institution. He painted a few portraits at this 
time also, but occupied himself chiefly on classical 
subjects. 

In the autumn of 1816 he set out, by the advice of his 
friends, for a year's study in Italy ; but he teUs us, " as 
one of his prevaihng weaknesses was a propensity to fall 
in love," he came back home-sick within three months. 
In 1820 he began to acquire celebrity by the exhibition 
of ' The Coral Finders,' * Venus and her Youthful Satel- 
htes arriving at the Isle of Paphos' — the first of those 
representations of the undraped female form which he 
so constantly repeated in after years, and which he 
painted with unusual freedom and brilliant efiect. The 



CH.Xn.] WILUAM ETTY 61 

next year, his * Cleopatra's arrival in Cilicia' obtained for 
him the patronage of Sir Francis Freeling. In 1822, 
although bearing with him a new love-sorrow, he visited 
Borne, Florence, Naples, and Venice, copying especially 
the works of the Venetian colourists with great eagerness 
and dihgence. In 1824 he exhibited * Pandora crowned 
by the Seasons,' which was purchased by the President, 
and led to his election as an Associate in that year. He 
had previously obtained a diploma from the Charlestown 
Academy in America, and from Venice. Thus encouraged, 
he continued to labour with great diligence, and produced 
his large and important works in rapid succession. 

In 1828, when he became a Eoyal Academician, it 
was suggested to him that he should discontinue his 
practice in the life School (where he had been accus- 
tomed for years to attend every evening during the ses- 
sion, to paint studies in oil from the hving model as 
shown there by gas-hght), as it would be incompatible 
with the dignity of an RA. to take his place among the 
students ; but he said he would rather decline the coveted 
honour proposed to be conferred upon him than rehn- 
quish his studies, which no doubt gave to his pictures 
many good qualities, but also some of the bad ones by 
which they were characterised. He was equally at home 
as an upper student or a Visitor, — in the one capacity 
stimulating his brethren, in the latter ministering to their 
necessities. The life Academy first aroused his latent 
genius, and afterwards sustained its fervour. He beheld 
whole generations of students pass through it, yet there 
he was still, the chief model for his emulous brethren — 
for they could trace the steps by which he mounted to 
Academic honours, and none would wish to lose sight of 
the friend in the halo of the Academician. He spent his 
days quietly in his painting-room, and only varied the 
simple routine of his artistic labours by occasional visits 
to a friend in the country, a trip to his native city, to 
Edinburgh, or the Netherlands. One notable exception, 

B 2 



62 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XH. 

however, occurred when, in 1830, he joined some friends 
in Paris, during " the three glorious days " of bloodshed 
and terror, and happily escaped unharmed. 

Though always in love, he never married ; his house, 
No. 14 Buckingham Street, Strand, with his painting-room 
at the top, which he had occupied from the year 1826 till 
1848, was kept by his niece, until his failing health and 
declining energy led him to retire to York, his birthplace, 
where he died, November 13th, 1849, having long suffered 
from an affection of the heart. He was buried in the 
churchyard of St. Olave, Marygate. His funeral was at- 
tended by the pupils in the York School of Design (of 
which he was one of the founders), the Coimcil of the 
Yorkshire Philosophical Society, the mayor and mimicipal 
authorities, &c. It was just before he quitted London (in 
June 1849), that he had the gratification of seeing about 
130 of his paintings collected together for exhibition in 
the rooms of the Society of Arts — a graceful tribute to 
his genius, and a pleasing sight to a man who was thus 
permitted to behold the labour of a lifetime preserved 
and appreciated by his countrymen. Having Uved a 
very retired life, he accumulated a considerable fortune, 
and the sketches, &c., he left behind him realised up- 
wards of £5,000. 

A Hfe of Etty was published in 2 vols. 8vo, in 1855, 
by A. Gilchrist. A very graphic autobiography, written 
in 1848, also appeared in the "Art Journal" in the fol- 
lowing year. In this account, Etty has given a list of his 
principal works, and has explained his purpose in painting 
many of them. Thus he states, " My aim, in all my great 
pictures, has been to paint some great moral on the heart. 
* The Combat, or Woman pleading for the Vanquished ' 
— the beauty of mercy. The three ' Judith' pictures — 
patriotism and self-devotion to her country, her people, 
and her God ; and in * Ulysses and the Syrens/ the im- 
portance of resisting sensual delights." All these (except 
the last, the property of the Manchester Institution) were 



Ch. Xn.] WILLIAM ETTY 63 

purchased by the Eoyal Scottish Academy, and are noble 
works in conception, colour, and execution. In all his 
mythological subjects he betrays a want of classical 
knowledge, for indeed he had little intellectual culture of 
any kind ; but he thoroughly understood the technicalities 
of his art, and as a painter of the undraped human form 
he is without a modern rival. StUl he confined his efibrts 
to the exterior creature, and never essayed to go deeper, 
— it was the outward aspect of the human form, and 
not the mind speaking through it, that he painted so 
skilfully. 

Among his principal works, besides those above named, 
are *The Judgment of Paris,' 'Venus attired by the 
Graces,' ' The Wise and Foolish Virgins,' ' Hylas and the 
Nymphs,' ' The Prodigal Son,' ' The Bevy of Fair 
Women,' * The Pont d'Sospiri, Venice,' and ' Destruction of 
the Temple of Vice ;' ' Youth and Pleasure,' and ' Bathers 
surprised by a Swan' (the Vernon Gallery pictures); 
three pictures of ' Joan of . Arc ;' ' The Eape of Proser- 
pine,' ' The Parting of Hero and Leander,' ' Zephyr 
and Aurora ; two small pictures, ' The Head of a 
Cardinal' and ' Cupid Sheltering Psyche ' (in the Sheep- 
shanks Gkllery); 'Eobinson Crusoe returning Thanks 
for his Deliverance,' &c. 

He was an enthusiast in his art ; not fitful, but steady 
and untiring, and thus attained an eminent position in his 
profession. He was much pained by the frequent com- 
plaints which were made on the score of morality (and it 
must be admitted not without reason) in regard to the 
subjects he chose, and the free and somewhat coarse 
display of the female form in his pictures. While these 
reprehensions were intended only to condemn the un- 
wise selection of some of his subjects and his somewhat 
indelicate mode of treating them, he seemed to feel them 
as implying a charge that he was wanting in that moral 
purity which he eminently possessed ; the fact being that 
he was himself so innocent of mind that he did not see 



54 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XH. 

the evil which others found in some of his works. He 
was a man of a simple and pious spirit, as all who knew 
him intimately can testify, and as will be seen by the 
advice which he has given to young artists ; for he says 
he desired "to implant on their minds an invincible 
desire to excel in their noble art, to be an honour to 
their country, a credit to their friends and themselves, 
and the faithful servants of God ; to be always attentive 
to his public ordinances, and strictly to respect his 
Sabbath of rest to the soul, for the artist of all men ought 
to be intellectual, spiritual, and virtuous." In the Eoyal 
Academy, he always displayed the most unremitting 
and disinterested zeal for the welfare and honour of the 
institution, which he considered identical with the general 
well-being of British Art. 

John Constable, E.A., was bom at East Bei^holt, in 
Suflfolk, in 1776, and was originally intended by his father 
for the church ; but as he did not seem an apt scholar, 
he followed his father's trade of a miller for about a 
year, occupying his time chiefly, however, in studying 
the simple scenery around him, and in attempting to por- 
tray its beauties. He used to say that the scenes of his 
boyhood made him a painter ; and the love of sketching 
which he had displayed while at school at Oldham, at 
length strengthened into a determination to become an 
artist. E. E. Eeinagle seems to have given him some 
instruction in drawing landscapes ; and in 1795 he came 
to London with an introduction to Sir George Beaumont, 
for the purpose of ascertaining what might be his chance 
of success as a painter. Sir George encouraged him to 
proceed ; but he returned home soon afterwards, and seems 
to have divided his attention between the mill and the 
easel till 1799, when he again started for London to try 
his fortune as an artist. 

In 1800 he became a student at the Eoyal Aca- 
demy, and from that time was a constant contributor 



CH.XIL] JOHN CONSTABLE 65 

to its exhibitions ; but fix)m the simple unpretending 
nature of his works, they attracted little attention, and it 
was not till twelve years after he began to exhibit that he 
sold his first two pictures. He purposely adopted no 
especial style, declaring that there was room enough for 
a natural painter, and speaking contemptuously of those 
who attempted to do something beyond the truth. It 
was not till 1819, when he was in his 43rd year, that he 
was elected an Associate — the year in which he painted 
a large picture, ' A View on the Eiver Stour,' which was 
much admired. In 1816 he married the daughter of 
Mr. Bicknell, SoUcitor to the Admiralty, and in 1820 
took a house at Hampstead, where he principally lived, 
studying daily the simple beauties of nature, and trans- 
ferring them from the life to his canvas; but he also 
kept a house in Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square (No. 35), 
where he used to store away a large number of his 
paintings for which he could not find purchasers. In 
1829 he became a Eoyal Academician, and was taken ill 
on the night of the 30th of March, 1837, a few nights 
after the close of the schools at Somerset House, of which 
he was then the Visitor, and died in less than an hour 
afterwards. An association of gentlemen who were ad- 
mirers of his works, purchased fi:om his executors, shortly 
aft«r his death, his picture of ' The Cornfield' (painted in 
1826), and presented it to the National Gallery. Another 
in the same collection is * The VaUey Farm,' a view of 
his father's house, a favourite subject of the painter. In 
the Sheepshanks Gfallery there are six of his works, some 
of which are especially interesting. One well-known 
painting, exhibited in 1825, is a view of * Salisbury 
Cathedral,' which was a commission from the then bishop 
of the diocese, who rejected it because he disliked the 
dark cloud behind the spire ; another, ' Dedham Mill,' his 
father's property, and in which he himself worked ; two 
'Views of Hampstead Heath,' and two other simple 
sketches. 



60 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XH. 

His pictures, beautiful as they were, failed to procure for 
him a moderate income from his profession ; but for some 
years before his death he was happily independent of such 
means of subsistence. Abroad, his works were more 
highly esteemed ; and he received a gold medal from the 
King of France as an acknowledgment of the merit of 
some of his paintings, which were purchased by a French- 
man, and exhibited at the Louvre. All his landscapes 
are characterised by extreme simphcity, marked by some 
transient effects of dew or rain which pleased him, and 
which he would often repeat. This minute attention to, 
and frequent reiteration of, only one of the many chang- 
ing aspects of nature was much reprehended by tlie 
critics of his time, and gives a pecuhar character to most 
of his works, many of them being also dark and heavy in 
their shadows, and presenting a spotted appearance. 
Fuseli said that Constable's rain-clouds " made him call 
for his umbrella," and Bannister declared that "he felt 
the wind blow in his face," while a French critic dis- 
cerned the dew of the morning on the leaves and grass ; 
all thus testifying to the success of his study of atmo- 
spheric effect. His landscapes are now highly valued, 
and realise ten times as much as he originally received 
for them. 

LesKe, in his " Handbook for Young Painters," says : 
" There is a place among our painters which Turner 
left unoccupied, and which neither Wilson, Gainsborough, 
Cozens, nor Girtin so completely filled as John Constable. 
He was the most genuine painter of EngUsh cultivated 
scenery, leaving untouched its moimtains and lakes." 
Uwins said ; '' He seemed to think that he came into the 
world to convince mankind that nature is beautifiil. 
Instead of seeking for the materials of poetic landscape 
in foreign countries amidst temples and classic groves, 
or in our own amidst castles, lakes, and mountains, he 
taught that the simple cottage, the village green, the 
church, the meadow covered with cattle, the canal with 



Ch. Xn.] CONSTABLE — BAlLY 67 

its barges, its locks and weedy banks, contained all the 
materials, and called up all the associations necessary 
for pictures." He delighted in his native fields. "I 
love," he said, "my stile, and stump, and lane in the 
village : as long as I am able to hold a brush, I shall 
never cease to paint them." In private life Constable 
was much esteemed for the kindly qualities of his heart, 
and for his mental attainments. In person he was tall, 
with an expressive, benignant countenance, bearing marks 
of his genius and the energy of his character. 

Edwabd Hodges Baily, RA., the only sculptor who 
became a Eoyal Academician during the presidentship 
of Sir Thomas Lawrence, was bom at Bristol on the 10th 
of March, 1788. When very yoimg he exhibited his 
early predilection for art in executing small portrait 
busts, which were remarkable for displaying a close ob- 
servation of character. This taste quickly led to higher 
eflTorts ; and, stimulated by some works of Bacon and others 
in the cathedral of his native city, he took Flaxman's 
compositions from Homer as models, and commenced 
working on plaster casts. These evinced so much talent, 
that when the young artist obtained an introduction to 
Flaxman, and submitted them to him, he consented to 
receive him as his pupil in London, and Baily pursued his 
studies under this eminent master for nearly two years. 
In 1809 he became a student at the Eoyal Academy, 
where he gained the silver medal in the same year, 
and in 1811 was awarded the gold medal for his compe- 
tition work, representing * Hercules rescuing Alcestes.* 
A figure of * Apollo discharging his Arrows against the 
Greeks,' was the first of the works he exhibited which 
attracted public attention. This work led to his election 
as an Associate of the Eoyal Academy in 1817. In the 
following year the exhibition of his well-known ' Eve at 
the Fountain ' obtained for him a wide reputation through- 
out the continent of Europe. This beautiful production 



58 raSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. Xn. 

was executed three years later in marble, and was pur- 
chased by the people of Bristol to be placed in the 
Literary Institution of his native city. In 1821 he 
became a Eoyal Academician, and in the same year was 
commissioned by George IV. to execute the bassi-rehevi 
on the front of the marble arch at the entrance to 
Buckingham Palace, and which are on the south side of 
the arch as it now stands in Hyde Park. Similar decora- 
tions and models of figures to ornament the throne-room, 
were also executed by him. 

From this time Mr. Baily continued to be actively 
employed in the execution of a series of works, varied 
in their character and purposes, but all displaying the 
genius and excellent taste which have gained for him so 
great a reputation as a sculptor. His early works are 
distinguished for their grace, simplicity, correct propor- 
tion, and careful execution ; his later productions have 
been chiefly busts and portrait statues, and in this depart- 
ment of his art he stands unrivalled. His statues of 
Charles James Pox and Lord Mansfield for St. Stephen's 
Hall in the Palace at Westminster, of Telford the 
engineer. Lord Egremont, Earl Grey, Lord Nelson, and 
General Sir Charles Napier, and the seated figure of Lord 
Mansfield at Chelmsford, are excellent specimens of his 
skiU in monumental sculpture ; but while thus employed 
he has continued to devote a portion of his time to poetic 
designs which wiU have an enduring fame as works of 
true genius, and as proofs of the sculptor's high concep- 
tion and poetical imagination. *Eve listening to the 
Voice,' — the companion to his early work ' Eve at the 
Fountain,' — was exhibited in 1841. * Psyche,' ' Helena 
unveiUng herself to Paris,' 'Hercules casting Hylas into the 
Sea,' ' The Sleeping Nymphs,' ' Maternal Love,' * A Girl 
preparing for the Bath,' and * The Graces seated,' have 
since followed in succession. The last named, exhibited 
in 1849, is a work of great merit, graceful and elegant in 
its arrangement, and executed with marvellous delicacy 



Ch. XIL] BAILY — WYATVILLE 69 

and skill It is the property of Mr. Joseph Neeld, M.P. 
(who is also the ovmer of the 'Eve listening to the 
Voice '), and is one of the most original and admired 
works of one whose genius has done so much to maintain 
and elevate the reputation of English sculptors. He still 
pursues his profession, and has for years contributed regu- 
larly fancy pieces, portrait statues, and busts to the exhi- 
bition. As recently as 1858 he exhibited a figure of 
* Genius,' executed in marble for the Egyptian Hall at the 
Mansion House, and his statue of Turner the artist ; and 
in 1860 some statuettes and busts. 

The AECHrPEcrs elected in Sir T. Lawrence's term of 
oflSce as President, were Sir Jeffry Wyatville and William 
Wilkins, both of whom were remarkable men, and were 
employed on important public works. 

Sir Jeffry Wtatville, E.A., was bom on the 3rd of 
August, 1766, at Burton-upon-Trent, in Somersetshire, 
and was educated at the Free School there. He was the 
son of Joseph Wyatt, and nephew of James Wyatt, E.A., 
both architects. In his youth he seems to have been a 
wild, ungovernable boy, having twice, at twelve and at 
fourteen years old, made attempts to run away to sea ; 
but was each time pursued and brought back. Three 
years afterwards he was to have gone out in the Koyal 
George, but he did not reach the vessel in time, and thus 
providentially escaped the wreck at Spithead. He then 
came to London with the view of entering the naval ser- 
vice ; but the American war was at an end, and no oppor- 
tunity offered for employing him. An imcle residing in 
the metropolis (Samuel Wyatt, the architect of the Trinity 
House, Tatton HaU, Heaton House, &c.) took him into 
his office for seven years, where he acquired all the 
routine of his profession, and afterwards served a second 
term with his uncle James, imder whom he studied 
Gothic and old English architecture. Through the pro- 



62 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XH. 

complete before he died. His strong predilection for the 
Grecian style, led him to apply it, without any adaptation 
to the occasion, to this edifice, which consists of ranges of 
low buildings, only distinguished from mere houses by 
their columns, the acconmiodation they afford being also 
very defective. A few years afterwards he again appUed 
the same style to the East India Company's College at 
Haileybury, in Herts (which has recently been sold), and 
there repeated almost the same design as at Downing. 
In 1808 he erected the Nelson Pillar in Sackville Street, 
DubUn, and in 1817 a similar memorial at Yarmouth. 
Subsequently he made some Gothic additions and altera- 
tions to Trinity and Corpus Christi (1823) and King's 
(1828) Colleges, at Cambridge. In 1826 he completed, 
in conjunction with Mr. J. P. Gandy (who afterwards 
changed his name to Deering), the University Club House 
in Pall Mall East, for the members of the Oxford and 
Cambridge Universities ; and in 1828, when Lord 
Brougham, Thomas Campbell, and others, founded the 
University College in Gower Street, he was employed to 
erect it. He obtained more praise for this than for any 
other of his works ; but the good effect of the design 
cannot be appreciated, for the wings have not yet been 
erected. In this work he introduced a dome with a 
Grecian portico — the latter raised upon a substructure 
as high as the basement floor, which, with the flight of 
steps ascending to the portico, has a very good pictorial 
effect. His next work of importance was the National 
Gallery, erected between 1832 and 1838. In his design 
for the portico he was restricted by having orders to use 
the columns from that of Carlton House. The central 
dome and the small turrets on either side, besides the 
defects of the interior, called forth severe censure, both 
from architects and the pubUc. Want of space, and 
government orders and restraints, no doubt cramped 
his proceedings, but the work is altogether an unfor- 



CH.XIL] WILLIAM WILKINS 63 

tunate one, and has had no good influence upon his 
reputation as an architect. He also designed several 
private mansions, and the new St. George's Hospital, 
erected on the site of Lanesborough House, Grosvenor 
Place. 

In 1836 he entered into competition as architect for 
the New Houses of Parliament, but did not even succeed 
in getting one of the premiums. His failure was followed 
by a pamphlet entitled, " An Apology for the Design of 
the New Houses of ParUament marked * Phil- Archi- 
medes,' " in which he condemned with some severity the 
conduct of the Commissioners and the designs of the 
more successful competitors. Previously (in November 
1831) he had also published " A Letter to Lord Viscount 
Goderich, on the Patronage of the Arts by the EngUsh 
Government," in which he gave a brief historical sketch 
of the amount of assistance rendered by the Government 
to the Fine Arts, pointed out the instances of bad taste 
in several public buildings, and urged the necessity for 
the formation of a School of Architecture. Literary 
works of a less controversial nature had preceded these. 
His first production, already mentioned, was followed by 
"The Civil Architecture of Vitruvius, containing those 
Books relating to the public and private Edifices of the 
Ancients," published in imperial 4to. in 1812 ; and this 
was succeeded, in 1816, by " Atheniensia ; or, Eemarks on 
the Buildings and Antiquities of Athens." In 1837, he 
published the first (and only) part of his " Prolusiones 
ArchitectonicsB." 

On the death of Sir John Soane in 1837, Wilkins 
was appointed to succeed him as Professor of Archi- 
tecture at the Eoyal Academy ; but before the term 
of two years allowed to a new professor to prepare 
his lectures had expired, he had departed this life, 
so that, although he held the office till his death, he 
never gave any instruction to the students in architec- 



64 inSTORY OF THE BOYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XH. 

ture. He had been suffering severely from gout some 
time before his death, which took place at Cambridge, on 
the 31st of August, 1839, the day on which he completed 
his 61st year. He was buried in the chapel of Corpus 
Christi, a part of the new building he had erected for 
that college at Cambridge, 



65 



CHAP. xm. 

ASSOCIATES ELECTED DUBING THE PRESIDENTSHIP OF SIR 
T. LAWRENCE WHO DID NOT SUBSEQUENTLY BECOME ROYAL 
ACADEMICIANS. 

I^tmters : HsNBT Edbidoe, George CLn^T, and Fbancis Danbt. 
JEitgravers: Richabd James Lai^^ and Chables Ttjbkeb. 

ONLY three of those who were elected as Associates 
durmg the presidentship of Sir Thomas Lawrence 
remained in that rank: these were Henry Edridge, 
elected in 1820 ; George Clint^ in 1821 ; and Francis 
Danby, in 1825. In addition to these there were two 
Associate Engravers elected during the same period : viz, 
Bichard James Lane, in 1827 ; and Charles Turner, in 
1828. 

Henry Edridge, A.RA., was bom in Paddington in 
1768. He was apprenticed to W. Pether, the mezzotinto 
engraver and landscape painter, and became proficient 
both as a painter of miniatures and landscapes. The 
latter were treated by him in an especially free and broad 
manner. His first portraits were on ivory ; his subsequent 
ones were principally drawn on paper with black lead and 
Indian ink, to which he added very tasteful backgrounds. 
But he afterwards produced an immense number of 
elaborately finished pictures in water colours, with Ught 
backgroimds; to these succeeded others in which he 
combined the depth and richness of oil paintings with 
the freedom of water-colour drawings. Sir J. Eeynolds 
was so much pleased with one of his miniatures, that he 

VOL. II. F 



66 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIII. 

insisted upon having it, and paid him handsomely for it. 
This was the signal for the artist to resign engraving and 
become a painter ; and he did wisely in copying many of 
the works of his patron for study. He first estabhshed 
himself in Golden Square, and in 1801 removed to 
Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, where he remained 
for twenty years. With the desire to indulge his taste 
for landscape painting, which he cultivated under Thomas 
Heame, he made two excursions to Normandy and Paris, 
in 1817 and 1819, making many interesting drawings 
subsequently exhibited. Three specimens of his land- 
scapes are now at the South Kensington Museum ; and 
his sketches of the first Lord Auckland and of Eobert 
Southey are in the National Portrait Gallery. He became 
a student at the Eoyal Academy in 1784, and was elected 
an Associate in November 1820. Unhappily he lived but 
a very short time to enjoy this distinction, for he died fi'om 
an attack of asthma on the 23rd of April, 1821. 

George Clint, A.RA., was bom in Brownlow Street, 
Holbom, on the 12th of April, 1770. His father kept a 
hairdresser's shop in a passage leading fi-om Lombard 
Street, and apprenticed his son to a fishmonger in the 
City ; but the boy became disgusted with this employ- 
ment, and afterwards obtained a situation in an at- 
torney's office. Still dissatisfied, he next became a 
house-painter ; and irom this " broad style " advanced to 
miniature painting, which he practised for some years in 
a house in LeadenhaU Street. During this period of his 
hfe he had many hard struggles, having married a wife 
and become the father of a family, and being able to find 
only occasional and then but poorly-paid employment 
Subsequently he practised mezzotint engraving (which he 
learnt from Edward Bell, the nephew of the publisher of 
"The British Poets"), and was employed to execute 
several prints for Sir Thomas Lawrence, with whom, how- 
ever, he afterwards quarrelled, and lost his patronage. 



Ch. Xin.] GEORGE CUNT 67 

In 1807 he engraved 'The Death of Nelson,' after 
Samuel Drummond, A.E.A., and shortly afterwards 
Harlowe's * Kemble Family,' which was his most important 
work in this branch of art, and which was so popular that 
it was re-engraved three times. This plate brought him 
into connection with many theatrical characters, and he 
practised among them as a portrait painter in oil, having 
been aided and encouraged to acquire some skill in this 
style by Sir Wilham Beechey, to whom his wife showed 
his first effort — her own portrait — and who was his 
kind patron and Mend imtil his death. 

About 1816 he removed to Gower Street, and there 
painted a large series of dramatic pieces, comprising all 
the principal actors of the time in their most celebrated 
characters : — E. Kean, as Sir Giles Overreach and 
Eichard IIL ; Charles Kemble, as Charles IT. ; Young, as 
Hamlet ; liston, as Paul Pry ; Macready, as Macbeth ; 
&C. Many of these portraits are still in possession of 
the Garrick dub. The pictorial grouping and compo- 
sition, expression, and dry himiour of these theatrical 
pictures are excellent. He also practised portrait 
painting imconnected with the stage, having had Lord 
and Lady Suffield, Lords Essex, Spencer and Egremont, 
General Wyndham and Admiral Wyndham among his 
sitters. One of his pictures, * Falstaff and Mrs. Ford,' is 
in the Vernon Collection, and four others in the Sheep- 
shanks Gallery. These are Young and Miss Glover as 
^Hamlet and Ophelia,' scenes from " Paul Pry " and " The 
Honeymoon," and ' A Lady of Palermo.' 

He was elected an Associate of the Eoyal Academy in 
1821 ; but resigned his diploma in 1835, when he came to 
the conclusion that, ai3 many artists elected as Associates 
subsequently to himself had been elevated to the rank of 
Academicians, their talents had been unduly estimated, to 
the unjust depreciation of his own. He therefore judged 
the Boyal Academy to be undeserving either of public 
confidence or support, and joined the agitation against it 

r 2 



OS HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIII. 

with all the zeal of a convert and something of the 
rancour of a renegade. His statements evidently did not 
impress the Select Committee of the House of Commons 
which was reappointed in 1836, with Mr. Ewart for 
chairman, to consider, among other subjects, the constitu- 
tion, management, and effects of institutions connected 
with the fine arts, for they did not notice his evidence 
in their report. 

For some years before his death Mr. Clint lived in re- 
tirement at Peckham, upon the property he had obtained 
from his profession and that which he had acquired with 
his second wife. He died at his house in Pembroke 
Square, Kensington, in April 1854, having entered his 
85th year. By his first wife he had a family of five 
sons and four daughters: two of the former became 
painters, two gem sculptors, and one a mathematical pro- 
fessor in a college in India. In the circle in which he 
moved he was much esteemed for his gentlemanly 
manners, and kindly feelings ; and it is to be regretted 
that he was not content to wait his prospect of attaining 
higher rank in the Academy, instead of withdrawing from 
it in consequence of a too partial estimate of his own 
abiUties. 

Francis Danby, A.RA., was bom, one of twins, on the 
16th of November, 1793, about six miles from Wexford, 
where his father, James Danby, was residing on his own 
estate, being a gentleman of moderate fortime. He sub- 
sequently removed to DubUn, and shortly afterwards 
died. His son Francis, who had studied drawing in the 
school of the Dublin Society of Arts, prevailed on his 
mother (formerly a Miss Watson of Dublin) to allow him 
to become an artist, to which she unwilhngly assented, 
and he afterwards studied under O'Connor. In 1812 he 
painted his first picture for the Dublin Exhibition ; the 
subject — * Landscape, Evening ' — being the forerunner 
of many similar glowing simsets, for which he became so 



Ch. XIIL] FRANCIS DANBY 69 

celebrated in after years. Archdeacon Hill of Dublin 
purchased this work for fifteen guineas ; and the artist, 
delighted with his success, proceeded to London with an 
introduction to Benjamin West, and was so struck with 
the Eoyal Academy Exhibition, that he determined from 
that time to become an English artist. He found a very 
early and constant friend in Mr. Gibbon, of Eegent's 
Park, who for thirty-five years was his Hberal patron, and 
whose family possess a large collection of the artist's 
works. 

His picture of * Sunset after a Storm,' exhibited at the 
Academy in 1824, was purchased by Sir Thomas Law- 
rence, who gave Danby double the price he asked for 
it; and he gained still more by the public testimony 
thus given of the President's approval of his works. 
The next year he exceeded all his previous efforts in a 
picture of ' The Passage of the Israelites through the Eed 
Sea,' which was grand and solemn in effect, poetically 
conceived, and ably executed, and which became the pro- 
perty of the Marquis of Stafford. Li the same year, 
1825, he became an Associate of the Eoyal Academy, an 
early and deserved recognition of the ability he displayed 
in tliis fine work. Unhappily reasons of a private and 
personal nature existed which afterwards hindered his 
attaining the higher rank in the Academy, to which his 
talents would have given him a claim. 

In 1826 he painted ' Christ walking on the Sea,' in a 
very distinct style, not destitute of religious feeling. A 
small picture of * The Embarkation of Cleopatra,' full of 
eastern sunshine and splendour, followed in 1827 ; and in 
the next year two others, one a quiet moonlight scene to 
illustrate "The Merchant of Venice," the other *An 
Attempt to portray the Opening of the Sixth Seal' (pur- 
chased by Mr. Beckford of Fonthill), one of those grand 
imaginative works which suflSciently indicated the deep 
thought and grand imagination of the painter, and his 
skill in depicting what he desired to represent with 



fro HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XHL 

glowing colour and strong effect of light and shade. 
This picture was afterwards exhibited in different parts of 
England, and was engraved on a large scale, as was also 
the kindred work, ' The Passage of the Eed Sea.' The 
following year, 1829, he exhibited two more pictures from 
the Book of Eevelation ; but in these he failed to sustain 
the admiration the previous subjects had awakened. 

Family circumstances led to Danby spending several 
years in France and Switzerland ; and between the years 
1829 and 1841 he only contributed two pictures to the 
Eoyal Academy Exhibition, having employed his talents 
chiefly in sketching designs for the Annuals so fashionable 
at that period. In 1842 he renewed his labours more 
constantly, and exhibited a fine pleasing composition, 
* The Contest of the Lyre and Pipe in the Valley of 
Tempe,' ' A Soiree at St. Cloud,' and ' The Holy Family 
reposing in their FUght into Egypt,' one of his dark im- 
pressive pictures ; to which he added another in the fol- 
' owing year, * The Last Moment of Sunset.' These were 
followed by others, varied in subject and character, but 
all more or less the same in effect — golden sunrise, or 
the red glow of sunset being a predominant feature in 
them all. Besides his contributions to the Eoyal Academy, 
he was a constant exhibitor at the British Institution* 
' The Evening Gun ' was greatly admired among his pic- 
tures at the Manchester Exhibition in 1857. 'The 
Fisherman's Home ' is in the Vernon Gallery, and * Dis- 
appointed Love ' (painted in 1821), ' Calypso's Island,* 
and * liensford Lake, Norway * (exhibited in 1841), are in 
the Sheepshanks Collection at South Kensington. 

For nearly twenty years Danby resided at Exmouth, in 
Devonshire, where he died at Shell House, on the 9th of 
February, 1861. His sons, James and Thomas, share his 
abilities, and give promise of future excellence. He 
attained a high place as a painter of the most ambitious 
class of poetic landscapes ; and in the peculiar branch 
which he appropriated to himself, he has found no 



Ch. XIII.] DANBY — LANE 71 

rival, for the glories of the last moments of sunset have 
had no such representative before or since. All his 
compositions are rich and harmonious, though almost 
monotonous in the brightness of their colour ; and, as 
the subjects indicate, are not intended to be pictures of 
reahties, so much as imaginative combinations of beauties 
under a glowing atmosphere. The only regret felt in 
studying his works is, that powers so varied as he showed 
himself to possess in early Ufe, should afterwards have 
been circumscribed and limited to that one successful 
effect by which he first acquired his well-merited fame as 
a painter. 

Two Associate Engravers, E. J. Lane and Charles 
Turner, were also elected during Lawrence's presidency. 

EiCHABD James Lane, A.E., is the second son of the 
Eev. Dr. Lane, prebendary of Hereford, whose wife was 
the daughter of Gainsborough. He was bom in 1800, 
and is a younger brother of Mr. E. W. Lane, the Orien- 
tal traveller, the author of "The Modern Egyptians" 
and a new translation of " The Arabian Nights' Enter- 
tainments." Bichard was articled to Charles Heath, the 
hne engraver, in 1816. For several years he devoted 
himself to that highest branch of the art ; but as it 
cam6 to be gradually depreciated by the more rapid 
though less artistic methods of manipulation since 
introduced, he made a few attempts in 1824 in the then 
new art of Uthography, and obtaining a large number 
of commissions in that style, he was induced "with 
deep regret, and after a struggle of some six or eight 
years, to give away his engraving tools, and to devote 
himself entirely to the new method adopted by him." In 
1827 he was elected an Associate Engraver at the Eoyal 
Academy, and now holds the appointment of Lithographer 
to the Queen. His prints from Winterhalter's portraits of 
Queen Adelaide, the Princess Eoyal, Prince Leopold, and 



72 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIII. 

Other members of the Eoyal Family, the private plates 
executed for Her Majesty, and other similar works, show 
the excellence he has attained in the new branch of art to 
which he has devoted himself. 

Charles Turner, A.E., was bom at Woodstock in 
1773, and in his youth was brought up to London to be 
employed in Alderman Boydell's establishment, where he 
acquired the taste for art he subsequently displayed. 
Among his most admired engravings are those he made 
for the early numbers of the " liber Studiorum *' of his 
namesake J. M. W. Turner, E.A., and from his picture of 
' The Wreck.' He also engraved many of Sir Thomas 
Lawrence's portraits on a large scale, Sir M. A. Shee's 
portrait of H.E.H. the Duke of Clarence, ' The Beggars,' 
by Owen, *The Marlborough Family,' after Eeynolds, 
* The Water Mill,' by Callcott, &c. He was himself an 
artist, and in 1856 exhibited some Academy figures 
drawn by him as long ago as 1794. He became a student 
at the Eoyal Academy in 1795, was elected an Asso- 
ciate Engraver in 1828, and died in Warren Street, 
Fitzroy Square, on the 1st of August, 1857. He was 
buried at Highgate Cemetery. Leigh Sotheby, F.S.A., 
his executor, possessed a curious drawing by him, intended 
to illustrate a passage in the poem by J. M. W. Turner, of 
" The Fallacies of Hope," which was made for the amuse- 
ment of that artist, with whom he latterly lived on terms 
of friendship, after having been estranged for many years, 
in consequence of some misunderstanding respecting the 
engraving of the plates in the " liber Studiorum." 



CHAP. XIV. 

THE SOTAL ACADEMY UNDEB THE PEESIDENTSHIP OF SIR 
UABTIN ABCHEB SHEE, 1S30-50. 

Cheiet t>f a PrttidtiU — Chanlrey'i Propotalfor the Offke to be heldm Jtotalion 
h/ the Membert — Royal Patronage continued by WiUiam IV, to the Jtoj/al 
Academi/ — Pmident't Addrestei on Deliixry of Gold MedaU — Erection of 
a A'ationai Gallety — Propoted Senunal of the Academy from Somrrtet 
Smue — Attacks tm the Jtoyal Academy amirered by the President — Par- 
itamentary Returns caBedfar by Mr. Ejoart — Information furnished tcith 
Consent <^ the King— Exhibition of Works of Deceased FresidrnU at British 
InstiliUioH — Establishment of the Royal Institute of British Architects — 
Select Committee on Imtilationt connected tcith the Arts — Eeidmce of 
Opponents to Royal Acadetny and of its Officers in Bepht — Report of the 
Committee — Addreu to the King on Removal of the Academy — FaretoeU 
Dinner at Somerset House — Opening of yeie Academy by King William 
IV. — Appropriation of the Kew Apartments — Accession of the Queen — 
Seneiced Aituranee of Royal Patronage — Mr. Hume't Han for Free £r- 
hibiiions opposed by the Presidetii — Parliamentary Sftwyu of Income and 
Expenditure called for by Mr. Hume — Petition of the Royal Academy to 



74 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

the Souse of Commons in Opposition to the Demand — Debate on the QueS' 
tion — Subseqttent Parliamenttxry Froceedings on the SUbfect — Boyal Com- 
mission on the Fine Arts — lUness of the President — Tenders his Besigna- 
tion, but is solicited to retam the Office — Is moarded Pensions from the 
Academy and the Ciml List — Proposed Removal of the Academy from 
Trafalgar Square — Gifts made by and to the Academy — The Exhibitions 
— Changes among the Officers and Members. 

THEEE was but little hesitation in selecting a successor 
to fill the place of Sir Thomas Lawrence as Presi- 
dent of the Eoyal Academy. The choice lay apparently 
between David Wilkie and Martin Archer Shee — the 
former the more eminent as a painter, the latter possess- 
ing not only great talent as an artist, but all the other 
quahfications not belonging to the former, yet so necessary 
for one who was to be the official medium of communi- 
cation, on the part of the Academy, with the Court on the 
one hand and the Ministry on the other. The graceful 
and high-bred demeanour and the dignified independence 
of character and language which distinguish the Irish 
gentleman, shone to great advantage in Shee ; and by a 
very large majority of votes, he was elected President of 
the Eoyal Academy. 

The election took place on the 25th of January, 1830, 
when 18 votes were given for Shee, 6 for Sir WiUiam 
Beechey, 2 for Wilkie, 1 for Phillips, and 1 for Callcott. 
Those who voted for Wilkie were ColUns and Leslie; 
the latter tells us his reason, — " for I considered that he 
united more] requisites for the high office than any other 
in the Academy. But Sir M. Shee made so incomparable 
a President, that I am glad the majority did not think 
as CoUins and I did at the time of the election." 

Wilkie, just previously, obtained the appointment held 
by Lawrence, of portrait painter in ordinary to the King ; 
an office held by Reynolds, and only not given to his 
successor West because he was otherwise fiiUy employed 
by the Court, and which was considered an appendage 
to the appointment of President — at least the only lucra- 
tive thing likely to fall to the share of the artist holding 



Ch. XIV.] MODE OF ELECTING PRESIDENTS 75 

that otherwise expensive position, as at that time no 
remuneration was given to the President for the loss of 
time or the cost which his attention to the duties and 
courtesies of the Academy involved. It would thus seem 
as if Shee received the title and the honours, and Wilkie 
the emoluments of the appointment. But the election 
was a most judicious one : in the times which quickly 
followed on Shee's accession to the office, the need of a 
man of courage, energy, and perseverance was felt by 
the Academicians, who were happy in having at that 
time a President possessing all the quahties necessary to 
defend their rights against the pertinacious attacks of the 
financial and ultra-radical reformers of the day. 

Before this election took place, and when it was by no 
means certain on whom the choice would faU, Sir F. 
Chantrey consulted Shee on the expediency of eflfecting 
a change in the mode of appointing a President, pro- 
posing to substitute a system of rotation among the forty 
Academicians, for the custom, previously adopted, of an- 
nually re-electing the same individual, who had once 
been declared worthy to occupy the chair. Chantrey 
cited the precedent of the French Academy, and some 
other analogous cases ; but Shee pointed out to him 
several reasons why such a change would be undesirable, 
— among them that the effect would be to lower the 
Eoyal Academy in pubUc estimation, to render the office 
a mere administrative function, instead of one of profes- 
sional eminence and acknowledged intellectual superiority, 
as it had hitherto been ; and thus, by caUing on all the 
members in turn to fiilfil its duties, to cease to make it 
an honoured distinction to any. Chantrey saw the force 
of these reasons, and afterwards voted for Shee's election 
to the chair, upon the plan pursued from the beginning. 

One of the most highly-valued privileges of the Aca- 
demy was that so graciously awarded by its Eoyal 
Founder, of granting the President permission to commu- 
nicate direct with the sovereign on all matters affecting 






76 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

its interest or governmeiit. During the later years of 
George IV.'s reign, this practice had fallen into desuetude, 
on account of the King's decUning health ; and all docu- 
ments requiring His Majesty's signature, were transmitted 
by Sir Thomas Lawrence through the Home Secretary. 
After the accession of WiUiam IV., the Academicians 
again soUcited the privilege of direct communication with 
the King, in the same manner as his Eoyal father had 
originally permitted ; and His Majesty was pleased cor- 
dially to grant it, at the same time expressing his inten- 
tion to do all in his power to promote the interests of the 
institution. On the 19th of July, 1830, King William 
and Queen Adelaide paid their first visit to the exhibition 
(then recently closed to the pubhc), accompanied by the 
Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and the chief officers of 
State. At the Drawing-Eoom on the following day, the 
King conferred the honour of knighthood on the new 
President. 

At the distribution of the gold medals biennially, the 
President resolved to give to the ceremonial a greater 
degree of importance than had latterly been bestowed 
upon it, by preparing a written discourse to the students 
for the occasion, and by inviting as many distinguished 
persons as could be found in town at that season of the 
year, to witness the distribution of those much-coveted 
rewards of genius. On the 10th of December, 1830, 
only silver medals were given, when Sir Martin spoke 
briefly to the students a few words of commendation; 
but the next year he prepared a discourse in which he 
took for his theme the brilUant career and the artistic 
genius of his predecessor, explaining the pecuharities of 
his style, and the many excellences of effect, colour, 
grace and form by which it was distinguished. This 
address was much approved by his colleagues, and was 
afterwards ordered to be printed, as well as those he 
subsequently prepared for dehvery on similar occasions. 
In 1832, according to custom, silver medals only were 



CH.X1V.] LECTURES BY THE PROFESSORS 77 

distributed; and the President, after remarking on the 
works of the students — approving those in painting and 
the living model, the antique and modelling, but lament- 
ing the apathy of the students in architecture — urged 
them to use greater exertion in the future, reminding 
them that their advantages were not surpassed in any 
existing school of art, and that the members of the Eoyal 
Academy felt a paternal solicitude for the improvement 
of the students, since they contemplated in them their 
future successors. 

The years 1831-32 were not favourable for the promo- 
tion of the arts; and the exhibition suffered from the 
depression consequent on the excitement of political agita- 
tion, which, while it kept up a state of irritation in the 
pubUc mind, left no disposition to attend to any other less 
absorbing pursuit In the schools of the Academy, the 
lectures on painting and sculpture were delivered by Phil- 
lips and Westmacott on Monday and Thiu^ay evenings 
during February and March 1831 ; but none were given 
by Sir John Soane, or by Turner, the professors of architec- 
ture and perspective. In the next year, Soane concluded 
a series of lectures in which he traced the progress of 
architecture from its first rise among the ancients, through 
all its periods of prosperity and depression, and latterly 
from its revival in Italy in the fifteenth to the close of the 
eighteenth century. He devoted his concluding lectxire 
to an analysis of the practice of the ancient artists, and a 
comparison of it with that of the modems in some of 
the leading features of the art. A great attraction in this 
series, was the extensive collection of elaborately-drawn 
plans and views by which the lectures were illustrated. 

At the anniversary dinner, in 1832, the President, in 
proposing the health of the King, adverted to the grant 
to be submitted to Parhament for the erection of a new 
National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, the half of which 
building it was proposed to appropriate to the Eoyal 
Academy — an event which he considered would form a 



78 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

new epoch in the history of art. The health of Mr. Wil- 
kins, E.A., the architect appointed to construct the edifice, 
was afterwards drunk ; and in replying to the toast, that 
gentleman gave a detailed account of his plans and pro- 
ceedings with regard to its erection. 

Both as regarded the nation and as it affected the 
Eoyal Academy, the course taken by the Government in 
this matter was an important one — for the pictures pur- 
chased some years previously to form a nucleus of a 
National Gallery had since been added to by bequests, and 
could no longer be exhibited where they had hitherto 
been deposited, in Pall Mall ; and it might reasonably be 
expected that many more additions would be made to 
them when a worthy receptacle for such a collection was 
prepared : and, as regarded the Academy, the accom- 
modation at Somerset House had long been felt to be 
insufficient, both for the purposes of the Schools and the 
yearly-increasing exhibition ; while there seemed to be 
an appropriateness in combining the collection of the 
works of the ancient masters with those of their modern 
successors in different portions of the same building. 

In the early days of a Eeform ParUament, when " re- 
trenchment " became a party watchword, no lavish ex- 
penditure on such a refined purpose as the erection of a 
National Gallery could be proposed; and after many 
urgent appeals in the pubUc press, the first suggestion 
made by the Government was simply to adapt the King s 
Mews at Charing Cross to the purpose, with some Uttle 
additional ornamentation. This proposal to improve a 
not inelegant brick building was, however, afterwards 
abandoned ; and it was determined that an edifice of stone 
should be erected, designed expressly for the purpose, 
worthy of the dignity of the nation and of the noble 
site it was to occupy in the metropolis. In his first de- 
sign, Wilkins had, with due regard to the amount of 
space to which he was limited, extended the firont so fer 
forward that the line of the fa9ade obstructed the view of 



Ch. XI\\] erection of the national gallery 79 

St Martin's Church from Cockspur Street ; but so violent 
was the opposition to this arrangement, that the design 
had to be altered, and thus the amount of internal space 
was seriously curtailed — so much so that it became a 
question whether the Eoyal Academy would find the in- 
creased amount of accommodation it anticipated. Thus, 
straitened in expenditure, cramped in space, and restricted 
to the use of some of the materials of Old Carlton House, 
the architect had to pursue his work amidst a storm of 
hostile criticism ; and it is not to be wondered at that he 
has left a building which none can admire or approve, 
and which is even now — within twenty-five years of its 
erection — inadequate for the requirements of a National 
Gallery, even if the whole building were so appropriated. 
When it was ascertained that the Government were 
anxious to obtain possession of the rooms provided by 
George HE. for the Eoyal Academy at Somerset House, 
to add to the pubUc offices already located there. Sir 
Martin Archer Shee urged upon the Prime Minister, Earl 
Grey, that, as a matter of strict justice, the Academicians 
would have a right to occupy the intended share of the 
new building on precisely the same conditions, as regards 
the Crown and the country, on which they had been 
originally granted rooms in Somerset House ; i. e., as com- 
pletely independent of ministerial control and parlia- 
mentary interference as they had hitherto been. To this 
view of their position no opposition was made by the 
Government. All things seemed so far settled that, in 
August 1832, ParUament voted £50,000 towards the 
erection of a National Gallery upon a plan to be finally 
settied by a Committee of the Eoyal Academy ; but in 
the next session, a proposal was made in Parhament by 
Lord Dungannon, that the national pictures should be ex- 
hibited in the Banqueting House at Whitehall ; and fliat tiie 
money voted for a National Gallery should be otherwise 
appropriated. To this Sir M. A. Shee urged a strong but 
respectfid remonstrance in a correspondence which took 



80 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

place with Earl Grey. The result was, that the new pro- 
posal was abandoned ; and within a month the founda- 
tions of the new building were commenced. Earl Grey 
seceded fix)m the Government soon afterwards, but no 
interference with the plan was subsequently attempted. 

Unhappily, however, both in and out of Parliament, a 
strong feeling adverse to the Eoyal Academy had arisen, 
which, in times of pohtical excitement such as were then 
prevaiUng, it was difficult to restrain. It was denounced 
as a Eoyal, aristocratic, privileged, exclusive institution, 
opposed to the social equality so much contended for at 
that time by a section of the House of Commons ; and 
at length the President felt called upon to vindicate it 
from the frivolous and imfounded charges so frequently 
made against it. This he did, in the first instance, by 
addressing a letter, dated 7th of February, 1833, to Mr. 
Spring Bice (afterwards Lord Monteagle), then Secretary 
of the Treasury, giving a short statement of facts in re- 
gard to the past services and proceedings of the Eoyal 
Academy ; and subsequently by calling upon him, in April 
1834, to use that statement in reply to the "most ran- 
corous misrepresentations of interested parties," " founded 
upon the grossest ignorance of the nature of the institu- 
tion," made by some members of the House of Ciommons. 
In this interesting document he begins by showing the 
twofold mode by which the Acajjemy gives encourage- 
ment to the Arts, " at once assisting the effi)rts of rising 
genius, by providing the amplest means of study and im- 
provement to the student in art, and supplying a reward 
to the exertions of those of matured talent by the 
Academical distinctions conferred on a certain number of 
eminent professors." He observes that the pubUc generally 
are accustomed to think of the Academy only as a body 
of forty artists deriving a considerable income fix)m the 
proceeds of the exhibition, overlooking the fact that they 
apply the funds so obtained " to the support of a National 
School of Art, and to the many other creditable and 



Cfl. XIV.] RETURNS CALLED FOR BY PARLLVMENT 81 

benevolent objects of the institution." Then he points 
out that in fifty-three years the Eoyal Academy thus ex- 
pended £240,000, of which £26,000 was devoted to the 
reUef of distressed artists (the greater number of whom 
were not members of the Academy) and their families ; 
that the instruction in the schools was perfectly gra- 
tuitous — the only qualifications being a good moral 
character, and a sufficient degree of elementary know- 
ledge — the student once admitted being afforded every 
facility for the promotion of his studies to the fullest 
extent possible, being encouraged by prizes, and, if sue- 
cessful. obtaining an annual aUowance for three years to 
proceed abroad to study ; that the instruction was given 
with but very small remuneration to the members of the 
Academy ; that the duties of the President and Council 
were performed gratuitously ; that aU artists might ex- 
hibit their works fireely in the exhibition, as far as the 
space and the necessity for selection would admit, and 
might obtain the honours of the Academy — the elections 
" not being swayed, as in other societies, by any interfer- 
ence of the great, or any influence foreign to their own 
body." 

This statement was, unfortunately, not made public by 
the gentleman to whom it was addressed, nor did the Go- 
vernment take any steps to inform those members of the 
House who were clamorous against the Academy, of the 
real character of its operations. The parhamentary pro- 
ceedings in reference to the institution were commenced in 
May 1834, by Mr. William Ewart, M.P. calling for re- 
turns in relation to its affairs on the following points ; — 



a 



Return of the number of exhibitors at the Boyal Academy 
in each of the last ten years, distinguishing the number of 
exhibitors members of the Academy from the number of other 
exhibitors. 

**0f the niunber of works of art exhibited at the Boyal 
Academy in each of the last ten years, distinguishing for each 
year the number of historical works, landscapes, portraits, busts, 

VOL. II. o 



82 HISTORY OP THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

and architectural drawings, respectively, contributed by members 
of the Royal Academy, from the historical works, landscapes, 
portraits, busts, and architectural drawings contributed by other 
artists. 

"Also a return of the number of professors in the Royal 
Academy, of the number of lectures required by the rules of 
the Academy to be annually delivered by each professor, and of 
the number of lectures which have been annually delivered by 
each professor during the last ten years.'' 

A copy of this document had been sent to the Presi- 
dent by Mr. Spring Eice, and also by Mr. Ewart, in order 
to ascertain whether there would be any objection on the 
part of the Koyal Academy to furnish the information 
requested. In his replies, Sir Martin was especially 
careful to guard the Academy against being thus subjected 
to parliamentary interference with its internal govern- 
ment. He expressed the willingness of the Academicians 
to give a full and complete knowledge of the laws, regu- 
lations, and proceedings, — " which in my humble opinion," 
he said, " it must always be to their credit to promul- 
gate," — to Mr. Ewaxt, as a private gentleman ; but that 
they could not recognise his right, as a member of the 
House of Commons, to enquire into the proceedings of 
the Eoyal Academy, " as it is a private institution, under 
the patronage and protection of the King, existing by his 
will and pleasure, communicating immediately with His 
Majesty, submitting all its laws and proceedings to his 
sanction, and responsible only to His Majesty for the 
manner in which its concerns are administered." 

Subsequently, the President consulted the King on the 
subject, stating that as such was their position, the Acade- 
micians did not conceive themselves to be at liberty to 
supply the returns (although they had no wish to with- 
hold them from the House of Commons) without the 
express sanction and authority of His Majesty being 
previously obtained. The King consented to the infor- 
mation being given ; and as this was the case, the returns 
were immediately prepared, and transmitted to the Home 



Ch. XIV.] KETURNS FURNISHED TO PARLIAMENT 83 

Secretary, to be laid on the table of the House. They 
showed, in answer to the first and second enquiries, that 
a proportion of about forty per cent, of the works ex- 
hibited were by Academicians, Associates, or those who 
had been or were then students at the Eoyal Academy, 
the remainder being non-academic contributors to the 
exhibition. In regard to the third enquiry, the names 
of the professors were given, and the number of lectures 
annually delivered by them, the only exception to the 
regularity of these means of instruction being found in 
the absence of the appointed lectures on Perspective — 
the artist (J. M. W. Turner) who held the office having 
ceased for seme time previously to deliver his lectures, 
and with whom (in the eminent position in his profession 
which he then held) none of his Academic brethren 
thought it desirable to remonstrate on the subject. Much 
of the information thus furnished might easily have been 
obtained from the annual catalogues ; but the intention of 
calUng for the returns was evidently to obtain some pre- 
text for condemning the Academy, either as having fadled 
in its trust as a school of art, or as having been super- 
seded in its eminent position by artists unconnected with 
it, although the mere number of works exhibited by 
those not belonging to or taught by it could hardly be 
the true test of the relative merits of the artists by whom 
they were produced. 

The managers of the British Institution in 1833 paid 
a graceful compliment to the Eoyal Academy, by sub- 
stituting for their annual exhibition of paintings by ancient 
masters, a selection from the works of the three deceased 
Presidents, Eeynolds, West, and Lawrence; and thus 
afforded an opportunity for studying the works of these 
three great masters of the English School, as weU as of 
comparing them with each other, and so of enabling the 
public to form a true estimate of their relative merits. 
One room was exclusively devoted to the works of each 
President ; and the best specimens of their productions 

o 2 



84 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY Ch. XIV. 

were obtained. The collection was one of great interest 
and value, and showed how worthily these artists had 
deserved the honours they had attained. 

In the year 1834 another society connected with the 
arts was established, which has since been maintained 
with great ability, partly by members of the Eoyal 
Academy — one of whom is now its President, — ^viz. the 
"Eoyal Institute of British Architects," which, although 
foimded in 1834, did not obtain a Eoyal charter of in- 
corporation till the 11th of January, 1837. It was 
estabhshed for the general advancement of civil archi- 
tecture, for promoting and facilitating the acquirement of 
the knowledge of the various arts and sciences connected 
with it, for the formation of a library and museum, and 
for establishing a correspondence with learned men in 
foreign countries, for the purpose of enquiry and infor- 
mation upon the subject of the art There are three 
classes of members — Fellows, architects engaged as prin- 
cipals for at least seven years in the practice of civil 
architecture ; Associates, persons engaged in the study of 
civil architecture or in practice less than seven years ; and 
Honorary Fellows. All pay admission fees on a fixed 
scale, and the society holds meetings on alternate Mon- 
days, from November till June, in their rooms in Grosvenor 
Street, where they have an excellent hbrary of archi- 
tectural works. Mr. C. E. Cockerell, E.A., has recently 
been elected President of the Society. 

The Parliamentary Session of 1835 passed over with- 
out any proceedings being taken in reference to the 
Academy, calling for notice on the part of the President 
or the Council ; but the Select Committee, " appointed to 
enquire into the best means of extending a knowledge of 
the arts and of principles of design among the people 
(especially the manufacturing population) of the country ; 
also to enquire into the constitution, management, and 
efforts of institutions connected with the arts, and to 
whom the petitions of artists and admirers of the fine 



CH.X^V^] EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMITTEE 86 

arts and of several members of the Society of British 
Artists were severally referred," presented a report in that 
year of the evidence they had taken on the first two 
points, and proposed to resume the enquiry as to the state 
of the higher branches of art and the best mode of ad- 
vancing them, early in the next session. Accordingly, a 
Parliamentary Committee was reappointed, consisting of 
Mr. Ewart, Mr. Morrison, the Lord Advocate, Mr. Pusey, 
Mr. J. Parker, Mr. Wyse, Mr. H. T. Hope, Dr. Bowring, 
Mr. Heathcote, Mr. Strutt, Mr. Hutt, Mr. Brotherton, Mr. 
Scholefield, Mr. D. Lewis, and Mr. Davenport, who pre- 
sented their report, after taking evidence, in the following 
year, 

Li the proceedings of this Committee there does not 
seem to have been a fair opportunity given to ascertain 
the real truth in regard to the position and influence of the 
Eoyal Academy in that part of the enquiry which related 
to it ; nor can it fail to attract notice that there were few 
of those composing it who were quahfied, by their know- 
ledge of art, to conduct such an enquiry. -The first 
person examined was Dr. Waagen, the Director of the 
Eoyal Galleries of Berlin, whose opinion was adverse to 
Academies in general, and not to this in particular, as we 
have already seen ; ^ and all those were next called who 
had previously expressed in public their animosity to the 
institution. 

The first of these witnesses was Mr. George Eennie, who 
gave his general opinion in opposition to it, but was unable 
to state any reason for his objections ; for although he was 
at that time a sculptor, he had never been a student at the 
Academy, and had resided during the greater part of his 
life on the Continent. Subsequently, he abandoned his 
profession, and became a colonial governor. His evi- 
dence, therefore, virtually amounted to nothing. 



^ See anief yoL i. p. 60. 



80 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

Mr. George Foggo, the next witness, complained that, 
some sixteen years before, his artistic property, on his re- 
turn from abroad, had been needlessly detained at the 
Custom House for want of the certificate of the two 
Eoyal Academicians which was required before it could 
pass duty free ; the Government having decided that aU 
works and materials of art imported by artists from 
abroad for their own use and improvement, should be 
allowed to pass the Custom House duty free, if certified 
by personal inspection and enquiry of two Eoyal Acade- 
micians to be of that nature. Mr. Foggo declared that, 
by the delay which occurred in obtaining this certi- 
ficate, he had lost the patronage of the daughter of 
the French ambassador, who left London in the mean 
time. This charge was fiivolous enough, for it could 
scarcely be expected that two professional gentlemen 
should be bound, at a moment's notice, to interrupt 
their own artistic labours to become the unpaid as- 
sistants of the Custom House, for the benefit of the 
revenue or the advantage of other artists; or that it 
would be courteous to them not, in some degree, to 
consult their convenience in such a matter. 

Another case, that of Mr. George CUnt, was more 
important and more painful. He had been an Asso- 
ciate ; but because he did not attain the higher rank as 
soon as — according to his own estimate of his abilities — 
he had a right to expect, and because others whom he 
thought inferior to himself were preferred before him, he 
resigned his diploma, and joined those who were opposing 
the Academy. Of course it is obvious that if each artist 
were to determine on his own claims to the honours of 
his profession, there would not be many without them ; 
and he was unable to show that in his case the Academi- 
cians acted from personal ill-feeUng or from any other 
principle than that of a just estimate of the relative 
merits, in their judgment, of the several candidates. 

A more formidable and violent opponent was the uji- 



CH.XIV.] B. R. HAYDON'S EVIDENCE 87 

fortunate B. R Haydon, whose death by his own hand, 
some twelve years after this enquiry, in a measure ex- 
plains his previous conduct. He had been a student at 
the Eoyal Academy, and acquired all his art-knowledge 
there. In 1807 he exhibited his first picture at the 
Academy — * The Flight into Egypt.' The next year he 
sent his" ' Dentatus,' but it was not himg in the best place ; 
he then charged the Academicians with being afraid of 
him as a greater historical painter than they possessed 
among them ; and from that time forward he continued 
to write and to lecture in violent animosity against the 
institution which gratuitously taught him his art. He 
founded a school in opposition to theirs, in which the 
Landseers were his first pupils, but which did not long 
flourish. In his evidence he denounced the Academy in 
all its proceedings from its foundation as "a base in- 
trigue ; " objected to the system pursued in the Life 
Academy, where the members in turn instruct the 
students, instead of one only ; declared that " the moral 
character of English artists is dreadfully affected " by the 
"abject degradation" to which they are subjected by 
the Academicians ; protested that he had been entirely 
ruined by their injustice ; that the Eoyal Academy had 
tried to obstruct and destroy the British Institution in 
every possible way ; but admitted that if an appeal for a 
parliamentary vote for art purposes were supported by 
them as a body, such was the influence they possessed, 
that " it would be done." In the National Collection he 
wished, naturally enough, to see works of English artists, 
then " when the foreigners come, we should have some- 
thing to show them ; while some of the best known works 
of art — my awn ' Judgment of Solomon ' and 'Lazarus ' 
— are rotting for space ; " and he concluded his evidence 
by stating generally of all Academies, " that, in so far as 
they exceed schools, I disapprove of them." 

The next adverse testimony was that of John Martin, 
who, to resent the imagined slight received from the 



88 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

Academy in his early career, pertinaciously resolved to 
exclude himself from its honours afterwards, that he 
might the better continue to speak as its assailant. 
Twenty-four years previously, when he was a very young 
man, he sent a picture to the exhibition, of which — in 
common with all enthusiastic young artists — ^he entertained 
a very high opinion ; and because it was not placed pre- 
cisely in the position which he thought it deserved, he 
afterwards withdrew from the Academy altogether as an 
exhibitor. But for this imwillingness to bear the smallest 
trials and difficulties of a yoimg artist competing for a 
position in his profession, there is no doubt, from the 
talents he exhibited, that he might have attained to the 
highest honours of the Academy. Another grievance he 
brought forward was, that one of his pictures had been 
injured, after being sent for exhibition, by some varnish 
spilt upon it ; which, if it were the case, was no doubt 
the result of simple accident on one of the varnishing 
days, and not the result of Academicians' maUce, as he 
conceived. 

The objections of Messrs. Hurlstone and Hofland were 
of a different kind. These gentlemen, as President and 
Secretary respectively of the Society of British Artists 
(established to sell the works of the members, and to 
divide the proceeds of the exhibition among them, but 
doing nothing for the promotion of art in any other way), 
complained of the undue preference shown by the Crown 
and the Government for the Eoyal Academy, in conced- 
ing to its members the important privileges attached to 
the character of an E.A., and providing for them a local 
habitation in return for their services .in maintaining a 
national school of art out of their own resources. 

These exhausted all the evidence to be obtained adverse 
to the Academy. The last six witnesses examined were 
Eoyal Academicians — the President, Keeper, and Secre- 
tary, and Messrs. Eeinagle, Wilkins, and CiockerelL Of 
the three last named, the first was called upon (for what 



CH.XIV.] EVIDENCE OF SIR M. A. SHEE 89 

reason is not very obvious) for his opinion on the rela- 
tion between geometry and the study of the beautifiil 
forms of the antique ; Mr. Wilkins was requested to 
explain all matters relating to the erection, internal dis- 
tribution, and appropriation of the new building, of which 
he was the architect ; and Mr. C!ockerell, then recently 
elected, was asked his opinion as to competition among 
artists in the design and execution of pubUc works. It 
was only the three officers of the Academy who were 
permitted to speak in its behalf; and their evidence 
would certainly have enabled the Committee to arrive 
at a proper estimate of the claims and services of the 
institution, had they not been previously prejudiced by 
adverse testimony. 

The President commenced by alluding to the charge 
made by Haydon, that the Eoyal Academy had been 
founded by " ihe basest intrigue ; " he quoted the accounts 
of its origin given by Farington and Edwards, both of 
whom lived at the time, and had long since passed away, 
in which it was shown (as we have already done) that the 
dissolution of the Incorporated Society was mainly due to 
the loose and unguarded manner in which its charter 
was composed, " for it did not provide against the admis- 
sion of those who were distinguished neither by their 
talents as artists nor by their good conduct as men." Sir 
Martin went on to state that — 

^The artists who have been thus represented as guilty of the 
basest intrigue, in forming the Boyal Academy^ were Sir J. 
Reynolds, the greatest portrait painter that ever lived in any 
country^ and one of the most respectable men that ever graced 
the annals of society ; Benjamin West, the greatest historical 
painter, I have no hesitation in saying, since the days of the 
Caracci — a man as respectable in private life as he was admired 
for his talents. In addition to these two gentlemen, I would 
mention the greatest architect of his day. Sir William Chambers, 
the architect of Somerset House, a man celebrated in his pro- 
fession and respected by all who knew him. I would also add 
to these the name of Paul Sandby, the greatest landscape painter 



00 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Cn. XIV. 

in water-colours of his day ; and several others whom I might 
mention if it were not occupying too much of the time of the 
Committee." 

In respect to the power which the Academy possesses 
of conferring distinctions, to which objections had been 
made, Sir Martin observed that — 

"That social system might perhaps be the best wherein 
wisdom and virtue alone should be the objects which call for the 
respect and homage of mankind ; . . . but, unfortunately, every 
man does not show his wisdom in his face, nor are his virtues 
blazoned on his breast ; a mark of honour or distinction, there- 
fore, is a stamp set upon merit, for the purpose of pointing it 
out to those who have no other means of ascertaining it." 

The alleged appropriation of the funds to the exclusive 
benefit of the members of the Academy was next re- 
ferred to : — 

" Upon an average of the last ten years, the disposition of its 
funds for the relief of distress among its members amounts to 
£490 a year. The sum allotted by the Academy in donations 
to persons unconnected with the Academy, persons having no 
claim as members or relatives of members, but artists many of 
whose names are hardly known to the Academy, but by their 
recommendation and distress — the sum devoted to this purpose 
amounts to £460 a year ; . . . while the gross amount of sums 
expended in pensions to decayed members of the Academy since 
its establishment is £11,106 58, 9(2., and of siuns expended in 
donations during the same period to distressed artists not 
members of the Academy, £19,249 13«. S(L . . . With respect 
to the formation of two other Societies for benevolent purposes, 
. . . one was not only originated by the members of the 
Academy, but supported by them ; . • . and the gross sum sub- 
scribed by different members of the Academy in aid of the two 
Benevolent Funds amounts to £2,202 18«." 

These figures, it must be remembered, refer to what 
had been done nearly thirty years ago. 

The President then explained that the remimeration of 
the oJ0Gicers of the Academy is upon the lowest possible 
scale, and that the professors are allowed £60 each for six 



Oh. XIV.] EVIDENCE OF SEB M. A. SHEE 01 

lectures; but if none are delivered, they have no re- 
mimeration. The rule followed in regard to the 140 
invitations issued to the annual dinner was next explained 
— first to the princes of the Eoyal family, and any foreign 
princes or members of the corps diplomatique ; then to 
the Ministers of State ; heads of pubUc bodies ; celebrated 
characters in war, science, literature or art, or acknow- 
ledged patrons of the arts. Each of these is balloted for ; 
and in no instance can private friends of the Academicians 
be invited, unless coining within the defined rule. 

In reference to the charge made by Haydon, that the 
Academy constantly exerts itself " to depress the arts" — 
especially historical painting — SirM. Shee simply referred 
to the fact that, several years previously. West, Flaxman, 
and Opie projected a plan for a gallery of honour, under 
the sanction of the Academicians, who were constantly 
bringing the claims of the higher branches of art before the 
Government ; and that, subsequently, he and Flaxman had 
prepared an address to the Ministers of the day, soUciting 
the aid of the State for their cultivation and employment. 
The Academy, being a Boyal institution, under the imme- 
diate patronage and protection of His Majesty, could not, 
without disrespect to His Majesty, address his Ministers ; 
so the memorial was drawn up by one of its most 
esteemed members, but it was productive of no result 
As further proofe of the disposition of the Academicians 
to promote the cultivation of the higher branches of art, 
the President referred to the plan he prepared for the 
British Institution, suggesting an application to Govern- 
ment for £5,000 a year, to be devoted to that purpose ; 
and by recalling the fact that the Academy had offered 
£1,000 towards a subscription for the purchase of Sir T. 
Lawrence's collection of drawings by celebrated masters, 
to be placed in the British Museum, for the general study 
of artists and the improvement of the public taste. Then 
he proceeded to show that the latter object was accom- 
plished in another way, through the 1800 students who 



92 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Oh. XIV. 

had been, up to that time, educated in the schools gratis, 
— who, if they have not talents for the higher class of 
artists, drop into humbler occupations, and, being spread 
through the country, are employed in the apphcation of 
art to manufactures in various ways, and thus bring the 
taste for art into the homes of society. 

On the general question of the utility, or otherwise, of 
Academies, Sir M. A. Shee differed from Dr. Waagen and 
others, stating that "Academies are good in the same 
way that Universities are good — conferring honours and 
distinctions, furnishing the means of education, and 
stimulating the rising race to obtain those honours and 
distinctions." The Umitation of the number of members 
he justified on the ground that " forty members are fiilly 
sufficient to represent the interests of the arts, and to fur- 
nish a stimulus to the rising race to obtain possession of 
the honours it confers ; " while, from the history of the 
arts in England since the foimdation of the Academy, it 
would be seen " that there is scarcely a single instance of 
any very eminent artist who was not a member of the 
Eoyal Academy, or who might not have become so if he 
had taken the proper means of obtaining that distinction. 
I consider this fact as affording a full proof of the com- 
petency of the nmnber of forty to include, in due succes- 
sion, all the eminence of the profession." Further, " in 
proportion as you extend any distinction conferred, you 
destroy its value, and you prevent the same ambition from 
operating upon those who wish to obtain it." 

Upon some minor points, the Committee requested 
information — for instance, as to the rule prohibiting 
members from belonging to any other society of artists 
in London, framed originally, as he stated, to guard the 
Academy from a deficiency of the talent requisite to 
attract the pubKc to its exhibitions — the source of its 
income — but no longer necessary, and long since ceased 
to be acted upon. With respect to the hanging of the 
pictures, he pointed out that those appointed to arrange 



Ch. XIV.] EVIDENCE OF SIR M. A. SIIEE 93 

the exhibition in each year had the final decision, without 
reference to the other Academicians, who could not 
choose places for their pictures, and who often withdrew 
their works to make room for those of strangers to the 
Academy. The " varnishing days " might be regarded as 
among the privileges granted by the diploma, but one 
which he did not care to see retained ; and that so far 
from it being true that the Academy was " conducted for 
its own private purposes," and for the personal interest of 
the members, the very reverse was the fact. The eminent 
men among them had already attained the public favour, 
and the Academy only raises up rivals to their course ; so 
that "they derive little benefit from an establishment 
which occupies so unprofitably their time and attention, 
and obliges them to enter into an annual competition with 
all the rising talent of their country." It can only be, 
therefore, for the sake of art and a new generation of 
artists that they can desire its preservation. 

Several leading questions were addressed by the Com- 
mittee to Sir Martin, to the efiect that it was an injustice 
that one half of the National Gallery should be closed to 
the public ; and that if the space assigned to the Academy 
were required for the former, it would be the duty of the 
Academicians to resign the apartments assigned to them ; 
but to all of these the President gave one steady reply — 
that the Government wishing to obtain the apartments in 
Somerset House, " the Academy give up that which they 
have a right to consider their own, and of which they 
have been in possession for upwards of half a century, 
and they receive, in return, the apartments in which they 
are to be now placed ; and I conceive it would not be to 
the credit of any Government to disturb or remove them." 

It will thus be seen that the President left few points 
in dispute, as regards the Academy, unanswered ; and 
that the objections which have been revived in our days 
are only the old ones repeated in a new form. The 
evidence of Henry Howard, E.A., the Secretary, corrected 



94 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

several of the other mis-statements made by preceding wit- 
nesses. It had been afl&rmed that the Eoyal Academicians 
had been offered a charter by George IV., but that it had 
been refused for fear it would make them responsible to 
Parliament. The simple answer was, it "was neither 
offered nor desired." He stated also that, so far from the 
Eoyal Academy " obstructing the British Gallery (Insti- 
tution) in every way," Mr. West was consulted by the 
founders, and was originally a member of it ; but to avoid 
the appearance of an invidious selection, artists were after- 
wards excluded. In addition to many testimonies corro- 
borative of those of Sir M. A. Shee, as to the honours and 
advantages of the Academy being "open to all artists 
who have merit to deserve them, and who conform to 
those just, necessary, and impartial conditions which the 
laws of the Academy prescribe for their attainment," he 
pointed out that the work of a foreign artist is often re- 
ceived with more favour than a work of a similar class of 
merit from a native artist, and cited instances to rebut 
the statements made that such works were unfavourably 
hung ; that it is not the number, but the excellence of the 
works exhibited which is the attraction to the pubUc ; 
and that therefore the money produced by the exhibition 
is not raised by the many productions of those who are 
not members, but by the very few fine works which are 
displayed there ; and also, that so far from monopohsing 
patronage, the Academy protected artists who were neg- 
ected by the pubUc, as in the case of Wilson, FuseU, and 
Stothard, and that often non-members were largely em- 
ployed by the patrons of art. 

Summing up the evidence against the Academy, Mr. 
Howard considered it went to charge it with inefficiency 
in the schools, partiahty in the elections, a spirit of exclu- 
sion, a disregard of the interests of other artists, and a 
selfish administration of the fimds. To these points his 
testimony chiefly had reference. The mode of admission 
to the schools, and the advantages offered in them, are 
thus stated : — 



Ch. XIV.] EVIDENCE OF HENRY HOWARD, R.A, 95 

*' Any one, native or foreigner, without distinction, who can 
produce a good drawing, and a testimonial from a respectable 
person of his good moral character, is equally admissible. Even 
the name of the individual applying is not known to the Council 
until after he is admitted. He then remains a probationer for 
three months, during which time he is required to make a 
drawing in the Academy ; and if that be approved (that is, if it 
be as good as the drawing first laid before the Council), he is 
regularly entered a student of the Royal Academy. In this 
manner are young artists admitted to a course of gratuitous 
instruction which is to render them rivals to those who have 
fostered them, and perhaps ultimately to deprive their teachers 
of the patronage of the public, and their means of subsistence. 
The advantages afforded to the student in the Royal Academy 
are these: — It painting be his pursuit, there are the School of 
the Antique, the School of the Living Model, and the School of 
Painting, all of which are under the superintendence of the 
ablest masters in the country ; the use of a good library of books 
on art, which is continually increasing by gifts and by purchase ; 
a large collection of prints, and some copies of the most 
celebrated pictures; the lectiures of the professors; annual 
premiums for the best copies made in the painting-school ; and 
a biennial premium for the best original historical painting. 
Although the privileges of a student generally continue for ten 
years only, upon application to the Council, he may be re- 
admitted from year to year ; but if he obtain any premium in 
the course of the ten years, he then becomes a student for life. 
Any student obtaining the gold medal at the biennial distribution 
of prizes, may become a candidate for a travelling studentship, 
which will further enable him to pursue his studies on the Con- 
tinent for three years, on a pension from the Academy. The 
student in sculpture^ has the benefit of the Schools of Design ; 
an admirable collection of casts; the library, in which are 
engravings from all the galleries of Europe ; the lectures and 
premiums ; and, in rotation, the contingent advantage of being 
enabled to study on the Continent for three years. The advan- 
tages afforded to the student in architecture are the Schools of 
Design, the lectures, the library (which contains all the valuable 
works on architecture which have been published here and on 
the Continent), annual and biennial premiums, and the contin- 
gent advantage of the travelling studentship. The school is, 
unfortunately, deficient in architectural models, and merely 



96 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XI\^ 

because the Royal Academy has.no room in which to place them. 
The Society, notwithstanding, purchased a fine collection of 
architectural casts, a few years since, which had belonged to Sir 
T. Lawrence, and presented them to the British Museum, where 
they are arranged in an excellent light, and are available to all 
the artists of the country.* The students in engraving are in 
no wise distinguished from the others — the same advantages are 
open to all. An extensive collection of engravings, from the 
earliest times, which is in the library, was purchased by the 
Academy, at the price of 600 guineas, chiefly with a view to the 
information of this class of students.' I thipk, then, it must 
appear that the Royal Academy has not been remiss in endea- 
vouring to render their schools as efficient as circumstances have 
permitted." 

With respect to the election of Associates, Mr. Howard 
stated the course pursued : — 

"Any exhibitor may put down his name to become an 
Associate. . . . The election of Associates rests entirely with 
the Royal Academicians, of whom a general meeting is held at 
the close of the exhibition, before the collection is broken up, 
for the purpose of particularly examining and discussing the 
merits of the works of those whose names have been inscribed 
on the list. The election, if any be resolved on, does not take 
place till the first Monday in November, which gives time for a 
further consideration of the respective claims of the candidates ; 
and it may be observed that it is particularly incumbent on the 
members to be very cautious in the election of an Associate, as 
young artists do not always realise in the end the expectations 
they may have excited by one or two very promising eflForta ; 
and an Associate has taken the first step towards becoming an 
Academician. As vacancies occur, the academic body of forty 
is recruited from this class of members, which are chosen from 
the profession at lai-ge." 

The funds and the salaries were next discussed by the 



^ This eyidence was given in 1836: exhibited there for several years, 

since the removal of the Academy to ^ This collection of encTavinffS of 

Trafalgar Square, these casts were the Italian School from toe eaniest 

returned to it by the trustees of the period, was formed by George Cum- 

British Museum, after they had been oerland. 



CH.XIV.] EVIDENCE OF HENRY HOWARD, R.A. 97 

Committee. The amiual festivity was stated to cost from 
£250 to £300 ; and the following payments were at that 
time made to the oflScers of the Academy : — 

''The President, no salary nor any allowance beyond the 
other members. The Keeper, for very arduous and important 
duties, receives but £160 per annum, with apartments. The 
Secretary's salary is £140 per annum, with an allowance for apart- 
ments. The Treasurer receives £1 00 per annum. The Libraiian, 
for attending three times a week, £80 per annum. The Auditors 
and the Inspector of works imported by any British artists for 
their own use, and which are, in consequence, allowed to pass 
the Custom House duty free, have no allowance whatever. The 
Visitors elected to serve in the Painting School, and in the Life 
Academy, receive each one guinea for an attendance of more 
than two hours. The Committee of Arrangement have each 
two guineas for attending to that laborious and invidious duty 
the whole day. Each Academician receives 58. for attending a 
general meeting,* of which there are annually from five to ten. 
A similar allowance is made to members attending the meetings 
of Council : i.e., the Council, which consists of the President 
and eight members coming in by rotation, are allowed 45^., to 
be divided at each meeting between the members present, 
which, if all attend, amounts to 58. each. I should have stated 
that the salaries of the Professors are £60 a year, for delivering 
six lectures. • . . From what I have stated, it will appear that 
the greater number of Academicians derive from the funds of 
the Academy an income of from 258. to 508. per annum ; that 
of the President and Council may sometimes amount to £8 or 
£9 each, if constant in their attendance throughout the year. 
Instead of dividing their profits, as other societies of artists do 
(and are quite justified in doing), the members of the Boyal 
Academy have, for above sizty years, supported, without the 
smallest assistance from the nation, the only national School of 
Art — a school in which all the best artists of the country have 
been reared, and which has given to the arts all the reputation 
and importance they possess. This they have done (which in 
every other country is done by the Government) at an expense 



1 This allowance was intended to cover the expense of coach-hire. 
VOL. II. H 



08 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV 

of above £240,000, and have distributed £30,000 in charitable 
ajBsistance to necessitous artists and their families."^ 

The report of the Committee before which these state- 
ments were made was presented to the House of Com- 
mons in 1836. It recapitulated the results of all the 
evidence it had obtained, and leant decidedly towards the 
opponents of the Academy by the way in which it stated 
their objections, under an apparent impression of their 
importance, without referring to the direct and unanswer- 
able refutation of them by other witnesses, although it 
expressed no definite opinion of its own, and abstained 
from any direct or general censure on the institution. 
The only points to which it referred, not alluded to in the 
abstract we have given of the proceedings, are the pre- 
dominance of portraits over other works of art, and the 
exclusion of engravers from the highest rank in the 
Academy — the one a difficult matter to overcome at all 
times, the other now set at rest by the appointment of 
Academician-Engravers. 

It was in the same year (1836) that the new National 
Gallery was completed, and that the removal of the Koyal 
Academy from Somerset House to Trafalgar Square was 
effected. Before giving up the apartments appropriated 
to their use by King George HI., however, the Council 
of the Academy felt it right to ascertain the pleasure of 
their patron. King William IV., and on the 2nd August, 
1836, presented an address to His Majesty on the subject, 
in the following terms : — 

" May it please your Majesty, 
" We the President and Council, and the rest of the Acade- 
micians of the BoysJ Academy, beg leave most humbly to 
approach your Majesty, with the warmest feelings of loyalty and 



^ In all this evidence, it must be its opeiations, and largely increased 

remembered that a quarter of a cen- the amount expended on the promo- 

tuiy has since elapsed, during which tion of the arts, 
the Royal Academy has continued 



CH.XIV.] MEMORIAL TO THE KLSG 99 

gratitude for the gracious countenance and favour invariably 
extended by your Majesty to this institution. 

^^ Conscious that we cannot more eifectually secure your 
Majesty^s approbation than by our zealous endeavours to extend, 
so far as possible^ the advantage which the arts derive from the 
establishment of the Royal Academy^ we beg most respectfully 
to represent to your M&jestj that plans for the better accom- 
modation of the Academy, by appropriating to its use a portion 
of the new building in Traf&lgar Square, having been laid 
before us by direction of the Lords Commissioners of your 
Majesty's Treasury, we have felt it our duty carefully to con- 
sider and examine the same, with a view to ascertain the 
expediency of exchanging the apartments at present occupied 
by the Academy for those which have been oflFered for its recep- 
tion ; and we are imanimously of opinion that the interests of 
the arts at large, and the general utility of the Boyal Academy, 
would be materisJly promoted by the exchange proposed. 

"^ Under this conviction, we cannot hesitate to recommend the 
transfer of your Majesty's Academy to a residence which appears 
well adapted to its purposes, and which we have been assured 
we may occupy on precisely the same terms as those by which 
we have so long enjoyed possession of oiu: present abode. 

*' But, although many advantages may be reasonably antici- 
pated from the removal which we venture to advocate, and 
though the plans for the new establishment have already been 
honoured by yoiu: Majesty's approbation, yet, as the Soyal 
Academy was originally placed in Somerset House by the 
munificence of its Boyal Founder, King George IIL, and as its 
residence there has been so long continued, and secured imder 
the especial sanction of his Boyal Successor, and the paternal 
protection of your Majesty, we do not consider ourselves at 
liberty to change the local position of the Academy, or resign 
the apartments which are at present in its occupation, without 
the express consent and authority of your Majesty. 

" Humbly awaiting the expression of your Majesty's pleasure 
on this subject, we beg leave to subscribe ourselves, 

^Your Majesty's most grateful and loyal subjects and 
servants." 

(Signed by Sir Martin A. Sheb, and the Members 
of Council of the Boyal Academy.) 

His Majesty was pleased to signify his approval of the 

H 2 




100 inSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV 

exchange being made, and the Academy took the neces- 
sary proceedings to prepare for the transfer of their home 
to the new building. All the arrangements were com- 
pleted by the end of the year ; and on Saturday the 17th 
of December, 1836, a farewell dinner was held in the 
Council Eoom of the Academy at Somerset House, that 
the members might meet together once more in the build- 
ing which they had occupied for so many years. The 
members paid £1 each for their tickets on this occasion, 
as indeed they do on all others of a social character, ex- 
cept the annual and council dinners, although the popular 
notion is that the funds of the Academy are partly spent 
on such entertainments.' A few of the members who as- 
sembled at this farewell entertainment could recall their 
first entrance to new Somerset House, and would feel in the 
retrospect a pride and pleasure in reflecting on the steady 
progress which the institution had made in the fifty-six 
years which had intervened, and how largely it had con- 
tributed towards the creation of the improved taste for 
art, which had begun to spread throughout the country 
in the interval 

The apartments assigned to the Eoyal Academy in 
Trafalgar Square were put into its possession in 1836, in 
a very unfinished state, and wholly devoid of such decora- 
tion as might have been expected in an Academy of the 
arts. A large sum was expended by the Academy in 
fitting up the building for the purposes of the schools, 
exhibition, &c.; and many of the paintings and other 
decorations which had been designed by the early 
members, for the ornamentation of Somerset House, were 
introduced for the same purpose in the new building in 
Trafalgar Square. The formal installation of the Eoyal 
Academy in its new domicile took place on the 28th of 
April, 1837, when the King, attended by a suite of noble- 
men and officers of State, and surrounded with much 
more of the formalities of Royalty than is usual on the 
occasion of the ordinary annual visits of the Sovereign to 



Ch. XIV.] OPENING OF THE NEW ROYAL ACADEMY 101 

the exhibition, came to open the new building. C. E. 
Leslie, who formed one of the Council at the time, thus 
describes the scene : — 

" The portico of the new building commands a view of the 
whole length of Pall Mall to St. James's ; and as it is elevated 
considerably above the footway, most of us were standing there 
a little before one, looking anxiously towards the palace, where, 
exactly at the appointed hour, we saw the Boyal carriages 
appear in the distance. A guard of soldiers^ with a band of 
music, were stationed in front of the building, and, behind 
them, an immense crowd, which extended on the left to St. 
Martin's Church, the steps and even the roof of which were 
covered with people — the bells pealing a merry chime from 
the steeple. The scene, as the King's carriage drew up, was 
altogether imposing. . . . The King wore neither star nor 
ribbon, but was dressed in a plain suit of black. The Queen 
was prevented from coming by illness. . . . The Princess 
Augusta, the Dukes of Cumberland and Cambridge . . . and 
several lords and ladies in waiting formed the Boyal party. . . 
W^hen the King entered the door, Sir Martin Shee presented 
him the keys of the Academy on a silver plate. They were 
highly polished, and had arrived that morning from Birmingham, 
and, as it had been found (to the great consternation of the 
workman), would not fit the locks. The King, however, did 
not try them, but restored them to the President, saying ' he 
could not place them in better hands.' His Majesty then went 
regularly through all the rooms. . . . When he came out under 
the portico, the band struck up 'God Save the King;' and he 
advanced to the front bareheaded, and bowed to the people, 
who cheered him loudly. He left the door exactly at three ; 
and, in being thus punctual, showed his consideration for those 
who he knew expected to be admitted at that time. The rooms 
were very soon crowded with the usual visitors ; and about four 
o'clock, die Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria came, 
without any ceremony, in the midst of the company — having 
sent us word in the morning that they intended doing so." 

The King was in excellent spirits, and apparently in 
good health on that day ; but, as the event proved, it was 
the last occasion on which he took part in any public 



102 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

ceremonial — his decease having taken place on the 20th 
of June following. 

The schools of the Academy are located partly in 
rooms which are, during the season, used for the exhi- 
bition (when they are necessarily closed to the students), 
and partly in others which are not opened to the public 
The lectures of the Professors are delivered in the East 
Boom; the School for drawing from the Antique is 
held in the Sculpture Eoom ; that for painting from the 
Draped Model, in the Middle Eoom ; and the School 
for drawing from the Living Model, in the North Eoom ; 
but during the period of the exhibition, the two latter 
are held in the interior of the dome, lighted by three 
windows, one in the side wall only being kept open, 
which throws a strong light upon a raised platform with 
a high back, covered with crimson, on which the person 
who acts as the model is placed. The general superin- 
tendence of the schools is vested in the Keeper, who 
personally watches over the Antique School only — the 
others being directed by the appointed visitors. The 
Hall of Casts contains a large collection of works of great 
value to the students ; many of them were the gift of 
George IV., obtained from Eome, through the interven- 
tion of Canova, consisting of the exact counterparts of 
the most renowned and beautifid forms of antiquity. 
Crossing from the Hall of Casts, through the open 
passage or thoroughfare on the eastern side of the 
Academy, we enter the Library — a lofty room, sur- 
rounded by oaken bookcases, closely covered in with 
crimson silk, which gives the apartment a warm, rich 
aspect. These cases are surmounted by busts, and 
contain all the best works on art, and books of general 
reference, besides the choice collection of ancient and 
modern prints, etchings, and sketches possessed by the 
Academy. The centre of the room is filled with desks 
for the students ; and over the fireplace is a bas-relief in 
marble of the 'Holy Family,' by Michael Angelo, pre- 



CH.XIV.] THE ACADEMY IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE 103 

sented by Sir George Beaumont, who thus described it to 
Chantrey : — ^^ St. John is presenting a dove to the Child 
Jesus, who shrinks from it, and shelters in the arms of his 
mother, who seems gently reproving St. John for his 
hastiness, and putting him back with her hand. The 
Child is finished, and the Mother in great part ; the St. 
John is only sketched, but in a most masterly style." 
The four circular paintings on the ceiling, by AngeUca 
Kauffinan, representing ' Genius,' ' Design,' ' Composition,* 
and ' Painting,' were formerly in the Lecture Eoom at 
Somerset House. 

The Council Eoom is small in size when its importance 
is considered, and somewhat dark, from the large buildings 
which loom so near it, at the back of the Academy. It 
is, however, imposing, and has an air of dignity about it ; 
the Coimcil table and the President's chair, of course, 
occupy the centre ; the walls are completely covered with 
works of art — some few of them pictures painted for 
the Eoyal Academy, as the portrait of King George III. 
and Queen Charlotte in their coronation robes. Sir 
William Chambers, and Sir J. Eeynolds, all the work of 
the first President ; George IV., by Sir W. Beechey ; 
King William IV., and Her Majesty, by Sir M. A. Shee. 
In addition to these, and the paintings ornamenting the 
ceiling, there are a large number of the diploma works, 
occupying every available space in the room, some re- 
calling the members long since passed away, who formerly 
took part in the councils of the Eoyal Academy, and 
others displajdng the artistic power of many of those still 
governing the institution as their successors. 

The Exhibition rooms scarcely need to be described, 
since they are so well known to the pubUc, and their 
only attractions are changed year by year. The annual 
dinner preceding the opening of the exhibition is held in 
the East Boom, which on that occasion is filled with an 
assemblage of rank and talent such as is rarely to be 
found at any similar festival An open doorway connects 



104 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

this room with the Middle Eoom ; and between the two 
there is a small "Octagon Eoom," where the prices of pic- 
tures in the exhibition for sale may be ascertained, and 
where a few prints and drawings are hung. From the 
Middle Eoom, the visitor passes into the West Eoom, 
which opens into two others of smaller dimensions, the 
North and South Booms, principally filled with water- 
colour drawings, crayon sketches, architectural designs, 
miniatures, medallions, &c. — the three principal rooms 
being exclusively appropriated for oil pictures. De- 
scending the staircase towards the entrance, the Sculpture 
Eoom is reached, recently considerably enlarged, and 
divided into three compartments — a great improvement 
upon the confined space to which the specimens of this 
branch of art were restricted during the first twenty years 
of the occupation of the building by the Eoyal Academy. 

In this their new home the Academicians had scarcely 
settled themselves before they lost the Eoyal Patron who 
had taken so warm an interest in their proceedings, and 
who had deUvered it to their keeping. On the accession 
of Her Majesty to the throne, the Academicians, in 
answer to their address soliciting the favour of her 
gracious patronage, received an assurance that the Queen 
would be ready to comply with the wishes of the 
Academy, in continuing the privilege of personal access to 
the Sovereign on academic affairs enjoyed by the Presi- 
dent and officers of the institution during the reigns of 
Her Majesty's predecessors; and from that time to the 
present, the Queen has taken a lively interest in its 
affairs, and has exhibited her own elevated and refined 
taste in art by the liberal and judicious manner in which 
the royal patronage of it has been exercised on all 
occasions. 

At the first levee after Her Majesty's accession, two of 
the members of the Eoyal Academy received the honour 
of knighthood — the Queen thus confirming the dignities 
which King WiUiam IV. had proposed to confer upon 



CH.XIV.] THE QUEEN'S PATRONAGE GRANTED 105 

them. The fortunate recipients were Sir A. W. Callcott 
and Sir E. Westmacott Towards the end of July 
1837, Her Majesty paid her first visit to the exhibi- 
tion as the Patron of the Academy, without any 
state or ceremony, accompanied by her august mother, 
and was conducted through it by Sir M. A. Shee. 
From what had been stated to the President by Earl 
Kussell (then Secretary of State for the Home Depart- 
ment), it was feared that the altered arrangements of the 
Court would have deprived the Academy of the same 
immediate access to the royal presence as was granted 
by Her Majesty's predecessors ; but it proved otherwise, 
for the spirit of the Founder of the Academy rests upon 
his Descendant, reigning now a hundred years after him, 
and possessing as strongly the devoted affection of her 
people, who recognise in their Queen the ready supporter 
of all that is good and pure, refined and ennobling, 
whether it be in the highest walks of art or in the 
simplest concerns and pursuits of daily life. 

Pleasantly as the career of the Academy in its new 
home was thus commenced in one respect, simultaneously 
the spirit of antagonism was revived in a new form, and 
had to be again contested. The battle-ground had 
changed its character, but it still was a field of action, 
requiring all the energy of the President and the Aca- 
demicians to maintain their right of control over their 
proceedings, and to protect their property against the 
enforced appropriation of those who desired to be thought 
the real promoters of a love of art. 

In 1837 a favourite parliamentary project was, to obtain 
authority from the Government to throw open gratui- 
tously to the masses of the people all the public reposi- 
tories of art, monimients, and collections of curiosities in 
the metropolis. To such a method of promoting the 
popular knowledge and taste for real beauty, there could 
be no objection on the part of all true patrons of art so 
long as tibey could be assured that the relics of bygone 



106 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

ages would be preserved from wanton destruction. But 
it was proposed to extend the principle, which might fairly 
be appUed to establishments maintained by the Govern- 
ment, to the Eoyal Academy, which was dependent almost 
entirely on the proceeds of the annual exhibition for the 
means of eflfecting all the objects it had so long accom- 
phshed for the education of students in art, and for the 
rehef of its less prosperous professors. The great advo- 
cate for this measure was the renowned reformer, Mr. 
Joseph Hume, M.P., who, in May 1837, obtained an inter- 
view with the President at his private residence, in order 
to urge upon him the necessity of the Academy admitting 
the public gratis to the annual exhibition during a short 
portion at least of the period usually allotted to it. He 
stated that it was intended to hold a pubUc meeting at 
Freemasons' Hall, at which he proposed to urge that the 
Eoyal Academy, " as a return on their part for the occu- 
pation of so large a portion of a building erected at the 
pubUc expense, should set apart one day or more during 
the week, as might be agreed upon, for the admission of 
the pubUc gratis to the exhibition ; " and stated that " if 
even some diminution of the income of the Academy 
did result from the proposed measure, they should regard 
it liberally as a due and becoming tribute on their part 
to the benefit of the pubUc to whom they were so much 
indebted." 

To these proposals Sir M. A. Shee replied that the 
public had no new claim on the Academy, for they had 
incurred no new debt to it, having simply given up one 
residence provided for them by the King (although 
erected at the public expense) for another, also so paid 
for ; and that even if their present habitation were to be 
regarded as a gift from the Government, then they made 
a most ample return by having supported, for more than 
half a century, the only effectual school of art in the 
country. Further, that " it would not only be injurious, 
but actually ruinous to the interests of the institution," 



CH.XIV.] SHEE'S LETTER TO LORD RUSSELL 107 

and that there was no parallel between the case of the 
Academy and the British Museum, or other public institu- 
tions which were supported by large annual grants from 
the public funds ; and, moreover, that no such measure 
could be adopted without the Eoyal authority. An inter- 
view of an hour and a half left Mr. Hume still deter- 
mined to make the attempt ; and from that time forward 
he took the lead in a series of discussions at public meet- 
ings and in the House of Commons, displaying a large 
amount of imreasoning censure and malevolence against 
a body of whose proceedings he knew really but Httle. 

In July 1837, die President resolved to make a pubUc 
statement in answer to tliese attacks, and published, in the 
form of a pamphlet, " A Letter to Lord John Eussell, Her 
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home 
Department, on the alleged Claims of the Public to be 
admitted gratis to the Exhibition of the Eoyal Academy ; " 
in which he clearly argued the whole question. He says, 
" To the general principle of the measure advocated by 
Mr. Hume, no liberal or enlightened man can, I think, 
reasonably object. To improve the taste of the pubhc, 
and to rescue the humbler class of society from the 
degrading influence of those gross and sensual habits in 
which they had been too long left to indulge undisturbed, 
must be considered as highly laudable objects ; " and he 
proceeds to state that national property may properly be 
displayed for the public use and enjoyment. But the 
Eoyal Academy, " though rendering important pubhc ser- 
vices, is not in any respect supported or assisted, nor has 
it ever been supported or assisted from any pubhc fund. 
It contains no object of art or article of property which 
can in any sense be termed national, or over the use or 
disposal of which the pubhc or their representatives in 
Parliament can have any legitimate claim to exercise 
influence or control." He then rephes to the alleged 
claim of the pubhc to some return for the accommoda- 
tion provided for the Academy, much as he did in his 



108 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL AC-\DEMY [Ch. XIV. 

conversation with Mr. Hume, arguing that when King 
George HL disposed of nis private property (Old Somer- 
set House) to the nation, he stipulated for accommodation 
being provided, in the new building then erected by the 
pubhc, for the Academy ; and the exchange of such habi- 
tation for another similarly provided, nearly sixty years 
afterwards, could not alter the relative position of the 
institution and the public — except that in the interval 
the former had conferred a benefit on the latter by sup- 
porting the only national school of art in the kingdom. 
" These," he contends, " are the well-stocked and well- 
cultivated garden in which the tender growth of native 
genius has been carefully attended to and fostered to a 
vigour of vegetation. . . . Experience has proved that 
compared to the quickening efficacy of a great prac- 
tical school of art hke that which has been so long sus- 
tained by the Eoyal Academy, a national collection, 
however rich and extensive, exercises but a barren influence 
on the general mind. The Eoyal Academy, my Lord, 
owe much to their Sovereign, but nothing to their 
country. . . . They have so long, so unostentatiously 
pursued this useful career, that their services are received 
as a matter of course — as services to which they have a 
prescriptive right. ... If those whose office it is to watch 
over the great interests of the State disapprove of the 
manner in which the Academy perform this volunteered 
task — if it be at length discovered that the afiairs of art 
can be conducted beneficially for the country under 
ministerial management, and that a fund of £10,000 or 
£12,000 a year can be appropriated for that purpose, the 
members of the Eoyal Academy will be among the first 
to hail the flattering prospect, and will readily surrender 
the privilege which they have been so long allowed to 
enjoy — that of supporting a national institution at their 
own expense." 

Having thus repelled the idea of the right claimed, the 
President next pointed out how impracticable it would be 



CH.XIV.] SHEE'S LETTER TO LORD RUSSELL 109 

to concede it, both as an injustice to the exhibitors and to 
the Academy — since the works could not be protected 
from injury, and no compensation would be made to them 
for the loss they would sustain ; that crowding was un- 
avoidable where an exhibition was only open for a short 
time and the space confined ; that robberies of miniatures, 
&C., could not be prevented ; that nothing but a phalanx 
of pohce officers could preserve order on the few free 
days proposed, and that loss of income to the institution 
must residt from it. Sir Martin expressed his surprise 
that Mr. Hume, so vigilant a guardian of the pubhc 
purse, and thought to be so soimd a poUtical economist, 
should as such, or as a friend of the fine arts, oppose the 
Academy ; for " the ways and means have not been taxed 
for its support, no item of charge on its account appears 
in the annual estimates. . . . Can he devise a cheaper 
mode of promoting the fine arts than that which puts the 
nation to no expense?" He concludes his admirable 
defence of the Academy by expressing his confidence 
that its integrity will finally prevail over all calumnies, 
and his thankfulness that " the Queen will know how to 
appreciate those pursuits which form the objects of its 
care ; and her patriotism will combine with her taste in 
securing for her country all those advantages which a 
liberal and judicious patronage cannot fail to derive from 
the grateful genius of the age." 

This letter, although it would satisfy those who took 
the trouble to examine the real facts of the case, did not 
quell the tide of popular outcry which was then raised in 
regard to the rights of the people to be admitted to 
every place of amusement or instruction which could in 
any degree partake of a national character. A Com- 
mittee, with Mr. Hume at its head, continued to assemble 
meetings at Freemasons' Hall and at the Thatched House 
Tavern in 1837-38, at which all who exercised con- 
trol over the institutions to which free admission was 
sought were violently attacked and denoxmced. So many 



110 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

inaccurate statements were made relative to the Eoyal 
Academy and against its President at these meetings, that 
Sir M. A. Shee was again impelled to resume the contro- 
versy, and this time personally to censure the conduct of 
Mr. Hume in the course he had taken. This he did in a 
pamphlet pubhshed in July 1838, entitled a "Letter to 
Joseph Hume, Esq., M.P., in reply to his aspersions on 
the character and proceedings of the Eoyal Academy," 
especially referring to his attacks upon it in the House of 
Commons on the occasion of a proposed additional 
grant to the National Gallery. He had described it as 
"the meanest and most stingy of all institutions;" had 
attributed to it the fact that " the people of this country 
are in a state of ignorance with respect to the arts that 
has no parallel in any other country in Europe;" and 
had stated that "the Society of British Artists were 
obliged to provide, not only exhibition rooms, but the 
whole of the expenses incidental to the establishment; 
while exhibition rooms, and a portion of the expense of 
maintaining them^ were suppUed to the Eoyal Academy 
hy the public ^ 

To these charges, the President first repUed by repeat- 
ing the statements already made to Lord Eussell, of the 
sums expended by the Academy, out of their own fimds, 
for the public benefit ; that it had been for many years 
the only nursery for the arts, and the only instrument for 
promoting a taste for them ; and that the impUed contrast 
between it and another society was imtrue and invidious. 

** With every respect for the society in question, and every 
wish for their success, I would ask, What possible claim of com- 
petition with the Eoyal Academy your ingenuity can set up for 
the Society of British Artists ? The former, the great supporter 
of the arts for three fourths of a century — the only eflFective 
school for their cultivation in the kingdom — providing, on a 
liberal scale, every material and means of study necessary for 
such an establishment, and disinterestedly devoting large funds, 
of their own creation, to the noblest public purposes — the 
gratuitouB education of students, without distinction of class or 



CH.XIV.] SHEE'S LETTER TO MR. HUME 111 

degree, and the general promotion of the public taste; the 
latter society, a recent private speculation of a few individual 
artists, for their own advantage — without school, scholar, or 
material of study — pledged to no public duties, and performing 
no public services — with no other purpose than the exhibition 
of their works, and employing their funds (as they have an 
imquestionable right to do) solely for their own benefit. Really, 
Sir, the comparison which you have drawn between these two 
institutions does little credit to your discrimination, and still 
less to your impartiality/' 

And with respect to Mr. Hume's mis-statement as to 
Parliamentary grants to the Koyal Academy, the Presi- 
dent says : — 

** You are reported. Sir, te be as peculiarly conversant in the 
lore that relates te the outlay of the national funds as you are 
vigilant in preventing their misappropriation. Can you adduce, 
in support of your assertion, any grant of the public money to 
the Royal Academy ? Can you prove that a single shilling has 
been contributed by the Government towards the maintenance 
of that institution since its first establishment ? If you cannot 
do this. Sir, you must allow me te express my wonder by what 
extraordinary process of misconception — by what peculiar im- 
pulse of inaccuracy — you have been led publicly to make an 
assertion, hazarded in the face of the explicit statement made 
to you by me, in the conversation which teok place between us 
on the subject, — an assertion also in the face of the still more 
explicit statement contained in my letter te Lord J. Russell, of 
which you were furnished with a copy." 

Another statement, made by Mr. Hume at the Thatched 
House Tavern, was that the managers of the Academy 
had exhibited reluctance to give the returns asked from 
them as to its proceedings ; and the President, in reply, 
shows that " they have no motive for concealment. 
The more their proceedings are made known, the more 
their utility, their integrity, and their disinterestedness 
must become apparent. The returns asked for by the 
House of Commons, at the instance of Mr. Ewart, were 
furnished as soon as they could be made out after the 
King's permission (for which I inunediately applied, and 



112 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

"without which they could not have been granted) had 
been obtained for that purpose." Subsequently, on the 
26th September, 1837, Mr. Hume apphed, through Lord 
Eussell, "for a return of the number of students sent abroad 
by the Academy, with the expense of maintaining them 
there, and other particulars concerning them." Sir Martin 
rephed the day following, that on the return of the 
Secretary to town (who had charge of the books of the 
Institution), a Council would be assembled, and the infor- 
mation furnished ; and it was sent to his Lordship in the 
early part of November, six weeks before Mr. Hume 
stated that it had not been supphed. In reply to a pro- 
posal which Mr. Hume publicly made, that " any deficiency 
which the adoption of his plam, of free exhibitions at the 
Eoyal Academy and the Society of British Artists, might 
involve to their funds, might be supplied by means of a 
subscription" Sir Martin indignantly repels such patron- 
age of the arts : — " Instead of increasing their means, 
you would avowedly diminish them, and stamp on them 
the character of mendicancy as remuneration. You 
would invade their precincts like an enemy in quest of a 
contribution ; you would tax them in proportion to the 
service they render you, and make them, without cere- 
mony, the victims of their own utility. Verily, Sir, I am 
afraid your name will not be recorded in the page of 
history as a patron of the fine arts." 

Some personal attacks on the President were replied to 
at the close of the letter. Mr. Hume had stated that Sir 
Martin made the first attack by his letter to Lord Eussell ; 
whereas he reminds Mr. Hume of the interview he had 
soHcited with him, as President of the Academy, long 
before, in which he had explained his intended operations, 
and that he had then declined to accede to his request, 
as the Academicians still did. " We object," he says, ** to 
be cast in the new mould which your plastic patriotism 
would prepare for us. We decline to be cut and carved 
according to the peculiar fashion which your new-bom 
zeal for popular refinement may choose to inflict upon us." 



CH.XIV.] FURTHER PARLIAMENTARY RETURNS 113 

Mr. Hume had also stated that the President had " pub- 
hshed an opinion that the arts flourished more under the 
cap of liberty than under any other form of government." 
In reply to which, the President quotes his work — " Ele- 
ments of Art " (" although," he says, " I am not so vain 
as to suppose that the work in question ever gained ad- 
mission to yoiu: library, or that you ever read a line of it"), 
to show how completely such a statement was opposed to 
his meaning, adding that " misrepresentation, whether it 
be the result of negligence or design, must always be 
considered discreditable to a controversialist and un- 
worthy of a gentleman." And he concludes his letter, so 
foil of sarcastic vigour in argument and contempt for 
the littleness displayed by his opponent, by referring to 
his early eflbrts to raise a feeble voice in the cause of the 
arts, and of the opposition they then met with, — "Yet 
age has not brought with it prudence ; and after a lapse 
of thirty-seven years since I first broke a lance with the 
vandalism of the day, behold I I am again in the field 
in the same cause." 

The resolute determination to withstand interference 
or intimidation expressed throughout this public letter, 
addressed to the leader of the anti-Academic party, was 
not likely to avert an attempt on their part to efiect their 
purpose ; and it was not therefore with any surprise 
that the Eoyal Academy again found itself the subject of 
attack in the next session of Parliament. " At half-past 
one in the morning," on the 15th of March, 1839, when 
the parliamentary friends of the Academy were absent, 
and there was but a remnant of a House, Mr. Himie, in 
pursuance of notice, called for certain returns, which 
were not opposed, and were therefore ordered to be fur- 
nished to the House. The notice was to this efiect : — 

** A return of the amount- of money received for admission^ 
and of the niunber of persons who visited the exhibition of the 
Royal Academy of Arts in each of the years 1836, 1837, and 
1838; distinguishing the entrance-money from the proceeds of 

VOL. IT. I 



lU HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XTV. 

the sale of catalogues, together with the amount paid in 
salaries and perquisites to each person employed in that esta- 
blishment in each of those years; and the average number of 
students who have attended the Life School^ and that of the 
Antique, in each of those years." 

It seemed quite obvious that this was a direct endea- 
vour to place the accounts of the Academy under the 
supervision of the House of Commons ; and as this would 
have been to forfeit all the independence which should 
belong to every individual and every conunimity pro- 
viding and dispensing its own funds, the Academicians 
resolved to refuse compliance with the request. The 
order was renewed, after some time had elapsed, in a 
more peremptory form ; and not wishing to act discour- 
teously, or even to appear to treat so important an 
assembly with, disrespect, the Academicians, by the advice 
of the President, then determined on addressing a petition 
to the House of Commons, which should explain the nature 
of the constitution and government of the Academy ; the 
objects it proposed to effect, and the mode in which they 
were carried out ; what it had done to instruct rising artists, 
and to protect the declining years of the less successful 
professors of art or their families ; how its members had 
laboured, not for payment, but from zeal hitherto, and 
were still ready to devote their time, their talents, and 
their funds to the support of the same purpose ; but that 
they claimed, as a condition of this obligation, the un- 
molested management of an institution which owed its 
existence to their predecessors, and which was still main- 
tained by the exertions of those who succeeded to their 
duties and their rights. On these grounds they expressed 
their hope that the House of Commons would be pleased 
to rescind the order of the 14th of March. 

The petition was firm and respectfiil, and entered into 
all the details necessary to substantiate their claim to the 
consideration, praise, and gratitude of the country, and 
to the protection of the Legislature against the virulent 



Ch. XrV.] PETITIONS TO PARLIAMENT 115 

attacks to which they had recently been exposed. It 
wafi entrusted to that excellent and accomplished "old 
English gentleman," the member for the University of 
Oxford, Sir K. H. Inglis, Bart., who had on several 
previous occasions spoken in favour of the Academy when 
it had been attacked in the House, and who presented 
the petition on the 8th of July. Mr. Hume imme- 
diately gave notice of a motion, that " the return to the 
order of the 14th of March last be made forthwith." 
The Ministry then in office (Lord Melbourne's Govern- 
ment) were too anxious to conciliate the ultra-Eeform 
party, to venture to oppose them by decidedly supporting 
the Academy ; while, on the other hand, they felt suffi- 
ciently its position in relation to the Crown, not to wish, 
in appearance at least, to uphold its position as a Eoyal 
institution ; but so uncertain and equivocal was the sup- 
port thus given, that the Academicians felt httle inclined 
to depend on it. Lord Eussell consulted the President 
on the point at issue between the Academy and the 
House, and advised concession from the former, so also 
did Lord Melbourne ; but to no purpose, for the Acade- 
micians were resolved that, whatever might be the result, 
they would not submit to the dictation of Mr. Hume and 
his friends. 

Other petitions, deprecating all concession to the claims 
of the Academy, were in the mean time presented to the 
House — one from an old antagonist, B. E. Haydon, and 
another from "The London Artists," which somewhat 
resembled the notable petition of " the men of England," 
who proved to be three tailors in Tooley Street, for there 
were but seven signatures to this memorial professing to 
emanate from the 800 artists then resident in London, 
and those chiefly the names of the men who had already 
expressed their antagonism to the Academy in their 
evidence before the Fine Arts Committee of 1836. 
Counter-petitions were also presented in support of the 
Academic cause — one signed by seventy aitists not 

1 2 



116 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

members of the institution, but contributors to the annual 
exhibitions; another from 120 students of the Eoyal 
Academy, the former presented by Sir Eobert Harry 
Inglis, the latter by Mr. Emerson Tennent. 

The question came on for debate on the 23rd of July 
in a thin House ; and Mr. Hume, while proceeding ener- 
getically to denounce the Academy, was abruptly brought 
to a stand by a " count out" being declared. Fresh 
notice was given, and again the motion was brought on 
by Mr. Hume, on the 30th of the same month. Then the 
honourable member charged the Academy with " con- 
tumacious conduct " and the President with vacillation in 
opinion, repeating his ofit-told statements, despite the con- 
tradiction they had received. Sir E. IngUs moved that 
the order be rescinded, and was supported by Mr. Philip 
Howard and Mr. (now Sir) Benjamin Hawes. The latter 
spoke very strongly against the vexatious interference 
which had been attempted, and expressed a decided 
opinion that no reason existed for asking for such returns, 
especially as the possession of the rooms then occupied 
by the Academy did not place them under parhamentary 
supervision, the grant having been made in exchange for 
others given to them by the favour of the Crown. Mr. 
Warburton (a member of the Fine Arts Committee of 
1836) next advocated the enforcing of the returns called 
for, and was followed by Mr. Spring Eice, then Chancellor 
of the Exchequer (now Lord Monteagle), whose speech, 
though highly complimentary to the Eoyal Academy, 
ended by his voting for " the vindication of the omnipo- 
tence of the order of the House," and by calUng for the 
returns. Sir Eobert Peel here entered into the debate, 
bearing testimony to the value of the Academy to the 
nation, and to the time, trouble, and ability devoted to 
their functions by the last and the then President, and 
advised the House in justice to show their sense of the 
value and integrity of the institution by rescinding an 
order to which they had been pledged inadvertently by a 



CH.XIV.] P^VRUAMENTARY DEBATE 117 

disingenuous appendix to the notice, by which it was 
made to appear that it was " in continuation of former 
returns." Mr. Ewart spoke in favour of the motion, and 
Lord Sydenham (then as Mr. Poulett Thomson, President 
of the Board of Trade) opposed it, beUeving that there 
was no public body so pure in principle, or which had so 
fiiUy answered its purpose, as the Eoyal Academy. Mr. 
Wyse next spoke, in favour of demanding the returns ; but 
Lord Russell, who followed him, showed that Parliament 
had already obtained all the information asked for, from 
the evidence taken before the Select Committee, and 
observed further, that if the House intended to interfere 
for the purpose of putting an end to the income of the 
Academy arising from the exhibition, it would be their 
duty to defray the expenses by a vote, and to give that 
instruction and aid to young artists which then devolved 
on the Academy. It gave instruction, it promoted art, 
and it dispensed charity. If Parliament took away the 
income, they would have to do these things themselves. 
Hence he considered it both inexpedient and unjust to 
make such an inquisition as that then proposed. Thus 
terminated the debate, for after a few words from Mr. 
Hume, the division took place in a thin House, when 
there were thirty-three members who voted for enforcing 
the returns, and thirty-eight for rescinding the order ; so 
that Mr. Hume and his supporters were defeated, and the 
Academy gained a victory which so far discouraged their 
opponents, that only once more, and that some years 
afterwards, was an attempt made to renew the attack. 
This took place in July 1844, when Mr. Hume proposed 
an address to the Crown, praying Her Majesty to with- 
draw her royal favour from the Royal Academy, it 
having departed from the original intentions of its 
foimder, and it being no longer of any service -to the 
cause of art in the country ; and, as a consequence, en- 
treating that it might be ejected from the apartments 
assigned to it in Trafalgar Square. Sir Robert Peel 



118 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

kindly undertook to furnish himself (being then in office) 
with ample statements to refute so unworthy an attempt ; 
but happily his efforts were not required, for on the first 
occasion Mr. Hume failed, from the House being counted 
out in the middle of his speech, and on the next he met 
with no support, and did not venture to press the matter 
to a division. 

It is not difficult to explain, although it would be hard 
to justify, the series of efforts which was thus made for 
some ten years to overthrow the Academy, at a time 
when democratic principles were in the ascendant in a 
large section of the House of Commons. The mere fact 
that the Crown had granted certain privileges to a body 
of artists — that a society so constituted should exist, 
responsible to the Sovereign, but not to the ParHament — 
that it should be granted, in the persons of its officers, 
direct access to the Throne, without ministerial interven- 
tion — and that it should be enabled to accomplish a great 
public; task without asking aid from the State, but simply 
by employing its own talents and means for that laudable 
purpose — all these things could not fail to excite a feeling 
of prejudice and jealousy in the minds of the poUtical 
reformers of those days, and a desire to bring such an 
independent and privileged body under their own super- 
vision. To this feeling, and not to any knowledge of or 
taste for art, or to any desire for its promotion among the 
people, must be attributed the parliamentary proceedings 
which we have referred to, and the opposition to the 
Eoyal Academy which was exhibited at intervals between 
the years 1832 and 1844. 

To the energy and abihty of the President — who 
personally threw himself into the conflict, and so ably 
defended the Academy by his pen, against some of the 
members of the Government, the Opposition, and the 
public — the satisfactory result of the contest is mainly 
due ; and it is no wonder that his popularity was great 
among the Academicians. He had been requested to 



Ch. XIV.] ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE FINE ARTS 119 

submit to Her Majesty their wish that he might be granted 
permission to paint her portrait, to be placed in the Eoyal 
Academy with the portraits of her Eoyal predecessors. 
The Queen graciously acceded to the appHcation, and 
granted him the necessary sittings for the purpose in the 
summer and autumn of 1842. The portrait is a whole- 
length, representing Her Majesty in the robes of State 
and the Eoyal diadem of brilliants, as she appeared in 
the throne at the House of Lords, and the picture now 
occupies the chief place in the Council Chamber of the 
Academy. 

An important event, as it affected the arts in this 
country, was the commencement of the great national 
work of erecting the new Houses of Parliament, in 1840, 
from the design of Sir Charles Barry, E.A. Advantage 
was taken of this opportunity by the Government to call 
forth the ability of English artists in competing for prizes, 
preparatory to receiving commissions for ornamenting the 
edifice with fresco and oil paintings and sculpture. A 
Eoyal Commission (of which the late lamented Prince 
Consort was President) was appointed in 1841, and still 
exists, to " take into consideration the promotion of the 
fine arts of this coimtry, in connection with the re- 
building of the new Houses of ParUament." The 
evidence of many competent persons, at home and abroad, 
was taken by the Committee, and the result was, the 
selection of fresco as the style best suited to the decora- 
tion of a public building. But as this was a mode of 
painting then hardly known in England, artists were 
invited to send specimens in fresco in competition for 
several premiums. Prizes were also offered for the best 
of the cartoons, paintings, and models of statues for the 
Houses of Parliament, which were exhibited during several 
successive years (1843-1848) in Westminster Hall. The 
greater number of those who gained them were then, or 
had been, students of the Eoyal Academy. Commissions 
have since been given to some of the successful com- 



120 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Oh. XIV. 

petitors, many of whom are still engaged on the works 
of art yet mifinished. A general view of the intentions 
of the Eoyal Commissioners as to the subjects of the 
several paintings and sculptures to be introduced into 
the building was given in their seventh Eeport, published 
in July 1847 ; and we shall have occasion, in speaking 
of the works of those members of the Academy who 
were employed by them, to mention many of these noble 
additions to the productions of our National School 
of Art. 

The health of Sir M. A. Shee began visibly to dechne 
in 1843, when he was attacked, while paying one of his 
annual visits to Mr. Eobert Vernon, at Ardington, with 
the complaint (vertigo) which caused him so much suf- 
fering, with but Httle intermission, during the remainder 
of his Kfe. He was thus prevented from distributing the 
gold medals, and delivering an address to the students in 
that year. In the next year he raUied considerably, and 
painted two portraits — one of Madame Ealli, the other 
of Mr. Benjamin Austin, which were the last productions 
of his pencil, and were exhibited at the Academy in 1845. 
His continued ill-health, however, led him to feel that he 
was no longer able, as hitherto, to fulfil the duties devolv- 
ing upon the President ; and he therefore determined to 
resign the office. On the 27th of May, 1845, he addressed 
the following letter to the Council and members of the 
Eoyal Academy : — 

" Gentlemen, 
" With sincere regret, I address you for the purpose of 
announcing my respectful resignation of the honourable office 
of President of the Eoyal Academy, which, through your favour, 
has been conferred upon me for fifteen successive years. 

" I will not, gentlemen, attempt to express the feelings under 
which I thus relinquish a position which I have always regarded 
as the proud distinction of my Ufe, and the highest honour to 
which an aitist can attain. But advanced age, severe and long- 
protracted illness, with other causes, have conspired to unfit me 
for active exertion, and admonish me that to make way for more 



Ch. xrv.] sm m. a. sheets letter of resignation 121 

vigorous powers is as much a measure of justice to the Academy 
as of release to me from a responsibility which I am no longer 
competent to undertake. As I can truly say that I have never 
shrunk from the performance of any duty which the interests 
of our art or of the Academy appeared to require of me, I trust I 
may confidently hope that, in now withdrawing from the field 
in my seventy-sixth year, I shall not be considered as deserting 
my post or quitting it prematurely. 

" According to the ordinary course of nature — even if disease 
should not anticipate the result of time — my lease of life must 
soon terminate ; but while I exists gentlemen^ I shall remember 
with pride and gratitude the undeviating kindness, the (I may 
almost say) affectionate consideration which yoU have always 
shown to me. 

'' Through a long period of personal, professional, and social 
intercom^e, you have amply proved to me how much a spirit of 
generous confidence and cordial co-operation may contribute to 
animate the zeal, to lighten the duties, and lessen the anxieties 
of those who are called to act for others in any official or 
responsible character. 

**You may readily, gentlemen, supply your chair with a 
President more competent than I am to support the dignity 
and perform the functions which belong to it. But perhaps, 
without presimiption, I may say that you will not easily find a 
President more honestly desirous to promote the cause of the 
arts than I have been, or more anxious to sustain in due estima- 
tion the honour and character of our profession. 

"That you may long continue to merit, as you have well 
merited, the support of the public, the respect of your country, 
and the approbation of your Sovereign, is the sincere wish of, 
Gentlemen, 

** Your most faithful and grateful humble servant, 

" Maktin Archer Shee." 

Simultaneously, the President wrote to Sir Eobert Peel, 
to request him to convey to Her Majesty the respectful 
intimation of his intended resignation of the office which 
he held under the Eoyal sanction ; and, in reply, he was 
informed of the Queen's regret that his impaired health 
rendered such a step necessary. On the part of the 
Academy, the announcement was felt to be a great loss to 



122 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

the institution, which at that time, more than in any 
previous part of its history, was attracting public attention, 
and when the person of its President had become, from 
the prominent part Sir M. A. Shee had taken in the con- 
troversies on art in Parliament and elsewhere, a public 
character. After earnest deliberation on the subject, the 
whole body. Academicians and Associates, in July 1845, 
sent to him an address, in which they stated that they 
desired — 

" Most earnestly to reiterate the sentiments of the Council, 
namely, the deepest concern at the step you have contemplated, 
and entire sympathy in the afflictions which have led to it — the 
anxious hope that you may be speedily restored to health — and 
our unanimous wish that you may be persuaded to withdraw a 
resolution alike adverse to the interests of the Academy and to 
our own feelings." 

They assured him that — 

** The less onerous duties of the Presidency will readily be 
performed by deputy, and, with the liberty of occasional 
reference to you, Sir, we shall each and all of us redouble our 
vigilance in our several departments, so as to secure the order 
and efficiency of our institution, and to relieve you from all 
unnecessary anxiety and burthen. . . . Ever mindful of the 
debt of gratitude we owe to you, not only for the admirable 
manner in which you have presided over us during fifteen years, 
but for the signal acts and services which you have rendered 
this institution during nearly half a century, • • . permit us to 
add the assurance of our affection to you personally, inspired 
by the parental and conciliatory conduct of your presidency." 

So strong an appeal was not to be resisted ; and Sir M. 
A. Shee consented to devote whatever health and strength 
remained to him to the service of the Academy as long 
as they deemed it for their benefit that he should do so. 
But, without making him acquainted with their intention 
until it had been confirmed by the Eoyal sanction, the 
Academicians resolved to express yet more strongly their 
sense of his services among them. They were not igno- 



CH.XIV.] PENSIONS AWARDED TO THE PRESIDENT 123 

rant that, as he had not held the appointment usually 
accompanying that of President — portrait painter in ordi- 
nary to the King — his means had been reduced, instead 
of increased, by the duties he had been called to fulfil in 
their behalf; and as, by the death of Chantrey, in 1841, 
they had become possessed of the reversion of a sum of 
money expressly bequeathed to them for providing a 
salary to the President, they determined to anticipate this, 
in order to give to Sir M. A. Shee such recognition of his 
services as they felt them to deserve ; and by a resolution 
passed on the 28th of August, 1845, they granted to him 
a salary of £300 a year for his life. Meanwhile, in an 
equally kind and delicate spirit, Sir Eobert Peel, in dis- 
posing of the grant of pensions on the Civil list by the 
Crown, proposed to give some pubhc recognition of the 
services of the President of the Eoyal Academy ; and, on 
the 7th of August of the same year, wrote to him, saying : 

^'I fear that your career in art has been more honourable 
than profitable, and that the office of the President of the 
Soyal Academy, while conferring the highest distinction, sub- 
jected you to many demands upon yom* valuable time, and 
indeed to many pecuniary charges. From these considerations, 
and also from the consideration that you entirely fulfil the con- 
ditions which Parliament has attached to the grant of a Civil 
List pension, ' by eminence in literature and art,' I shall have 
the greatest satisfaction in proposing to the Queen that a 
pension for life, to the amount which has been usually granted 
of late years, viz. £200 per annum, shall be assigned to you, as 
a mark of the Royal favour, and acknowledgement of pubHc 
service." 

Both the recipient of this benefit, and the Academicians, 
were gratified by such a spontaneous mark of kindness 
and consideration from the Minister and the Sovereign. 
The grant was made to Lady Shee, in the prospect of her 
being the survivor ; she died, however, in the following 
May, when the pension was transferred to the three 
unmarried daughters of Sir Martin, or the survivors or 



124 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XTV. 

survivor of them, by the thoughtful kindness of Sir Eobert 
Peel, that the venerable President might be relieved 
from any anxiety as to a provision being made for them. 

It had been hoped that the President would have been 
able to deliver the gold medals to the students in the fol- 
lowing December, but the exciting events of the few pre- 
ceding months, pleasing though they were, had produced 
some temporary return of his complaint, and he therefore 
entrusted to the Keeper, Mr. George Jones (who acted 
for him on the occasion) an address to be read to the 
students which he had prepared two years previously, 
but was then, as now, prevented by illness from deliver- 
ing personally to them. 

The following year, 1846, Sir Martin was sufficiently 
recovered to be present, and to conduct Her Majesty and 
the Eoyal party through the exhibition at the private 
view, and also to preside — for the last time however — at 
the anniversary dinner, when he performed all the duties 
of the chair with his accustomed eloquence and grace. 
It was from this entertainment he was summoned to the 
deathbed of his beloved wife, who had nearly completed 
the fiftieth year of her married Ufe. 

Few more personal acts in connexion with the Eoyal 
Academy remain to be noticed. His last years were 
those of gradual decline of strength, and frequent suffer- 
ing ; yet his energy of mind remained unimpaired, and 
whenever called upon he always took a lively interest in 
advising the course to be taken in all matters affecting the 
Academy. Thus, on the death of the Bishop of Llandaff 
(Dr. Coplestone) in 1849, a vacancy was caused in the 
honorary office of Professor of Ancient Literature at the 
Eoyal Academy. These, graceful comphments to litera- 
ture on the part of the professors of art, are not made 
by election, but by the nomination of the Eoyal Patron, 
on the recommendation of the President ; and nearly the 
last act of Shee's connexion with the Academy was to 
name the late Lord Macaulay for the professorship — the 



Ch. XIV.] EXHIBITION OF 1851— THE \^ENON GIFT. 126 

appropriateness of which, none acquainted with the 
writings of the talented historian can fail to admit. 

A yet later subject, and one in which the President 
took a great interest, was the Exhibition of Industry of 
all Nations, proposed to be held in 1851. The Eoyal 
Academicians regarded this as an important event in the 
history of industrial art in this country (as indeed it 
proved), and in 1850 voted £500 out of their fimds to- 
wards the pubUc subscription made for the purposes of 
the Exhibition. But although Sir M. A. Shee looked for- 
ward to the opening of the Exhibition with an interest 
almost enthusiastic, he was gradually passing away, and 
died at Brighton on the 19th August, 1850. It was the 
wish of the Eoyal Academy that his remains should rest 
beside the other Presidents of the institution in St. Paul's 
Cathedral, and that they should receive the mark of 
respect signified by a public fimeral ; but the request was 
declined by the family, and he was privately buried in 
Brighton cemetery.* 

A few months before the decease of the President, the 
question of removing the Eoyal Academy from Trafalgar 
Square was raised, it having become necessary to provide 
additional space for the national pictures, the number of 
which had been recently largely increased by the pre- 
sentation by Mr. Eobert Vernon of his collection of 157 
works by modem British artists, formed during twenty 
years, under the guidance and suggestion of George Jones, 
E.A., who often introduced pictures to his notice, and per- 
suaded him to purchase them on his recommendation. It 
will be seen by the following letter that the Government 
of the day, while intending to appropriate the rooms 
occupied by the Academy for this purpose, recognised 
their claim to be provided with suitable accommodation 



> For most of tlie facts contained I am indebted to the interesting life 

in the preceding part of this chapter, of the late President, written by his 

relating to Sir M. A. Shee, ana his second son, in 1860, and published 

labours in defence of the Academy, by Messrs. Longman. 



126 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV, 

elsewhere, and proposed to make two annual votes of 
sums deemed sufficient for the purpose. The letter is 
addressed to the Keeper of the Eoyal Academy, who was 
at that time acting for Sir M. A. Shee as President ; — 

Downing Street, April 22, 1860. 

"Sir, — I have the honour to inform you that, in consequence 
of the want of room in the present National Grallery for the 
pictures belonging to the collection. Her Majesty's Government 
have come to the determination of appropriating the rooms now 
used by the Hoyal Academy to the purposes of the National 
Gallery. 

" It is the intention of the Government to propose to Parlia- 
ment a vote of £20,000 in the present year, and a similar vote 
in the next year, to enable the Eoyal Academy to provide them- 
selves with a building suited for the purposes of instruction for 
students and for exhibition of the works of artists. 

" Her Majesty will always be desirous to evince to the Royal 
Academy, by her countenance and protection, her wish for the 
success of their endeavours for the promotion and improvement 
of British art. 

" I have, &c 

'^JoHN Russell." 

" To George Jones, Esq." 

This proposal appears to have originated in the urgent 
request, made by some members of the House of Com- 
mons, for the whole of the National Gallery to be appro- 
priated to the reception of the pictures which had become 
the property of the nation, and no less in the wish of others 
to deprive the Eoyal Academy of its accommodation in 
that building. Mr. William Coningham published a series 
of letters in the " Times," in January of this year, attack- 
ing the Academy ; and the leading articles in that paper 
were apparently adverse to its claims, although they ad- 
mitted that " it seems to have been directed chiefly to 
educating the artist in his profession, and to teaching the 
public duly to appreciate it ; to fixing pictorial skill in a 
high social position, and to maintaining it there by the 
distribution of honours and the support of Eoyalty. That 



Ch. XIV.] PROPOSED GRANT TO BUILD A NEW ACADEMY 127 

these results have in a great measure been attained, and 
that the Academy has so far answered the end of its 
foundation, cannot, we think, be denied." 

On the 26th of April, Mr. Hume once more moved for 
returns showing the receipts and expenditure of the Eoyal 
Academy ; again charged its members with ilUberahty in 
reftising to open the exhibition gratis to the pubhc, not- 
withstanding that they had been provided with apart- 
ments in the National Gallery ; and expressed his deter- 
mination to vote against any grant of money to the 
Academy for the erection of a new building. The 
motion, after some discussion, in which many speakers 
addressed the House in the same tone, was negatived by 
forty-nine to forty-seven ; and Lord EusseU explained 
that although the Government wished to devote the Na- 
tional Gallery to the reception of the newly-acquired 
Vernon collection, and the other pictures belonging to 
the nation, — 

"At the same time, G-eorge III. having given the Royal 
Academy rooms in Somerset House, and various privileges, with 
a view to the founding of a National School of Art in this 
kingdom, by means of which the Academy had been enabled to 
maintain schools, both of sculpture and painting, it was due to 
the Boyal Academy, as well as desirable in a national point of 
view, that the Academy should have it in their power to carry 
on their schools. The Government, therefore, did not think it 
right to ask the Royal Academy to give up the rooms which 
they possessed in the National Gallery, for the reception of 
national works of art, without proposing that the House of 
Commons should grant that body a sum of money to enable 
them to obtain a site for a building which they might devote to 
the. purposes to which the rooms they now occupied in the 
Academy were applied. As this arrangement could not be 
effected immediately, it of course impUed that room could not 
at once be found for the Vernon Collection in the National 
Gallery; but in the course of the session, the Government 
would introduce a bill into the House to accomplish the object 
at the earliest possible moment. In the mean time, Marl- 
borough House, which was recently in possession of the Queen 



128 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XTV^ 

Dowager, had been given up to the Crown, and was destined to 
be the residence of the Prince of Wales ; but Her Majesty had 
been graciously pleased to declare that for the present, and for 
two years to come, the pictures of the late Mr. Vernon, and 
any others that might within that period be added to the 
National Collection, should be placed in Marlborough House, 
for the purpose of being exhibited to the public." 

The motion for making the grant was, however, with- 
drawn, so many members having declared that the country 
owed nothing to the Academy, and consequently that 
they should oppose any grant of public money. Hence, 
the matter was left to be decided at a future time, and 
we shall have again to speak of the arrangements subse- 
quently proposed. 

The twenty years which thus closed had been eventful 
ones in the history of the Academy. Modem pohticians 
had endeavoured to uproot the privileges of an institu- 
tion which owed its existence to the Eoyal patronage of 
a King who bore the honoured name of the father of his 
people, and who was ready both by his influence and 
with his means to promote every object for its advance- 
ment. The home he had assigned to it had been sur- 
rendered, and another provided for the Academy, on the 
assurance of the Government that none of its privileges 
would be thereby forfeited. But from the date of the 
removal to Trafalgar Square began an opposition to the 
peaceful enjoyment of their right by the Eoyal Acade- 
micians, which is not yet at an end. 

Meanwhile, however, the real work of the Academy 
went on uninterruptedly : it still opened its schools to 
every student who desired to be taught in the arts — 
afforded to the qualified professors the means of exhi- 
biting their works, as far as the space would admit — 
and continued annually to bestow large sums of money in 
pensions and gifts to artists and their famihes requiring 
such assistance. Among these latter one may be spe- 
cially mentioned — the contribution of £50 made by the 



Ch. XIV.] PRESENTS — THE EXfflBITIONS 129 

Academicians to the fund raised in 1846 for the benefit 
of poor B. R. Haydon, who had for years been their bit- 
terest foe, denouncing them on all occasions, and pubhsh- 
ing, not long before, a pamphlet entitled " Academies of 
Art, — more particularly the Royal Academy, — and their 
pernicious effects on the genius of Europe." A grant of 
£50, in addition to the sums previously awarded to the 
English Academy at Rome, was also made in 1848. 

Among the gifts made to the Royal Academy (besides 
those referred to in previous chapters), some of those 
presented during this period are especially interest- 
ing. West's portrait, painted by himself, was presented 
by Mr. Joshua Neeld ; Sir Joshua Reynolds's palette was 
given by Constable in 1830 ; Hogarth's palette was pre- 
sented by J, M. W. Turner, R.A., in 1832 ; and ten years 
afterwards his maul-stick, by Mr. James Hall. Three of 
Chantrey's busts were also presented to the Academy — 
that of H. Bone, RA. by R. T. Bone, in 1836, and those 
of George IV. and William IV., by Lady Chantrey in 
1837; a portrait of Francis Hayman,. R.A., by Sir Joshua 
Reynolds, was also presented in 1837. The art-trea- 
sures of the Academy are continually receiving additions 
by the purchases of books of prints, &c., made for the 
library, but the objects above mentioned are of peculiar 
interest to the members of the Academy, and are naturally 
highly prized by them. 

The exhibitions had maintained their attractive cha- 
racter in the eyes of the public during this period, as may 
be inferred from the annual increase in the amount re- 
ceived for admission. In 1830, the nimiber of works 
exhibited was 1,278. In 1836, — the last exhibition held 
in Somerset House, — there was a shght decrease, owing to 
a greater number of large-sized pictures being exhibited, 
the number the walls would hold being reduced to 1,154. 
The next year, 1837, the first exhibition at Trafalgar 
Square contained 1,289 works. In 1840, there were 
1,240 ; in 1846, 1,521 works were exhibited, by 864 

VOL. II- K 



130 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIV. 

contributors ; and 1,400 others were rejected for want of 
space. In 1850, 1,456 works were exhibited. In every year 
the whole available space is occupied ; the variation in 
the numbers not being occasioned by any diminution of 
space or materials, but simply by the varied sizes of the 
pictures which are hung on the walls. In these twenty 
years the character of the Exhibition had considerably 
changed. The school represented by Northcote, Smirke, 
Stothard, Newton, Hilton, Wilkie, Callcott, and Collins, 
had passed away from the Academy ; and while many 
old favourites remained, many of those who now hold 
the most prominent positions were rising into celebrity. 
The financial results of the Exliibition showed a steady 
increase, rising from £4,877 2s, in 1830, to £6,193 in 
1840, and £6,477 7s. in 1850 ; while the sums awarded 
in pensions averaged from £300 in 1830 to £700 in 1850, 
besides the large amount annually dispensed after the 
close of the Exhibition in miscellaneous grants of aid. 

From the schools of the Academy several students, 
successful in gaining the gold medal, had been awarded 
the allowance for traveUing abroad. Three painters 
availed themselves of this opportunity — George Smith, in 
1831 ; W. D. Kennedy, in 1840 ; and J. C. Hook, in 1846. 
Three sculptors were also sent abroad in the same way — 
E. G. Papworth, in 1834 ; Henry Timbrell, in 1843, who 
subsequently died at Eome ; and E. G. Physick, in 1850 ; 
and one architect, John Johnston, in 1837. 

Twenty-seven Eoyal Academicians died within this 
period. These were Northcote, E. Smirke, Stothard, R 
Westall, Beechey, T. and W. Daniell, Soane, Eossi, Thom- 
son, Howard, PhiUips, Callcott, Wilkie, Bone, P. Eeinagle, 
Jackson, Chantrey, Hilton, Collins,- Wyatville, Wilkins, 
Constable, Briggs, Newton, AUan, and Deering ; and eleven 
Associates and Engravers, viz. J. Gandy, Ohver, Drum- 
mond, Amald, Joseph, Allston, Geddes, and Duncan; 
and J. Heath, J. Fittler, and E. Bromley, the Engravers. 
Two members resigned their Diplomas : — ^E. E. Eeinagle, 
E.A., in 1848 ; and George Clint, A.E.A., in 1835. 



Ch. XIV.] CHANGES AMONG OFFICERS AND MEMBERS 131 

Several changes also occurred among the officers of the 
Academy in the twenty years during which Sir M. A. 
Shee was President. The venerable Henry Howard, — 
Secretary for thirty-seven years (having also been Professor 
of Painting for fourteen years), — died in 1847, and was 
succeeded by Mr. J. P. Knight. Sir Eobert Smirke was 
Treasurer during the whole period, but resigned in 
1850. The situation of Librarian was successively filled 
by Stothard till 1834, George Jones tiU 1840, CoUins till 
1842, Eastlake till 1844, and Uwins for the rest of the 
time. The Keepers were W. Hilton till 1839, and after- 
wards George Jones. The chair of the Professor of 
Painting was filled in succession by Thomas Phil- 

Ups tiU 1832, Howard till 1847, and LesUe tiU 1850. 
Sir John Soane was succeeded as Professor of Architec- 
ture, in 1837, by Wilkins, who however did not dehver 
any lectures, having died in 1839, and was then followed 
in that office by C. E. Cockerell. Turner resigned 
the Professorship of Perspective in 1837, and J. P. 
Knight accepted the appointment in 1839. Sir K. West- 
macott remained as the Professor of Sculpture, and Mr. 
J. H. Green as the Professor of Anatomy during the 
whole period. 

Among the honorary members also, alterations had 
been made. Bishop Blomfield retained the office of 
Chaplain during the whole period ; but Prince Hoare had 
been succeeded by Sir George Staimton as Secretary for 
Foreign Correspondence ; WiUiam Mitford had been fol- 
lowed by Henry Hallam as Professor of Ancient History, 
and the Bishop of Uandaff* by Lord Macaulay as Professor 
of Ancient literature. Sir Walter Scott held the ap- 
pointment of Antiquary until 1832, after which it re- 
mained vacant till 1850, when Sir E. H. Inghs accepted it. 

Thus, as years rolled on, the Academy lost its early 
members, but they have been followed by no unworthy 
successors, many of whom are still shedding lustre on the 
English School of Art. 

K 2 



132 



CHAPTEE XV. 

BOYAL ACADEMICIANS ELECTED DURING THE PRESIDENTSHIP 

OF SIR M. A. SHEE.~18aO-1850. 

The Fourth Fresident : Sir M. A. Shee. 

Famtera: Sir C. L. Eastlake (future President), Sir E. Landseer, H. P. 
Briggs, G. S. Newton, C. Stanweld, Sir W. Allan, Thos. Uwins, 
F. R. Lee, D. Maclise, F. W. Witherington, S. A. Habt, J. J. 
Chalon, D. Roberts, Sir W. C. Ross, J. P. Knight, C. Landseeb, 
T. Webster, J. R. Herbert, C. W. Cope, and W. Dtce. 

Sctdptars : J. Gibson, W. Wton, P. MrDowELL, and R. Westmacott. 

Architects : C. R. CocKERELL, J. P. Deering (formerly Gandt), P. Hard- 
wicx, and Sir C. Barry. 

SIR MAETIN ARCHER SHEE, P.R.A., whose career 
as President of the Royal Academy for twenty 
eventful years in its history we have traced in the pre- 
ceding chapter, was born a year after the foundation of 
the institution with which he was so long connected, at 
Dublin, on the 20th of December, 1769. He was the 
fourth son of George Shee, of Castlebar, a man of good 
classical education, and of ancient family, tracing his 
genealogy through the O'Shees, who held important 
territorial and social positions in Kerry and Tipperary 
long before the Enghsh expedition under Strongbow. 
Martin's father was a merchant, and was latterly afiiicted 
with blindness, caused by injudicious cupping. Notwith- 
standing this infirmity, he married a Miss Archer, a lady 
many years his junior, and of great personal attractions, 
who fully reciprocated his strong afiection for her. She 
gave birth to four children, two of whom died in infancy ; 
and she died of consumption, two years after the birth of 



Ch. XV.] SIR M. A. SHEE 133 

Martin, the youngest. After this sad bereavement, the 
blind father retired from business, took a cottage at 
Cookstown, near Dargle, in Wicklow, where he lived 
economically and in comparative seclusion, devoting 
himself to the care and education of his two sons. To 
this early parental training, the fixture President owed 
that taste for classic literature which was instilled into 
his mind in youth, and which he afterwards cultivated 
alone and unaided. He had a natural love of knowledge, 
and an ardent spirit of emulation, easily roused by suc- 
cessful displays of talent in any department of human 
exertion. This spirit at one time tempted him to practise 
the vioUn with great energy and success, and at another, 
to compete in athletic exercises. The only sister of his 
mother, Mrs. M'Evoy, kept his father's house at this time ; 
and under her gentle treatment the, at one time, sickly 
boy was reared and fostered. She married again, how- 
ever ; and Mr. Shee, in 1781, removed with his son to 
Dublin, where Martin was sent to a school conducted by 
Dominican fiiars, his family being all Cathohcs. By this 
time he had become strong and robust, and had acquired 
a knowledge of French from his aunt. Before the days 
of Catholic emancipation, there were few professions 
open to the members of the Eoman Church in Ireland, 
and it became doubtful what his future pursuit would be. 
In his early boyhood, a visit to a house where he 
saw some Dutch tiles in a fireplace, illustrating Scrip- 
ture, awakened a strong passion for drawing ; and he 
afterwards made copies of many of them from memory. 
After removing to DubUn, he entered the School of 
Design, under the Eoyal Dublin Society, at that time con- 
ducted by Mr. R L. West. Some time after his admission 
to this school, his father died (on Christmas Day 1783), 
and Martin, then only fourteen, was received into the 
house of his kind aunt, then Mrs. Dillon. Her partiahty 
to him angered her husband ; and the boy, one night 
over-hearing a conversation respecting him between them. 



134 inSTOEY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

determined no longer to remain an inmate of their 
house. At day-break the next morning he left his home, 
without money, but with the resolve to be independent, 
and his first earning was a half-guinea he obtained for 
painting the face of a clock. He went back to explain 
his purpose to his aunt, who, with her husband, urged 
him in vain to return to their house ; and, aided by her 
and other friends, he soon made progress in obtaining 
employment as a portrait painter (life-size in crayons) in 
Dame Street, Dublin. During the time he remained at 
West's academy, he studied with great zeal, and succeeded 
in carrying off all the medals awarded for drawings of the 
figure, landscape, and flowers; and after he left the 
schools, the Dublin Society presented him with a miniature 
silver palette, bearing an inscription expressing their sense 
of his ability as a draughtsman. 

He commenced oil-painting in Dublin ; and,in Junel788, 
came to London, to pursue his profession, taking lodgings 
first in Southampton Street and afterwards in Craven 
Street, Strand. Among his letters of introduction was 
one to Sir J. Eeynolds, who received him, he said, with 
much poUteness, but nothing more, and showed him his 
painting of 'The Death of Beaufort,' on which he was 
then engaged. He also paid Barry a visit, but met with 
a very cold greeting. Some eighteen months afterwards, 
Burke again brought him to the President's notice, when 
he was invited to breakfast, and advised to enter as a 
student at the Eoyal Academy. This a little mortified 
the young painter, as he fancied himself too far advanced 
to need such instruction; but he nevertheless followed 
Sir Joshua's counsel, and entered the schools of the 
Academy in November 1790, more than two years after 
his arrival in London. There he formed an acquaintance 
with a fellow-student in the Life School, who always 
arranged his materials for him at his seat before his 
arrival, and for whom in after years he cherished a warm 
regard ; this friend was the painter, author, soldier, and 



Ch. XV.] SIR M. A. SHEE 136 

diplomatist, Sir Eobert Kerr Porter, the brother of the 
accomplished novelists Jane and Maria Porter. Young 
Shee was most exemplary in following his profession, for 
he devoted the whole day to painting, and his evenings 
either to the company of a well-chosen circle of young 
literary men (for he does not seem to have had any 
artist-acquaintanoe);9r to the hard study of books. None 
of his time was waited ; for even the long hom* in those 
days employed by the coiffeur was appropriated to the 
reading of the whole body of English classical poetry. 

In 1789 he first appeared as an exhibitor at the Eoyal 
Academy ; his works being described as ' A Portrait of a 
Gentleman ' and the ' Head of an Old Man.' Writing of 
the impressions he received from the exhibition of the 
works of his contemporaries in that year, he said, " Law- 
rence, of all the young artists, stands foremost, and 
deservedly carries away the greatest share of praise. He, 
I think, will be of service to me, as you may be sure I 
am not a Uttle incited to exertion by his merit The 
small difference in years between him and me rouses me 
more to emulation than all the artists in London put 
together." About this period, Shee was engaged by 
Boydell and Macklin to make copies of pictures for the 
engravers, receiving eight to twelve guineas each for 
them. In the next year, 1790, he was sadly disappointed 
to find that four of his pictures which were accepted for 
the Exhibition, were afterwards excluded for want of 
room — a trial to which so many are doomed year by 
year, in consequence of the limited space at the disposal of 
the Koyal Academy. In 1791 he exhibited his first full- 
length portrait, ' A Gentleman in a Hussar Uniform ; * and 
in the next year portraits of Lewis the comedian, of Mr. 
Williams, — the " Anthony Pasquin," whose attacks on the 
Academy were afterwards so notorious, and to which we 
have already referred, — and of a Mr. Grant. In the same 
year Shee was one of the four students who were selected 
to take part in the funeral procession of Eeynolds, a 



136 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

circumstance which left a deep impression on his memory 
in after years. In 1794 he exhibited a historical pic- 
ture, ' The Daughter of Jephthah lamenting with her Com- 
panions.' 

While thus persevering, he does not appear at this 
time to have found his profession a remunerative one; 
and although his affectionate aunt, Mrs. Dillon (then 
again a widow) spontaneously offered him aid, so un- 
willing was he to trespass on the hberality of friends, 
that for a long period he practised the self-denial of 
never dining, except when enjoying the hospitaUty of 
others. Yet he was steadily acquiring reputation ; in 
1794, he was requested by the editor of one of the news- 
papers of the day to contribute a series of criticisms on 
the pictures in the Exliibition ; and he was thus led to 
make his first public hterary effort. In 1796 he removed 
from the apartments he had occupied in Jermyn Street 
to a large house in Golden Square, at the comer of 
Sherard Street ; and was married in December of that 
year to Mary, the daughter of Mr. James Power, of 
Youghal. In 1798 he went to reside in the house in 
Cavendish Square which had been built for, and was 
many years occupied by, Eomney the painter. There 
Fortune smiled on him. He painted a portrait of H. E. H. 
the Duke of Clarence in this year for the Chamber of 
Conamerce at Liverpool, of wliich an admirable engraving 
was made by Charles Turner ; and in November of the 
same year he was elected an Associate of the Eoyal 
Academy. For this honour he was not unprepared, for, 
three of the Academicians called on him the year before, 
to point out that he had omitted to insert his name as a 
candidate for the rank in the preceding year, or he would 
then have been elected an Associate, as the Academicians 
thought highly of his talents. The higher rank of RA. 
was attained very quickly, his election bearing date the 
10th of February, 1800. The diploma picture which he 
presented on that occasion was afterwards injured, and in 



Ch. XV.] SIR M. A. SHEE 137 

1808 he substituted another for it — the subject of the 
latter being 'BeUsarius.' 

After his election as an Academician, he travelled on 
the Continent m company with Samuel Eogers, the banker 
and poet ; and after the peace of Amiens, in 1812, made 
a long stay in Paris, meeting West, and many English 
artists there. Of this journey, he afterwards said, "a 
painter should never travel with a banker," as the means 
of the two were so different. In 1803-4 an invasion 
panic led to a proposed enrolment of all the members 
and students of the Eoyal Academy into an Artists' 
Volunteer Corps, But the older members were advanced 
in years, and many others thought their peaceful profes- 
sion opposed to such a course, although many of the 
young men eagerly embraced the idea. Shee warmly 
advocated the project, and proposed that it should include 
aU artists ; but when the plan was formally submitted to 
the Government, their services were declined. Nothing 
daunted, Shee's loyal spirit led him afterwards to join a 
corps formed in Bloomsbury, consisting chiefly of mem- 
bers of the legal profession, and therefore named "the 
Devil's own." 

Shee's first appearance as an author (after the news- 
paper criticisms already referred to) was in 1801, when he 
published anonymously a pamplet, entitled " A Letter to 
Noel Desenfans, Esq., late Consul-General of Poland in 
Great Britain," occasioned by the second edition of his 
catalogue, and his answer to what he terms " The Com- 
plaints of Painters, by a Painter," in which he defends 
his brother artists from the wholesale condemnation of 
modem talent by that famous dealer in old pictures. 
In 1805 he published his " Ehymes on Art ; or, the Ee- 
monstrances of a Painter," which he describes as a " poem 
on painting, in which more particularly the early pro- 
gress of the student is attempted to be illustrated and 
encouraged." In it he attacked, with much skill and 
satire, the false taste of the so-called dilettanti of the day, 



138 mSTORY OF THfe ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

and, with his disquisitions on art, mingled a good deal of 
censure on the false philosophy and democratic prin- 
ciples of the French Eevolution school of politicians. 
The work was much approved by Sharon Turner, the 
elder Disraeh, and Wilham Eoscoe ; and the public criti- 
cisms of it were also favourable. It evinced the talent 
and cultivated taste of its author, and helped forward the 
scheme of West in founding, by the aid of wealthy and 
noble connoisseurs, the British Institution for the En- 
couragement of the Fine Arts, A second edition, with a 
second preface, appeared the next year, and subsequently 
a third, the two latter being pubhshed by John Murray. 
A second portion of this poem, entitled the " Elements of 
Art," appeared in 1809. The notes form a large portion 
of the work, and constitute a series of essays and criti- 
cisms on professional points, and on subjects connected 
with the theory and practice of art of a less technical 
character. As it appealed chiefly to the minds and 
sympathies of students in art, however, it failed to obtain 
the same amoimt of favourable notice from the public as 
its predecessor. In 1808 he published an " Ode on the 
Death of Opie;" and in 1810 a pamphlet entitled "A 
Letter to the Directors of the British Institution, on the 
Subject of State Patronage, as apphed to the Higher De- 
partments of Art," in which he recommended a graduated 
scale of pecuniary reward, appUcable to the most suc- 
cessful and meritorious efforts in historic and poetic art, 
as exhibited by the different candidates for prizes to be 
offered by the Government; but the scheme failed to 
enhst the sympathies of the Administration of that day. 

Another poetic performance followed in 1814 — " The 
Commemoration of Eeynolds, an Ode," composed on the 
occasion of the exhibition of the collected works of the 
first President of the Academy, in which he examined 
his most celebrated works, and referred to those prin- 
ciples of taste of which they afforded such brilliant 
examples. To this poem was appended "Victory in 



Ch. XV.] SIR M. A. SHEE 139 

Tears," a poem published anonymously on the occasion of 
the death of Nelson. His next literary effort was a 
tragedy, entitled " Alasco," a fictitious story of an insur- 
rection in Poland, in which the sympathies of the audience 
were enhsted on the side of the oppressed populace. It 
was accepted by Charles Kemble for performance at 
Covent Garden Theatre, in 1823 ; but was condemned by 
the Lord Chamberlain (or rather by George Colman, 
then recently appointed licenser of plays), for its revo- 
lutionary tendencies. When the passages objected to, — 
which were harmless enough, — were expunged, the play 
received but a cold reception from the public ; but the 
author obtained £500 for the copyright of the MS., which 
was pubhshed entire, after an appeal from Shee against 
the injustice of the hcenser, addressed to the Duke of 
Montrose. His last work, published in 1829, was a work 
in three volumes, entitled "Old Court," issued anony- 
mously by Colbum — a novel, not of plot, but discussions, 
disquisitions and observations, in which he described 
many of the local scenes and personal reminiscences of 
the haunts and associations of his bojrish days. It attracted 
little attention from the pubUc, and was scarcely noticed 
even by the critics. He Uved on friendly terms of inti- 
macy with Byron,* Sydney Smith, Grattan, and Moore — 
was instrumental in founding (in conjunction with Sir 
Thomas Bernard) the "Alfred Club," a literary institu- 
tion which subsequently merged into the "Oriental;" 
and although thus quite a literary character, continued 
also to follow successfully his profession as an artist. 

On the death of Lawrence, in January 1830, as we 
have stated in the preceding chapter. Sir M. A. Shee was 
elected by a large majority of the members to succeed 
him as President, and their choice gave general satis- 



1 l^vwrn liaji nnfirp<1 RViaa'a nm- To gnido whose hand tbe sister arta combine, 

J5yron naS noncea Onee 8 pro- And tnM» the poet's as the painter's llne; 

ductlOIlS in his ** r^UflrllSll iiardS and whose magic touch can bid the canraa glow, 

a A^i. T> ^^^^^^.^ . >» And form the easy rhyme's harmoulooa flow ; 

OCOtCn XVeViewerS : — WhUe honours doubly merited attend 

" And here let Rhee and genius And a ptaoe. The poeta' rival, but the painters' firtend." 
Wboao pen and pencU yield an eanal grace ; 



140 fflSTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

faction. The pleasure he felt in attaining this high 
dignity was greatly enhanced by knowing that it was 
spontaneously offered to him, as he purposely avoided all 
communication with the Academicians, as far as possible, 
until the question was decided. He was too high-minded 
to solicit the support of any of his artist-brethren in his 
behalf ; much less had he sought to influence their decision 
by the aid of Eoyal favour or the applications of the 
great. Shortly after his election, he was knighted by 
King WiUiam IV., and became ex officio trustee of the 
British Museum and of the National Gallery, F.RS., a 
member and trustee of the Athenaeum, and of the So- 
ciety of Dilettanti, &c. On the morning of the day 
when the annual dinner was to be held, Sir Eobert Peel 
sent him, from King George IV., the gold chain and medal 
given to his predecessor, with the request that he would 
wear it on all pubhc occasions when he should appear as 
President. From the date of his appointment until the 
feilure of his health, his conduct in office was invariably 
marked by the most consistent and energetic devotion to 
its duties, for the performance of which he was pre-emi- 
nently qualified, as well by the sound judgment, the un- 
bending integrity and dignified firmness of his character, 
as by the graceful eloquence of his language in the chair, 
and the high-bred courtesy of his demeanour on all oc- 
casions. Kindly accessible at aU times to the humblest 
professor of his art, ever ready to foster obscure and 
modest merit, and to impart the benefits of his long ex- 
perience and matured knowledge to the aspirant for fame, 
he was regarded alike by the Academicians as their re- 
vered and beloved chief, and by the young artists as their 
guide and friend. 

As we have seen in the history of the Academy during 
the period of his Presidentship, much of his time and 
energies were devoted to its defence against its adver- 
saries ; yet he continued actively to pursue his profession, 
and year by year supplied to the exhibitions portraits of 



Ch. XV.] Sm M. A. SIIEE 141 

many eminent contemporaries. In 1834-5 he painted 
portraits of King William IV. and Queen Adelaide, and 
in 1842 that of our gracious Queen for the Koyal 
Academy. He was pre-eminently a portrait-painter (the 
branch of the art which some regard as the lowest, yet that 
in which Eembrandt, Velasquez, Vandyck, and Eeynolds 
achieved their greatest triumphs) — although he occa- 
sionally produced some works of a more poetical character 
— as *lAvinia,' from Thomson's '*^ Seasons" — 'Prospero 
and Miranda,' from the " Tempest," &c. In portraiture, 
he will take his place with Lawrence, Opie, and the 
best portrait-painters of his day, although not attain- 
ing the highest place among them. His figures have an 
air of ease and nature, combined with refinement; but 
there is a deficiency of intellectual expression and character 
in them, although his pencil has undoubtedly preserved 
to us the best portraits of the most eminent personages of 
his time. He painted with a pleasing, although some- 
times redundant, glow of colour ; but his works are defi- 
cient in depth and force, and lack variety of expression 
and treatment. Both as a writer on art and as an 
accomplished gentleman, full of extensive information, 
he did much to elevate his profession and to maintain 
its dignity among the distinguished circles in which he 
moved. 

In 1834 he was created a D.C.L. at Oxford, on the oc- 
casion of the installation of the Duke of Wellington as 
Chancellor of the University ; but, by an omission on the 
part of the authorities there, he was not summoned to 
receive his degree, and some confusion was caused when 
he was called and did not appear as was expected. In 
the following year he lost his venerable aunt, Mrs. Dillon, 
who had taken so warm an interest in his progress through 
life, and who, by her kindly guidance in his early boyhood, 
had done so much to form his character. The illness 
which led to his resignation of the office of President 
in 1845, had attacked him with some virulence at 



142 fflSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

intervals for three years previously ; and his career as an 
artist was virtually closed from that time. He had not 
attained such an independence by his profession that he 
could be insensible to the kindness of his brethren who, 
while desiring him to retain the Presidentship, also accom- 
panied his continuance in the office, as we have seen, with 
the grant of a salary of £300 a year, or to the pubUc 
recognition of his services to the English School of Art 
by the grant of a pension of £200 a year from the Civil 
List. Although long declining in bodily strength, and 
almost a constant sufferer, the mental powers of the 
venerable painter remained unimpaired to the last ; and 
for four years before his death, his chief enjoyment was 
to listen to one or other of his family reading to him for 
several hours daily. He died in his 81st year, on the 
19th August 1850, his last words being, "Do not wish 
for long hfe ; you see the state to which I am reduced." 
He was a member of the Eoman Cathohc Church, and 
was bmied at the cemetery at Brighton, at his own re- 
quest One of his sons has published a life of his 
distinguished parent, in 2 vols. 8vo., from which most of 
these particulars have been derived. 

Twenty-eight additional members were enrolled as 
Eoyal Academicians during the period of Sir M. A. 
Shee's Presidentship. Of these, twenty were painters, 
four sculptors, and four architects. 

The painters were Sir C. L. Eastlake, elected in 1830 
(of whom, as the next President, we shall speak in a 
subsequent chapter) ; Sir E. Landseer, elected in 1831 ; 
H. P. Briggs and G. S. Newton, in 1832; Clarkson 
Stanfield and Sir WiUiam Allan, in 1835; Thomas 
Uwins and F. E. Lee, in 1838 ; Daniel Maclise, F, W. 
Witherington, and Solomon A. Hart, in 1840 ; J. J. 
Chalon and D. Eoberts, in 1841 ; Sir W. C. Eoss, in 1843 ; 
J. P. Knight, in 1844 ; Charles Landseer, in 1845 ; Thos. 
Webster and J. R Herbert, in 1846 ; C. W. Cope and 



Ch. XV.] SIR E. n. LANDSEER 143 

Wm. Dyce, in 1848. Taking these artists in the order of 
their election, we have first to notice — 

Sir Edwin Heney Landseer, E.A., who was bom in 
London in 1802, being the son of John Landseer, the 
engraver, one of the early Associates of the Eoyal 
Academy. As soon as he was able to use a pencil with 
readiness, his father took him into the fields or to Hamp- 
stead Heath, to sketch sheep, goats, or donkeys, as they 
were grazing ; and thus set him to study nature rather 
than prints or models. His father pursued the same plan 
when he was sufficiently advanced to use oil colours ; and 
from early boyhood Sir Edwin was able to paint directly 
from nature, with great facility. At the age of fourteen 
he was the exhibitor of various sketches of spaniels, ter- 
riers, horses, &c. ; and at the Academy, in 1819, he 
exhibited a picture of ' Dogs Fighting,' which was greatly 
admired, and was purchased by Sir George Beaumont, an 
acknowledged connoisseur in art. His father undertook 
to engrave this picture, and announced a yet more striking 
production to appear by his talented son in the following 
year. This was first seen at the British Institution, the 
subject being two Mount St. Gothard mastiffs discovering 
a poor traveller half buried in the snow, which was ren- 
dered extremely popular by the admirable engraving of 
it made by his father. For some httle time the young 
artist consulted B. R Haydon every Monday as to his 
week's work, and was advised by him to make anatomical 
drawings of animals ; but he never became his regular 
pupil, having entered as a student at the Eoyal Academy 
in 1816. At Haydon's suggestion, he took advantage, in 
1820, of the death of a Hon at one of the London 
menageries, to study very carefully the various portions 
of the frame of that animal, and subsequently painted a 
series of pictures of the noble creature : ' A Lion Dis- 
turbed,' ' A lion Prowling,' ' A lion Eeposing,' &c. ; and 
at a later period, ^ Van Amburgh and his Lions,' painted 



144 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

in 1847 for the Duke of Wellington. All his earher 
productions are marked by great finish and carefulness of 
detail. His broader and more effective style began to ex- 
hibit itself after a visit to the Highlands in 1826, which 
had a strong influence on the choice of his fixture subjects. 
In that year he exhibited the ' Hunting of Chevy Chase,' 
and obtained the rank of Associate, at the earUest period 
at which he was ehgible for the honour by the laws of 
the Academy. He became a Eoyal Academician in 
1831. 

' The Eetum from Deer Stalking,' the first of his High- 
land subjects, appeared in 1827 ; ' The Monkey who had 
seen the World,' in 1828 ; ' The lUicit Whisky Still,' in 
1829; * Highland Music' and * Attachment,' in 1830; 
and ' Poachers, Deerstalking,' in 1831. Some of his sub- 
sequent works — 'Jack in Office,' 1833 ; 'High life and 
Low Life ;' ' Laying down the Law' — showed his capa- 
bility of rendering humorous the habits and physiog- 
nomy of dogs. In 1833 he painted an interesting picture 
of ' Sir Walter Scott and his Dogs ; ' and the next year, 
'Bolton Abbey in the Olden Time' — one of his most 
famous and popular works. Two years afterwards ap- 
peared another great work, 'A scene in the Grampians — 
the Drovers' Departure,' engraved by Watts. Li 1837, 
' The Eetum fi'om Hawking,' and ' The Shepherd's Chief 
Mourner' appeared. The next year, an admirable picture 
of a Newfoundland dog ('A Distinguished Member of th^ 
Humane Society'); a group of red-deer ('None but the 
Brave deserve the Fair ' ) ; and ' There's Life in the Old 
Dog yet,' were exhibited. Among his more recent works, 
equally excellent, the most important perhaps are — ' Peace' 
and ' War,' in 1846 ; ' The Eandom Shot,' in 1848 ; ' A 
Dialogue at Waterloo ' (the great Duke pointing out the 
scene of action to his daughter-in-law), in 1850 ; a scene 
from "Midsummer's Night's Dream," in 1851 ; 'Night' and 
' Morning,' two pictures painted for Viscount Hardinge, 
and 'The Children of the Mist,' in 1853; 'Saved,' and 



Ch. XV.] SIR E. H. LANDSEER 145 

' Highland Nurses,' in 1856 ; the ' Maid and the Magpie,' 
in 1858 ; and * The Flood in the Highlands,' in 1860. 

Landseer has sometimes painted portraits, and all the 
figures introduced into his pictures are admirably drawn. 
His portrait of his father (1848) was a masterly work. 
He has received a large number of commissions to 
paint favourite animals and birds, both from Her 
Majesty and other distinguished persons, and his profes- 
sional career has been a very lucrative one. As an in- 
stance of the estimate of the value of his pictures, it may 
be stated that Messrs. Graves, the print pubhshers, gave 
him £3,000 for the right to engrave 'Peace' and 'War,' 
in addition to the £1,200 he received from Mr. Vernon ; 
and another £3,000 for the copyright of the ' Dialogue at 
Waterloo.' He is acknowledged to be the greatest modern 
painter of animals, and has rarely been excelled in any 
age in that branch of his art. Whatever animal he re- 
presents, its form and colour, the exact degree of rough- 
ness or smoothness of its covering, its age, its wild or 
courtly training, — all are rendered with precision in the 
simplest manner, apparently without effort, and always 
without misadventure. He has given characteristic ex- 
pression to all his subjects, a"hd has depicted the feelings 
and passions of animals as successfully as others have re- 
presented human joys or sorrows ; and there is scarcely 
one of his pictures which does not convey some useful les- 
son to mankind, taught by these animal creations. The 
dog, the horse, and the red-deer, are, perhaps, his pecu- 
liar favourites, and those which he has most perfectly 
mastered ; but there is no limit to his range of subjects, 
notwithstanding his preference for some ; and his marvel- 
lous skill in execution, combined with the deep sentiment 
which pervades all his works, would place him among the 
great painters of any age or country. 

Nearly aU his pictures have been engraved, and some 
of them more than once. A collection of his early etch- 
ings and sketches was made in London some years since, 

VOL. II, L 



140 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV, 

which showed how early in his boyhood he had begun 
to watch the habits and forms of animals, and with what 
a true eye he was able to depict what he observed. In 
1850 he received the honour of knighthood from the 
Queen in acknowledgement of his genius as an artist; and 
at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, in 1855, he was 
the only EngUsh artist to whom "the large gold medal" 
was awarded for the works exhibited there. The English 
nation is happy in possessing, as public property, a large 
number of works by this great artist. The gift of Mr. 
Vernon included his * Highland Music,' and ' Spaniels of 
Kmg Charles's Breed' (1832); 'The Hunted Stag' (1833); 
'Peace' and 'War' (1846) ; and a 'Dialogue at Waterloo' 
(1850). The Sheepshanks collection also contains sixteen 
specimens, and among them some of a still earUer date 
—'The Twa Dogs' and 'The Dog and the Shadow' 
(1822); 'SanchoPanza and Dapple' (1824); 'A High- 
land Breakfast' and 'Suspense' (1834); 'The Drover's 
Departiu'e' (1835) ; 'A Jack in Office,' 'Comical l)ogs,' 
and the 'Naughty Boy,' — a child who refused to sit to 
the painter for his portrait ; ' The Old Shepherd's Chief 
Mourner' (1837), and some others. 

Henry Perkonet Briggs, E.A., was a member of a 
Norfolk family, and was bom in 1792. He became a 
student at the Eoyal Academy in 1811. His first picture, — 
a portrait, — was exhibited there in 1814, from which time 
until his election, first as an Associate in 1825, and as a 
Eoyal Academician in 1832, he contributed numerous 
historical pictures to the annual exhibitions. The prin- 
cipal of these were, ' Lord Wake of Cottingham setting 
fire to his Castle, to prevent a Visit from King Henry 
Vni. who was enamoured of his Wife,' exhibited in 
1818 ; the next year a subject from Boccaccio, ' Calan- 
drino;' and subsequently, ' Othello relating his Adventures 
to Desdemona ; ' ' The First Interview between the Spa- 
niards and Peruvians ; ' and ' George IIL on board the 



Ch. XV.] H. P. BRIGGS — G. S. NEWTON 147 

Queen Charlotte, presenting a Sword to Earl Howe, after 
the Victory of June 1, 1794/ This picture is now in 
Greenwich Hospital, having been presented in 1825 by 
the British Institution, the governors of which society 
awarded him, in 1823, a premium of one hundred guineas, 
in consideration of the pictures he had exhibited there 
and at the Koyal Academy. In 1831 he painted a 
large picture, ' The Ancient Britons instructed by the 
Bomans in the Mechanical Arts,' for the Mechanics' 
Institute at Hull. Two of his pictures are in the Vernon 
Gallery — 'The First Conference between the Spaniards 
and Peruvians in 1531,' and ' JuUet and the Nurse.' 

From the period of his election as an Academician, he 
almost abandoned historical painting, and for several 
years in the latter part of his life confined his talents 
entirely to portraiture — not from choice, but because the 
cares and-responsibihties of married hfe were then in- 
creasing upon him, and he found himself thus compelled 
to follow the most profitable branch of his profession. 
His historical pictures possess much strength of character, 
vigorous drawing, powerful effects of colour, and light 
and shade, — qualities which he appUed with equal success 
to portraiture in the manner of Opie, to whom he was 
related. He was, however, inchned to give a degree of 
stage action to his figures, and his colouring was often 
sombre. Many celebrated persons sat to him ; among them 
the Duke of WeUington, Lord Eldon, Dean Milman, Baron 
Alderson, Sir T. F. Buxton, Eev. Sydney Smith, Sir 
Samuel Meyrick, Charles Kemble, Mrs. Siddons, and Mrs. 
Opie, and many of the nobility. He died on the 18th of 
January, 1844, in his 51st year, in Bruton Street. His 
wife, to whom he was much attached, died six or seven 
years before him, and he never completely recovered from 
the shock. He left two orphans on his decease. 

Gilbert Stuart Newton, E. A., was bom in November 
1794, at Halifax, Nova Scotia, where his father held an 

h 2 



148 raSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

« 

appointment in the Commissariat Department of the 
British army. He was first taught as an artist by his 
uncle, Gilbert Stuart, the portrait painter at Boston. In 
1817 he came to England, and afterwards visited Italy. 
On his return to this country, in 1820, he entered as a 
student at the Eoyal Academy, became an Associate in 
1828, and a Eoyal Academician in 1832. He seems to 
have been attracted by the work of Watteau, whose 
style he closely followed in some small pictures he ex- 
hibited at this time, which were engraved in the annuals. 
Among them were ' The Lovers' Quarrel ' and ' The 
Prince of Spain's Visit to Catalina,' which the Duke of 
Bedford purchased for 500 guineas. Many others fol- 
lowed, which were no less popular. Among them, ' Shy- 
lock and Jessica,' ' Yorick and the Grisette,' and ' Abbot 
Boniface' from "The Monastery," in 1830; 'Portia 
and Bassanio,' ' Lear, Cordelia, and the Physician' (1831) ; 
* The Vicar of Wakefield restoring his Daughter to her 
Mother,' and * Macheath,' both purchased by the Marquis 
of Hastings ; ' A Poet reading his Verses to an Impatient 
Gallant,' ' Camilla introduced to Gil Bias,' * The Duenna,' 
^ The Fair Student,' and 'Abelard in his Study :' with the 
last-named, exhibited in 1833, his labours as an artist 
ceased. Most of these works have been engraved ; and a 
prosperous career seemed to lie before him, when imhap- 
pily he evinced signs of mental aberration, whicli became 
confirmed insanity, from which he only recovered four 
days before his death, which occurred on the 5th of August, 
1835, at the age of forty-one. In 1832 he went to America, 
and married there ; and his wife and child returned to 
that country a few months after his death. He was one 
of the artists for whom Washington Irving and C. E. 
Leslie formed a strong friendship after their arrival in 
London. He lived for a long time at No. 41 Marlborough 
Street. During his latter days he was confined in an 
asyliun at Chelsea, where Leslie visited him, and found 
him still amusing himself by making sketches. 



Ch. XV.] G. S. NEWTON — C. STANFIELD 149 

His works are fiill of elegant and at times elevated 
sentiment, strikiag and transparent effects of light and 
shade, and fine natural perception of colour, introducing 
innumerable gradations, in which respect his pictures 
rank among the best in the English School. It is said 
that he painted slowly, and was laborious even to a fault 
in his execution ; but his works bear no traces of it, nor 
are they over-finished. His female figm-es are beautiful 
creations, expressive of innocence and simpUcity ; hence 
he was much sought by the publishers of the Annuals, 
who secured most of his small works to engrave for their 
books to illustrate love stories and sentimental poems. 
The larger number of his productions were illustrative of 
Shakspeare, Mohere, and the English novehsts ; and his 
sketches of these subjects often surpassed his finished 
compositions for ease, nature, and poetic feehng. Three 
of his pictures, are in the National Collections — 'York 
and the Grisette ' and ' The Widow,' presented by Mr. 
Vernon ; and ' Portia and Bassanio ' by Mr. Sheepshanks. 

Clarkson Stanpield, E.A., was bom at Sunderland 
in 1798. When quite a boy he entered the Marine ser- 
vice, and served on board the same ship in which Douglas 
Jerrold was a midshipman. He used frequently to amuse 
himself by painting with whatever materials he had at 
his command ; and on one occasion, when the officers got 
up a play on board the ship, he painted the scenery, and 
Jerrold acted as stage manager. On the ocean he learnt 
all about salt water and ships ; and to such an apprentice- 
ship may be attributed the accuracy of detail and the 
characteristic fidehty with which he depicts everything 
connected with the sea and nautical life. Quitting his 
first profession, he determined to devote himself exclu- 
sively to art, and availed himself of the first opening 
which offered to gratify his desire — an engagement to 
paint the scenery for a sailors' theatre (the old Eoyalty) 
in Wellclose Square. It was hard work, but useful 



150 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACxVDEMY [Oh. XV. 

study, and he thus acquired both facility of execution and 
knowledge of effect. The style of De Loutherbourg, the 
great scene-painter of the day, seems to have arrested his 
attention ; and he certainly appears to have quickly 
reached, and soon to have excelled the model he set 
before him. 

After a time he obtained an appointment at Drury 
Lane Theatre, where he had better materials to work 
upon, and a larger scope for his talent. He astonished 
the visitors by the unrivalled scenes of beauty presented 
to them in the moving panoramas he prepared for several 
years for the Christmas pieces. The most striking of 
these were the dioramas of 'The Needles, and the 
Launch and Wreck of a Vessel,' which included views of 
Portsmouth and Spithead ; the scenery of Windsor, begin- 
ning with the castle and terminating with Virginia Water ; 
and a third of * Napoleon crossing the Alps.' Much of 
the improvement effected in scene-painting, and the 
artistic excellence to which it has attained, is to be attri- 
buted to the taste for beauty in such works which the 
scenery painted by Stanfield first created in the pubhc 
mind. This was his profession for several years — but he 
was meanwhile painting small marine views for private 
friends, by which he soon acquired fame as a painter of 
coast scenery unsurpassed by any of his compeers. 

His first efforts for the pubhc in this style were exhi- 
bited at the British Institution in 1823, and also at the 
Society of British Artists, of which he became a member 
on its foundation in that year, and remained in connection 
with it for several years afterwards. He began to exhibit 
at the Eoyal Academy in 1827 ; and having made a tour 
on the Continent in 1830, many of his subsequent works 
represented the scenes he had visited, and showed how 
observantly he had studied all he had seen there. In 
1832 he was elected an Associate of the Eoyal Academy, 
having previously resigned his connection with the Society 
of British Artists. In the same year he received two 



Ch. XV.] CLARKSON STANFIELD 161 

commissions from the sailor king, William IV. — the one 
' The Opening of New London Bridge,' exhibited at the 
Academy, the other a picture of ' Portsmouth Harbour,' 
sent to the British Institution. Meanwhile he abandoned 
scene-painting ; but he has of late years proved his un- 
changed skill by painting two scenes for the play of 
" Not so Bad as we Seem," performed for the benefit of 
the Guild of Literature and Art, and some others for the 
private theatre of Charles Dickens. 

In 1835 he became a Eoyal Academician, and has 
ever since been a constant exhibitor at the Academy, 
his contributions consisting of spirited views of the si 
and coast of England, Venice, Naples, the Mediterranean, 
Normandy, Holland, &c Sometimes he changed his 
style, as in ' Salvator Eosa's Study,' a wild rocky com- 
position painted in 1849, and ' Macbeth and the Weird 
Sisters,' a large picture of dreary moor and momitain, in 
1850. While most of his pictures are vivid topographical 
views, there are among them many works of imagination, 
displaying deep feeling and poetry. Of such works the 
following may be cited as examples : — ' The Abandoned' 
(1856), ' The Wreck of a Dutch East Indiaman' (1844), 
' The Victory bearing the Body of Nelson, towed into 
Gibraltar' (1854), ' The wrecked Spanish Armada' (1857), 
•French Troops Fording the Magra in 1796,' painted in 
1847 for the late Earl of Ellesmere ; and ' Tilbury Fort, 
Wind against Tide ' (1849), painted for Mr. E. Stephen- 
son, M.P., and engraved for the Art Union of London. 

Clarkson Stanfield is a thorough master of the tech- 
nical part of his art, and of pictorial effect If there 
be any fault to find with his compositions, it is that there 
is a tendency to study these, which .seem sometimes to 
tell too forcibly ; and that the gradations of atmosphere 
which distinguished the best works of Turner are not 
reached by him. Although a marine painter, at home 
on the sea, he draws views of the cities on the shore, or 
of the noble buildings and ruins of Venice or Italy with 



162 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

exquisite truth and correctness. Besides his numerous 
miscellaneous works, he has painted a series of ten Itahan 
pictures to fit into panels of large size in the banqueting 
hall at Bowood for the Marquis of Lansdowne ; a series 
of Venetian views for the Duke of Sutherland's seat at 
Trentham ; and the ' Battle of Trafalgar' for the United 
Service Club. In "Heath's Annual," he published a 
series of sketches of ' Coast Scenery ; ' and in 1838, in foUo, 
a collection of hthographic copies of his drawings of the 
Moselle, Ehine, Meuse, &c. The Vernon Gallery contains 
four of his works — 'The Lake of Como' (1826), the 
sketch for the large picture of the ' Battle of Trafalgar,' 
*The Canal at Venice' (1836), and 'The Entrance to 
the Zuyder Zee' (1844). In the Sheepshanks Collection 
there are three others — ' A Market Boat on the Scheldt' 
(1826), 'Near Cologne' (1829), and 'Boulogne Sands' 
(1838), all fair examples of his style. In 1858 the Boyal 
Scottish Academy granted him their diploma, and, in 
company with David Eoberts, he was entertained by the 
corporation of Edinburgh on the occasion. 

Sir William Allan, E.A., was bom at Edinburgh in 
1782, and was educated at the High School there, under 
William Nichol, the companion of the poet Bums. He 
was intended for a coach-painter ; but early evincing a love 
for art, and employing aU his leisure hours in drawing, 
he determined to quahfy himself for an artist. He there- 
fore began to study at the Trustees' Academy, entering it 
on the day when Graham commenced his duties as 
master, and at the time when David Wilkie, John Burnet, 
and Alexander Eraser were also students there. The 
friendship between these young artists was an enduring 
one, and in the case of Wilkie ceased only with his life. 
After completing his studies under Graham, William Allan 
removed to London at the time when Opie was in . the 
zenith of his fame. In 1805 he exhibited, in the style of 
that artist, a picture of ' A Gipsy Boy and Ass,' but he 



Ch. XV.] SIR WILLIAM ALLAN. 153 

did not meet with employment in the metropolis, and 
resolved to try his fortime elsewhere. 

Eussia was the country to which he turned both for 
new materials for his pencil, and for an opening in his 
career as an artist. In 1805 he set sail for Eiga on his 
way to St. Petersburg. The ship narrowly escaped 
destruction, and put into Memel in Prussia httle better 
than a wreck. Finding himself suddenly thwarted in his 
plans, he commenced painting a portrait of the Danish 
consul at that place, to whom he had been introduced by 
the captain of the vessel ; and with similar employment 
in other quarters replenished his purse and pursued his 
course to* St. Petersburg. At this time stirring events 
were agitating the countries through which he passed, 
and his journey was attended by many perilous and 
romantic incidents. Through the introduction of Sir 
Alexander Crichton, the Court physician, he was em- 
ployed by many noble famihes in St. Petersburg, and 
was thus enabled to pursue his labours with success and 
advantage. As soon as he had attained a knowledge of 
the Russian language he travelled into the interior, 
remained for several years in the Ukraine, and made 
excursions into Turkey and Tartary, to the shores of the 
Black Sea, the Sea of Azoff, and the banks of the Kuban. 
In these journeys he visited the huts and tents of 
Cossacks, Circassians, Turks, and Tartars ; studied their 
history, character, and costumes, and collected a variety of 
specimens of their arms and implements. His stay abroad 
was prolonged in consequence of the memorable events 
which were then taking place, for Napoleon had thrown 
the country into confusion and alarm : the invasion of 
Russia had already commenced, and Allan became thus 
an eye-witness of many of the heart-rending scenes 
connected with the history of the period. 

It was not tiU 1814 that he returned to Scotland. He 
then began to make use of his past career to embody 
some of the romantic scenes and events he had witnessed 



154 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

in his travels, and in 1815 exhibited at the Eoyal 
Academy his picture of ' The Circassian Captives/ which 
was so remarkable for masterly arrangement and origin- 
ahty in matter and character that it attracted general 
attention. This was followed by ' Tartar Banditti,' ' Haslan 
Gheray crossing the Kuban,' 'A Jewish Wedding in 
Poland,' 'Prisoners conveyed to Siberia by Cossacks,' 
&c. These, with many others, he afterwards exhibited in 
Edinburgh, together with his collection of arms and cos- 
tumes. Although his works were popular, he received so 
little encouragement that he became disheartened, as he 
was gradually absorbing all the profits arising from his 
continental labours. In this season of difficulty and dis- 
appointment. Sir Walter Scott, John Wilson, J. G. Lock- 
hart, and several other of Allan's friends, proposed that 
a hundred gentlemen should each subscribe ten guineas 
to purchase his picture of ' The Circassian Captives,' and 
determine by lot whose it should be. It thus became the 
property of the Earl of Wemyss, and is now in his Lord- 
ship's collection. About the same period the Grand Duke 
Nicholas (the late Czar of Eussia) bought several of the 
pictures above mentioned; and Allan's works slowly made 
their way and found purchasers. 

He now abandoned his foreign subjects, and betook 
himself to Scottish scenes. His picture of ' The death of 
Archbishop Sharp,' was purchased by Mr. Lockhart, 
M.P. ; ' The Press G^ang,' by Mr. Horrocks of Tillyheeran ; 
* Knox admonishing Mary Queen of Scots,' by Mr. Trotter 
of Ballandean ; and ' The Ettrick Shepherd's Birthday,' 
by Mr. Gott of Leeds. In 1824 he exhibited *The 
Abdication of Mary Queen of Scots,' and in 1825 * The 
Kegent Murray shot by Bothwellhaugh.' This picture 
was purchased for 800 guineas by the Duke of Bedford, 
and procured for the painter his election as an Associate 
of the Eoyal Academy. Tlie titles of these works show 
that Allan made historical painting almost his exclusive 
study ; and in them all he displayed much skill and refine- 



Ch. XV.] SIR WILLIAM ALLAN 165 

ment, and paid great attention to correctness of character 
and costume. Some of his portrait pieces were treated 
very happily : ' Scott in his Study Eeading,' and ' Scott 
Writing,' were specimens of a style of portrait-painting 
worthy of imitation. 

His prosperous career was checked by a severe malady 
in the eyes, which threatened to produce total blindness, 
and not only compelled him to cease from all professional 
labours, but caused him acute suffering for many years. 
By medical advice he went to Italy, spent a winter at 
Eome, and from Naples made a journey to Constantinople ; 
and after travelling through Asia Minor and Greece, he 
returned to Edinburgh in 1830 restored to health. A 
picture of ' The Slave Market at Constantinople,' painted 
after his return, was quickly sold ; and others of ' Byron 
in the Fisherman's Hut after swimming the Hellespont,' 
and whole-length cabinet pictures of * Scott ' and ' Bums,' 
were purchased by Mr. Robert Nasmyth, and *The 
Orphan Daughter of Sir W. Scott,' by Queen Adelaide. 
His love of traveUing again prompted him, in 1834, to 
undertake a voyage to Spain. He proceeded to Cadiz 
and Gibraltar, travelled through West Barbary and the 
greater part of Andalusia, and was only deterred from 
proceeding to Madrid by urgent intelligence from home. 
The chief pictures he painted after his return were ' The 
Moorish Love Letter,' ' The Murder of Eizaio,' ' The 
Battle of Prestonpans,' ' An incident in the life of Robert 
Bruce,' * Whittington and his Cat,' ' Polish Exiles on the 
road to Siberia,' ' Prince Charles Edward in Adversity,' 
' The Stolen Child Recovered,' ' Sir W. Scott and his 
Youngest Daughter,' ' Nelson boarding the San Nicolas,* 
and ' An Incident in the Life of Napoleon.' A single 
specimen of his works, * Arabs dividing Spoil,' is in the 
Vernon Collection. 

He became a Royal Academician in 1835 ; and on the 
death of Mr. Watson, the original President of the Royal 
Scottish Academy, in 1838, he was elected as his successor. 



166 fflSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Oh. XV. 

In 1841, on the death of Wilkie, he was appointed Her 
Majesty's Limner for Scotland, and received the honour of 
knighthood the following year. He had long proposed to 
paint a picture of the battle of Waterloo ; and during 
several tours in France and Belgium he made sketches of the 
field of action, and collected other materials for the sub- 
ject. In 1843 he exhibited this picture at the Academy, 
representing 'The Battle from the French side,' Napo- 
leon and his staff occupying the foreground. The Duke of 
Wellington purchased this work, and gratified the artist 
by expressing his satisfaction at the truthfulness of it : — 
"Good — very good — not too much smoke," was the brief 
comment by the great Duke when he first saw it Allan 
was thus encoiu'aged to commence another great picture 
of the same battle from the British side, and exhibited it 
in Westminster Hall in the competition for decorating the 
Houses of ParUament, in 1846. It did not, however, 
meet with the award of one of the prizes offered by the 
Eoyal Commission on the Fine Arts. In 1844 he again 
visited Eussia, and painted for the Czar a picture of 
' Peter the Great teaching his Subjects the Art of Ship- 
building,' which was exhibited at the Academy in 1845, 
and is now in the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg. 
His last great work was ' The Battle of Bannockbum.' 
It was fast approaching completion when death closed 
his labours. He worked at it with as much diligence as 
the precarious state of his health for many months would 
permit, and had his bed removed into his painting-room 
that he might sleep near his work. When the pencil fell 
at length from his hand, he was too far gone in illness to 
be removed ; and he died in his painting-room at Edin- 
burgh in front of his unfinished work, on the 23rd of 
February, 1850, in his 69th year. 

For nearly eighteen years he was the master of the 
Trustees' Academy at Edinburgh, where he and Wilkie 
were pupils together, and where he afterwards communi- 
cated much of his own enthusiasm in art to the young 



Ch. XV.] THOMAS UWINS 157 

students. He is justly regarded as one of the first artists 
of Scotland, both as the President of its Academy, and as 
a historical painter. He was an honorary member of 
the Academy of St. Luke at Eome, and of those of New 
York and Philadelphia. His singularly unassuming manners 
and amiable disposition endeared him to his brother 
artists and a large circle of Mends in all ranks of society. 
Sir Walter Scott used fondly to call hhn " Will Allan," 
and their long friendship terminated only when the painter 
stood by the bedside of the dying poet. 

Thomas Uwins, RA., was bom at Pentonville on the 
25th of February, 1782. He was at first intended for an 
engraver, and was apprenticed to a member of that profes- 
sion named Smith; whose service, however, he left in 
1798 to become a student at the Boyal Academy, his 
ambition being to become a painter. At the beginning of 
his career he found employment in copying pictures for 
engraving, and in designing book illustrations, taking, in 
the latter, Stothard for his model, yet preserving an origi- 
nality of style and treatment. Hitherto he had odiy 
practised in water-colours, and in 1811 he was elected a 
member of the (old) Water-Colour Society, and subse- 
quently became its Secretary. In 1814 his health failed 
him, and compelled him to retire to the south of France. 
There he made a number of sketches, which he after- 
wards worked into pictures of considerable merit. He 
had imfortunately become security for a friend — the Col- 
lector for the Society of Arts — who became a defeulter, 
and thus Uwins was burdened with pecuniary habilities, 
which he laboured assiduously for a long time to discharge. 
In so doing he seriously injured his sight, and he was no 
longer able to execute the dehcate designs in water-colours 
which he had hitherto finished so elaborately for the 
engravers. 

On returning from abroad, he spent two years in Edin- 
burgh, where he began a series of portraits for book 



158 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

illustrations, and thus qualified himself to practise as a 
portrait painter. In 1826 he fulfilled a long-cherished 
wish of visiting Italy, and went to Geneva, Florence, 
Borne, and Naples. During a prolonged stay he studied 
the everyday life of the Italian and Neapohtan peasantry, 
and made them furnish him with materials for a large 
number of paintings, in which their picturesque costumes, 
their happy sports, and their sunny cHme gave a glow 
of warmth and joyousness which rendered them very 
attractive. He did not return to England tiU 1831. His 
first Italian picture was ' The Tarantella ; ' the next, ' The 
Saint Manufactory,' exhibited in 1832, obtained for him 
his election as an Associate at the Eoyal Academy in the 
following year. At a later period he painted subjects 
from the . works of Sterne, Shakspeare, and the classic 
authors. 

In 1838 he became a Eoyal Academician, and in 1842 
was appointed Keeper of Her Majesty's pictures. He was 
one of the artists employed to execute fi'escoes for the 
summer-house at Buckingham Palace, and painted ' Cupid 
and Psyche ' for his late Eoyal Highness the Prince Con- 
sort. Some other poetical and historical works followed, 
as ' Psyche with the Casket of Beauty,' ' The Eeproof,' 
* St. John the Baptist proclaiming the Messiah,' ' Judas,' 
&c. All his pictures are characterised by graceful com- 
position and dehcate execution, the subject being carefully 
studied and conscientiously carried out in a style at once 
simple, pure, and unaffected. In 1844 he was appointed 
Librarian to the Eoyal Academy, and in 1847 Keeper of 
the National Gallery, both of which offices he resigned in 
1855 when his health seriously failed. Until that time he 
resided at Kensington, but then removed to Staines, 
where, although very feeble, he afterwards continued to 
sketch in the surrounding neighbourhood up to three or 
four days preceding his death. To the last he was sur- 
rounded by a host of affectionate friends, who loved his 
kindly spirit and admired his cultivated mind. His long 



Ch. XV.] THOMAS UWINS— F. R. LEE 159 

residence in Italy, and his passion for reading, no doubt 
contributed to render him a pleasant and instructive com- 
panion. 

He died on the 25th of August, 1857, and was buried 
in the church of Staines on the 2nd of September, followed 
to the grave by twelve members of the Eoyal Academy. 
Uwins seemed to think the Academy all but infaUible, 
and was always suggesting plans by which its good influ- 
ences for art and its professors could be extended. At 
various meetings of the Council during the last few years 
of his life, he proposed that the allowance to travelUng 
students should be increased ; that some alteration should 
be made in the mode of inscribing the names of candidates 
for the rank of Associates ; that lectures should be given 
to the students by non-members; that meetings of the 
Academicians should be held at intervals for social inter- 
course ; and that some improvements should be made in 
the Life School : in all these things evincing his anxiety to 
enlarge the influence of the institution he loved so weU. 

Two very pleasing specimens of his works are in the 
Vernon Gallery — ' Le Chapeau de Brigand ' (1843), and 
' The Claret Vintage in the South of France ' (1848). 
Four other paintings (besides some small water-colour 
drawings) are in the Sheepshanks Collection — ' A Nea- 
poUtan Mother teaching her Child the Tarantella,' ' The 
favourite Shepherd,' ' Suspicion,' and ' A Neapolitan Boy 
decorating the Head of his Inamorata.' In 1858 was 
published " EecoUections of Thomas Uwins, R.A., by Mrs. 
Uwins," in two volumes, which contained a full account 
of his early life and of his associates, and portions of his 
correspondence with his brothers. Sir Thomas Lawrence, 
Sir C. L. Eastlake, and others, during his long residence 
in Italy. 

Frederick Eichard Lee, RA., was bom at Barn- 
staple, Devon, in 1799, and when very young entered the 
army and served in the campaign in the Netherlands. HI 



160 HISTORY OP THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

health soon compelled him to abandon a mihtary life, and 
early in life he determined to become a landscape painter. 
He was admitted as a student at the Eoyal Academy in 
1818, and his love of art and his true enjoyment of nature 
enabled him to make rapid progress in his studies. He 
first began to attract attention as an exhibitor at the 
British Institution, and subsequently (1824) at the Eoyal 
Academy. From the first he hajs chosen the kind of 
scenery which had most attraction in his own eyes, for his 
pencil to work upon ; and he has made views of rivers and 
lochs, anglers' nooks, and the shady lanes and avenues of 
his own country his especial study. Sometimes he has 
varied this course, depicting the open moors, extensive 
mountain scenery, and sea-views; but these, although 
displaying many artistic qualities, have not an equal 
charm with those subjects which he has made peculiarly 
his own. Some pictures of dead game, fish, &c., painted 
by him for the late Mr. WeUs, show that he has great 
variety of power if he chooses to exercise it. 

Latterly he has sometimes painted in conjunction with 
T. S. Cooper, and the combination of the scenery by the 
one, with the vivid representations of animal life by the 
other, is very effective. It is not necessary to give a list 
of his numerous pictures, for the titles of a few of them 
wlQ indicate their character. 'The Ford,' *The Watering 
Place,' 'The Fisherman's Haunt,' 'The Broken Bridge,' 
&c., represent one class. ' A Devonshire Lane,' ' A 
Village Green,' ' A Harvest Field,' are among his homely 
scenes ; while the avenues of Penshurst, Northwick, and 
Sherbrooke afforded materials for others. His own native 
county and Cornwall, the valley of the Wharfe in York- 
shire, and North Wales are the sources fi*om whence he 
derives his materials, and which he renders true to nature 
with a masterly hand, and always with a refreshing feeling 
to the eye of the beholder. 

He was elected an Associate in 1834, and a Eoyal 
Academician in 1838. He has been a constant contri- 



Ch. XV.] LEE — MACLISE 161 

butor to the exhibitions for many years^ His views of 
the Bay of Biscay (1857), and Gibraltar (1861) were his 
first foreign views, and were remarkable for originality of 
treatment. For a long time past he has resided at his 
native place, Barnstaple, the neighbourhood of which 
possesses many of the varied beauties which it evidently 
aJSTords him such true pleasure to transfer to his canvas. 
Two of his pictures are in the Vernon Gallery — ' The 
Cover Side,' painted in 1839, in which a group of dogs 
and game is sketched in by Sir E. Landseer ; and ' Sun- 
rise on the Sea Coast ' (1834). Three others are in the 
Sheepshanks Collection, viz., ' Near Eedleaf,' 'Gathering 
Sea-weed,' and ' A Distant. View of Windsor.' 

Daniel Maclise, R.A., was bom on the 25th January, 
1811, at Cork. His father was a native of Scotland, 
and went to Ireland as an ensign in the Elgin Fencibles 
in 1798. While quartered in Cork, he married a member 
of the Clear family, eminent merchants in that city. He 
afterwards retired from the army, took up his abode at 
Cork, and established himself in business, but was un- 
fortunately unsuccessful. His son, Daniel, showed a great 
taste for drawing at a very early age, but was placed in 
Newenham's banking-house in Cork, which, however, he 
left when in his sixteenth year, that he might become an 
artist. So successful was he in his early eflforts, that he 
managed to maintain himself by the sale of his sketches 
and by taking likenesses, his first sitters being the officers 
of the 14th light Dragoons. He became a student at 
the Cork Society of Arts, studied anatomy practically 
under an eminent surgeon, Dr. Woodroffe, and made a 
sketching tour through the Wicklow mountains, acquaint- 
ing himself with the legends, songs, and characteristics of 
the wild peasantry of the district. In 1828 he came to 
London, and commenced studying with wonderful zeal, 
intelligence, and ardour at the Boyal Academy, winning 
the medal for the antique in his first year; the medal 

VOL. II. M 



162 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

for the best copy of a painting by Guido, the next ; and 
finally, in 1831, the gold medal for his historical composi- 
tion of the * Choice of Hercules.' Not caring to avail him- 
self of the privilege of travelling abroad, which this last 
honour carried with it, he determined to remain in 
England, having in the preceding year visited Paris for 
the purpose of studying at the Louvre and the Luxem- 
bourg. During this period he was employed in making 
sketches for book illustrations, and a series of caricature 
portraits published in " Fraser's Magazine." 

In 1832 he returned to his native city, and exhibited 
his first picture at the Eoyal Academy, ' Puck disen- 
chanting Bottom.' The next year he exhibited there, 
* Allhallow Eve,' and ' A Love Adventure of Francis L ;' 
and at the British Institution, 'Mokanna unveiling her 
features to Zelica.' These were followed by 'The In- 
stallation of Captain Eock ' (the leader of Irish Bib- 
bonmen), and ' The Chivalrous Vow of the Ladies and the 
Peacock.' This last picture confirmed his reputation as a 
most original and talented artist, and led to his election as 
an Associate in 1835. The next year he exhibited 
'Macbeth and the Witches;' in 1837, *Lady Sykes;' 
in 1838, ' Salvator Eosa painting his Friend Masaniello,' 
' Olivia and Sophia fitting out Moses for the Fair ;' in 
1839, ' Bobin Hood and Bichard Coeur de Lion,' and ' Gil 
Bias dresses en Cavalier ;' in 1840, ' The Banquet Scene 
in Macbeth.' In this year he became a Eoyal Academi- 
cian, and has ever since continued to pursue his profession 
with great zeal and distinction. Most of his works are 
of large size, crowded with figures, and elaborately 
finished in all the accessories and details. He is a gor- 
geous colourist, and is proud of showing, by his bold and 
accurate drawing, his perfect mastery over the anatomy 
of the human figure. Both the choice of his subjects and 
the mode of treating them indicate his originality and 
independence of thought, and his power to strike out a 
path for himself without reference to the examples of his 



CH.XV.] DANIEL MACLISE 163 

predecessors. His imagination is fertile and prolific, but 
is controlled by judgment, and directed by a well-ordered 
and cultivated mind. 

A long catalogue of pictures would be formed, and 
of a very varied character, if all his works were named. 
In addition to those already mentioned, there are ' Merry 
Christmas in the Baron's Hall,' a ' Scene from Twelfth 
Night,' ' Sleeping Beauty,' ' Hunting the Slipper,' ' Bohe- 
mian Gipsies,' ' The Play Scene in Hamlet,' ' The Origin 
of the Harp,' * Sabrina releases the Lady from the 
Enchanted Chair,' a scene from " Comus," which he re- 
peated in fresco for the summer-house at Buckingham 
Palace, and a scene from * Undine,' painted for Her 
Majesty ; * Ordeal by Touch,' ' Noah's Sacrifice,' engraved 
for the Art-Union of Glasgow ; ' Chivalry of the Eeign of 
Henry VJJLL,' ' The Gross of Green Spectacles,' from the 
« Vicar of Wakefield ;" ' Caxton's Printmg Office, ' Alfred 
in the Danish Tent,' a scene from " As You like It," and 
' Peter the Great working as a Shipwright at Deptford,' &c. 

For some years past Maclise has been engaged upon 
the frescoes for the new Houses of ParUament. The 
* Spirit of Justice,' and the ' Spirit of Chivalry ' were 
painted for the House of Lords in 1850. In the Eoyal 
Gallery are * Alfred in the Danish Camp,' the ' Marriage 
of Strongbow to the Princess Eva,' repeated with altera- 
tions from the large picture exhibited at the Eoyal 
Academy ; and he has recently completed a large repre- 
sentation (46 feet long) of the ' Meeting of Wellington 
and Blucher after the Battle of Waterloo.' His design for 
this picture was so greatly admired by his brother artists, 
that they presented him with a handsome gold porte- 
crayon as a mark of their admiration of it ; and it is in 
all respects a noble work of art The painfiil effects of 
decay which have appeared on so many of the frescoes in 
the Palace at Westminster led him carefully to study the 
mode of working in this material, in the hope of avert- 
ing their ultimate destruction ; and in 1859 he went to 

M 2 



164 raSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

Berlin, to make himself acquainted with the practice of 
stereo-chrome, or the water-glass method in use there ; ^ 
and his master-piece is worked in this manner. In his 
large fresco pictures there sometimes appear to be a de- 
ficiency of the perspective of space, and a certain hard- 
ness of colour, which approach the mannerism of the 
modem German School. It is said that he uses no models, 
and designs his figures from his rich fancy alone. He 
studies costume almost with antiquarian nicety, and gives 
to his pictures so much of gorgeous colour, Hfe and 
energy, character and interest, that he has justly obtained, 
despite of what blemishes there may be in his works, a 
very high reputation as a historical painter. He has also 
painted portraits, including those of Charles Dickens, John 
Forster, Wm. Macready, and Sir E. Bulwer Lytton. He is 
Ukewise celebrated for the beauty of his designs for book 
illustrations and for art manufactures. Among these may 
be specially mentioned the drawings for Bulwer's "Pil- 
grims of the Ehine" (1834) ; Moore's "Melodies," the Seven 
Ages (intended for a porcelain card-tray) for the Art-Union 
of London, and a series of forty-two sketches, illustrating 
the story of the Norman conquest ; also the design for the 
* Turner ' medal, for which the Eoyal Academy awarded 
him one hundred guineas, and that for the International 
Exhibition of 1862. He has received his diploma as a 
Foreign Member of the Eoyal Academy of the Arts at 
Stockholm, and is known also as the writer of some admi- 
rable sonnets. Two very good specimens of his talents as 
a painter are in the Vernon GaUery — ' The Play Scene in 
Hamlet ' (1842) and ' MalvoUo and the Countess ' (1840). 

William Frederick Witherington, 11.A., was bom in 
an old Ehzabethan house (since taken down) in Goswell 

^ A compound of silica (or silicic the first to make this process known 
acid) and potash, invented by Dr. in England by tbe translation he 
Johan FucnSy of Munich, and sue- published in ''The Journal of the 
cessfidlj employed by Kaulbach, of Society of Arts," of Fuchs' testa- 
Berlin, The late Prince Consort was tamentaiy pamphlet on the subject 



Ch. XV.] W. F. WITHERINGTON 166 

Street, London, on the 26th May 1785. In his school 
days he evinced a passion for copying prints and draw- 
ings, and made many attempts at original composition, 
but his father thought it desirable to place him in business. 
At this he continued until he met with a student of the 
Eoyal Academy, who lent him some studies and models 
to copy from ; and he eventually became a student there 
in 1805. He was most assiduous in study ; but not until 
he had made coiftiderable progress did he abandon other 
pursuits, or finally resolve to become a painter. In 
1810-11 he began to exhibit at the British Institution, 
where he contributed a view of ' Tintem Abbey ; ' and 
next at the Eoyal Academy, where he has exhibited 
during his long career more than a hundred works. He 
was elected an Associate in 1830, up to which period he 
had continued to paint landscapes and figure subjects, 
varying his country scenes with such pictures as ' Lavinia,* 
' The Soldier's Wife,' ' Sancho Panza and Don Quixote,' 
' John Gilpin,' &c. ; but his health failed about this time, 
and he was compelled to reside several months in the year 
in the country, thus abandoning his studio for one in the 
open air ; hence simple landscapes in Kent were his only 
contributions to the Exhibition for the next few years. 

In 1840 he was elected a Eoyal Academician; and 
with renewed strength and energy he continued to pursue 
his profession, painting views in Devon, the lakes, Wales, 
&c. His landscapes are all thoroughly English — rivers, 
lakes, ferries, hop gardens, hay fields, roadside inns, &c. 
These he has diversified by groups of figures (sometimes 
of large size), teUing some story of rustic Ufe, or giving 
human interest to the scenes he depicts. His love of 
nature and his unafiected style have rendered his pictures 
popular, as much by the appeal they make to the sym- 
pathies of every kindred spirit to his own, as by their 
artistic excellence. He is a veteran in his art ; but still 
contributes to the yearly attractions of the Exhibitions, 
and is in full possession of his energies, having lost none 



166 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

of his zest for the simple beauties of the scenery of his 
native country, which he has so pleasantly famiharized to 
us. The titles of his pictures sufficiently indicate their 
character: here are some of them, — 'Making Hay,' 

* Passing the Lock,' ' A lift on the Eoad,' ' The Angler,' 
*The Lucky Escape,' 'The Dancing Bear,' 'Shepherd 
Boys,' 'A Forest Scene,' 'The Reaper's Bepast,' &c. 
There are two specimens of his works in the Vernon Gal- 
lery — 'The Hop Garland' and 'The Stepping Stones;' 
and one in the Sheepshanks collection — 'The Hop- 
garden.' 

Solomon Alexander Hart, EA., was bom at Ply- 
mouth in 1806. At the age of fourteen he came to Lon- 
don, to be placed as a pupil with Mr. Warren, to study 
hue engraving ; but after two or three years so spent, he 
turned his attention to painting, and in 1823 entered 
upon the study of that art in the Eoyal Academy. At 
first he practised in miniature ; but in 1828 he exhibited 
a painting in oils at the British Institution, which was 
favourably received, and from that time he devoted him- 
self chiefly to historical and genre compositions. Li 
1830 he exhibited ' The Elevation of the Law,' a cere- 
mony in the Jewish worship (of which, as one of the 
ancient people, he is himself a follower), purchased by 
Mr. Vernon from the Gallery of the Society of British 
Artists. In 1835 Mr. Hart was elected an Associate of 
the Eoyal Academy, and E.A. in 1840. He has dis- 
played great variety in the selection of his subjects. 
Several of those relating to Jewish history and worship 
are especially interesting — 'The Festival of the Law' 
(1850), ' Solomon pondering the Fhght of Time ' (1853), 

* Hannah and Eli,' ' A Scene in a PoUsh Synagogue,' &c 
He has also painted several scenes from history with 
great eflect, as ' The Captivity of the Tyrant of Padua,' 
' The Parting of Sir Thomas More and his Daughter,' 
' Arnolfo di Lapo,' ' The Three Inventors of Printing,' 



Ch. XV.] HART — CHALON 167 

* Benvenuto Cellini,' * Galileo,' * Queen Elizabeth of Hun- 
gary distributing Alms to the Poor,' * Archbishop Langton 
and the Barons at Old St Paul's in 1214,' * Lady Jane 
Grey,' &c. Some purely poetical pieces have at intervals 
been mingled with these productions; and he has also 
painted some large portraits for pubUc buildings — 
H.E.H. the Duke of Sussex and Sir A. Eothschild for 
the Jews' Hospital, Sir Moses Montefiore for another 
Jewish institution. Alderman Salomons for GmldhaU, Dr. 
Adler, the Chief Eabbi, &c. His colouring is rich and 
deep, and sometimes grave and sombre. He possesses 
considerable technical knowledge of his art, carefully 
studies correctness of costume, and executes with nicety 
and precision all the details, while regarding the general 
effect of the whole, and rendering the appropriate ex- 
pression of his subject. 

In 1854 Mr. Hart was appointed to succeed C. E. 
Leslie, as Professor of Painting at the Eoyal Academy. 
His lectures show his acquaintance with the principles 
of art ; and he wisely inculcates the necessity of study 
and intellectual culture, a clear understanding of the 
theory of painting, as well as of its first fundamental 
principles, and the exercise of self-help, digcrimination, 
and judgment on the part of the student in the choice 
and arrangement of his subjects, as essentials to a suc- 
cessful pursuit of the art of painting. 

John James Chalon, E.A., the younger brother of A. 
R Chalon, E.A., was bom in 1780, became a student 
at the Eoyal Academy in 1796, and during a long life 
painted a multitude of fancy pictures, mostly in water- 
colours. In 1820 he pubUshed a series of sketches of 
Parisian manners, which were humorous without being 
caricatures, and were both picturesque and amusing. In 
1827 he became an Associate, and in 1841 a Eoyal Aca- 
demician. The subjects of his pictures were frequently 
views of the mountains and lakes of Switzerland, the land 



168 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

of his parents, often very slightly touched, but with all the 
details carefully drawn. His works were never very 
popular (a character which he seems rather to have 
spumed than sought), probably because of the heavy hard 
and opaque appearance of his colouring, and a want of 
distant atmospheric effect in his landscapes. Many of 
these, however, were full of depth of tone, vigour, and 
character, indicating his earnest aspirations after excel- 
lence and his real love of nature. C. E. Leslie, EA., 
wrote of him, " Few painters had so great a range of sub- 
jects. In his figures, his animals, his landscapes, and his 
marine pictures, we recognise the hand of a master, and a 
mind that fiilly comprehended what it placed before it. 
His theme is sometimes from history or poetry, more 
often of the ger^re class ; but, as is generally the case with 
original men, he is best when his subject is immediately 
from nature." 

For more than forty years he was a constant attendant 
at the meetings of the Sketching Club, where he made 
something like a thousand extempore sketches, displaying 
his ready and fertile mind, and his power of rapidly depict- 
ing what he thus quickly conceived, as no announcement 
of the subject to be drawn was given till the evening 
when the members assembled. He was a kind and amia- 
ble man, possessing many warmly-attached friends, who 
honoured his gentle manly feelings, and admired his 
humour and wit, and his talents as an artist He died at 
ao advanced age, on the 14th November, 1854, and was 
buried at Highgate Cemetery, where his brother also was 
interred. In the following year, a collection of 120 
paintings and sketches by him (with some works by his 
brother) was made at the Society of Arts. Among the 
more important specimens were, * The Embarkation,' 

* Euins of a Fountain,' * Town and Beach at Hastings,' 

* Macbeth and Banquo meeting the Witches,' ' View from 
Eichmond Hill,' &c. After his death, his brother pro- 
posed to bequeath some of his drawings, together with 



CH.XV.] DAVID ROBERTS 109 

some of his own sketches, to the nation, on the condition 
that a suitable apartment should be prepared for them. 
The ofier was, however, declined by the Government, on 
the groimd that mere sketches were not suitable for public 
exhibition. 

David Egberts, E.A., was bom at Stockbridge, Edin- 
burgh, on the 24th October, 1796. In his 14th year he 
was apprenticed to Gavin Beugo, in order that he might 
become a decorative painter ; but his artistic taste, — in- 
spired by his mother's descriptions of the architectural 
beauties of her native city, St. Andrew's, — led him to study 
a more refined and elevated use of colours on every avail- 
able opportxmity. After his seven years' apprenticeship 
was completed, he began to paint scenes for the theatres 
at Edinburgh and Glasgow; and in 1822 he came to Lon- 
don, having been offered by Elliston an engagement, as a 
scene-painter at Drury Lane Theatre, where Clarkson 
Stanfield was similarly employed. He often worked in 
conjunction with that artist; and the two combined to 
elevate the character of such performances, and to render 
them what they had never been before, except in the 
hands of De Loutherbourg, real works of art. In 1824, 
David Eoberts exhibited his first picture at the British 
Institution ; and in 1826 he sent to the Eoyal Academy 
a view of a Eoman Cathedral. Year by year subsequently 
he visited the Continent, sketching all the remarkable 
buildings he saw. By the advice of Wilkie, in 1832, he 
visited Spain ; and his pictures from scenes in that country 
quickly established hia reputation, for he was the first 
artist who opened to the view of the people of Eng- 
land the remarkable edifices with which that land is 
filled. A volume of lithographic copies of his Spanish 
sketches promoted the same object ; and the Landscape 
Annuals, from 1835 to 1838, were illustrated by his 
views in Spain and Morocco. 

In the beginning of his career he joined the Society of 



170 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Oh. XV. 

British Artists, and was the Vice-president of that Society ; 
but he resigned his connexion with it, — paying £100 as a 
fine, and £100 as his share of the liabihties, — in order to 
become ehgible for admission to the Eoyal Academy. 
He was elected an Associate in 1838, and E.A. in 1841. 
A visit to S3n:ia and Egypt, commenced in August 1838, 
formed an important era in his career as an artist. In 
that tour he made a large and judicious series of sketches, 
as accurate as they were beautiful, of all the scenes and 
objects of interest, both to the BibUcal student and to 
the lover of art. Fac-similes of these admirable produc- 
tions were made on stone by Louis Haghe for that splen- 
did work, published in 1842, in four vols. foUo, entitled 
" The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Egypt, and Nubia," of 
which a reduced copy was also issued a few years since. 
The work is of rare excellence and value ; and Mr. Alder- 
man Moon gave Eoberts £3,000 for the copyright of his 
drawings. For several years afterwards, these sketches 
furnished the materials for the paintings he exhibited. 
One very fine work of this class was the large picture of 
'The Destruction of Jerusalem,' exhibited in 1849, of 
which a large chromo-lithograph was afterwards pubUshed. 
Another class of works, which the peculiar talent of 
the artist has made especially his own, is the representa- 
tion of the old cathedrals of France, Italy, and Belgium, 
during the celebration of Soman Cathohc ceremonials, in 
which he combines, with all the exquisite architectural 
details, the vivid contrasts of colour and effect produced 
by the gorgeous ornaments and decorations used in the 
service, and the figures of the worshippers. His eastern 
scenes are also enriched by characteristic groups of figures, 
which give life and reality to them. The noble remains 
of ancient buildings in Eome, Venice, and other conti- 
nental cities, have found no more faithful copyist than 
Eoberts, who seems to reverence them in their decay, 
and to be imbued with all the solemn feelings which 
their grandeur, even as ruins, is calculated to inspire. 



CH.XV.] DAVID HOBERTS 171 

The dry stones of architecture have expression in them, 
which is communicated to the beholder, when they are 
depicted by one who feels the sentiment they inspire. 
Eoberts selects the finest examples of architecture in 
Europe for his subjects; and while drawing them with 
characteristic truth, he throws over his pictures a rich 
and briUiant colour, which is heightened by the introduc- 
tion of numerous figures in varied costumes. He appears 
to paint with great rapidity and precision, on a thin trans- 
parent ground. He carefully disposes light and shade, 
and aU the contrasts of colour which can give efiect to the 
whole — while to these technical excellences and fidehty 
of representation, he adds great artistic taste and deep 
poetic feeUng. 

His works have from the first found ready patrons in 
Lord Northwick, the Duke of Bedford, the Marquis of 
Lansdowne, Sir Eobert Peel, and other eminent collectors. 
A large work — *Eome' — in 1855, depicted the ruins of 
the great city in the setting sim with solemn efiect — 
while, as a contrast, 'A F6te Day at St. Peter's' (1861), 
showed his mode of dealing with interiors of cathedrals 
under their brightest aspect to great advantage. Another 
bright picture was that painted by command of Her 
Majesty, exhibited in 1853, a representation of ' The In- 
auguration of the Great Exhibition of Industry of All 
Nations by the Queen in 1851.' Two fine works by him 
are in the Vernon Gallery — * The Interior of the Cathe- 
dral of Burgos,' and * The Chancel of Antwerp Cathedral ; ' 
and three others are in the Sheepshanks collection, viz., 
'The Crypt of Eoslyn Chapel;' 'Old Buildings on the 
Darro, Granada;' and 'The Gate of Cairo.' He is a 
member of the Eoyal Scottish Academy, and received in 
1858 the freedom of the city of Edinburgh, at an enter- 
tainment given to him by the corporation. 

Sir William Charles Boss, RA., was bom in London, 
on the 3rd of June, 1794, of artist parents, his father 



172 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

having been a miniature-painter and drawing-master, and 
his mother (a sister of Anker Smith, the Associate 
Engraver,) being also a clever artist. He seems thus to 
have been bom for an artist's life; and ceitainly at a 
very early age a taste for it was awakened in his mind. 
Historical painting was his first study ; and in 1807 the 
Society of Arts rewarded his eflforts by a small silver 
palette for a chalk drawing made by him from Smith's 
engraving of * The Death of Wat Tyler.' The next year 
he obtained from the same society the silver medal and 
£20 for an original drawing of ' The Judgment of 
Solomon;' and in 1809 the great silver palette for a 
miniature of ' Venus and Cupid.' The following year he 
gained the silver medal and £20 for his drawing 
of ' Samuel presented to Eli ; * and in 1811 the silver 
medal for an original drawing of ' The Triimaph of 
Germanicus,' and the gold medal for a miniature of the 
Duke of Norfolk. Subsequently, in 1817, he again 
obtained the gold medal for an oil-painting of ' The 
Judgment of Brutus,' besides the silver medal for a 
drawing from the Ufe, at the Eoyal Academy, where he 
became a student in 1808. There his talents attracted 
the notice of West, FuseU, and Flaxman, who afterwards 
became his staunch friends. 

Although signally successful in his early attempts at 
historical painting, he deemed it advisable to abandon it 
(since it could only be pursued successfully by men of emi- 
nent abilities) for the more lucrative practice of miniature 
portrait painting. In this he attained to great excellence 
and renown, and secured the largest share of aristocratic 
and Court patronage of any modern professor of the art 
He was the means of elevating the character of miniature 
painting; for the exquisite grace and deUcacy of his 
works were never attained by any of his predecessors. 
He acknowledged that he had derived much benefit from 
the instruction of Mr. Andrew Eobertson, the miniature- 
painter ; but the merit of his works is due chiefly to his 



Ch. XV.] SIR W. C. ROSS 173 

own genius and his studious efforts to attain increased 
power, striving in every year to gain some fresh point of 
excellence in colour or effect. The warm transparent 
hues of his representations of flesh approach nearly to 
vitahty ; his single figures are remarkable for their grace, 
and the groups he designed, for their pictorial and effective 
arrangement His drawing was admirable, his execution 
careful, and he generally produced a good, though re- 
fined, likeness. His colouring was pure and dehcate, and 
his carnation tints unequalled among miniature-painters. 

In his long career he painted more than 2,200 minia- 
tures of the most distinguished scions of nobihty, and the 
most aristocratic beauties of his time, occupying a relative 
position to Lawrence in his own branch of art. He has 
painted most of the members of the English Eoyal 
Family and their connexions abroad, and many of the 
Eoyal Families of France and Belgium. In his early years 
he exhibited several large oil paintings based on the 
drawings to which prizes had been awarded to him, and 
also another, of ' Christ casting out Devils.' Later in life, 
he again essayed to try his strength in the same style ; 
and in 1843 he sent anonymously to the cartoon exhibi- 
tion, in Westminster Hall, one of ' The Angel Eaphael 
Discoursing with Adam,' to which one of the additional 
£100 premiums was awarded. This was a remarkable 
work, — 10 feet 8 inches square, — when considered as the 
production of a painter of the most delicate miniatures. 

In 1837 he was appointed miniature-painter to the 
Queen. The next year he was elected an Associate, and 
in 1843 a Eoyal Academician. On the 1st of June of 
that year he was knighted. In 1857 he was seized with 
an attack of paralysis, fi^om which he never perfectly re- 
covered; and after three years of enfeebled health and 
energies, he died on the 20th of January, 1860. He was 
buried at Highgate Cemetery. An exhibition of his 
works was held at the rooms of the Society of Arts in 
the April and May following. 



174 HISTORY OF THE EOYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

His success in life, though mainly due to his talents, 
was not altogether uninfluenced by his private character 
and disposition. His face was the index to his mind; 
and the kind and benevolent expression of the one, indi- 
cated the gentle and amiable qualities of the other ; while 
his cheerful and unassuming manners expressed the happy 
and warm feelings of his heart. He was a great favourite 
in the high circle in which he moved, for he was a 
courtier knight; while to his brethren and to young 
artists he was equally endeared by the pleasure he took 
in giving them advice or assistance, or rendering any 
service in his power. Moreover, he was an earnest Chris- 
tian man, Uberal and charitable, without ostentation, and 
for many years he taught a class regularly in the Sunday 
School of Percy Episcopal Chapel in Charlotte Street, 
near to the house in which he lived, No. 38 Fitzroy 
Square. 

John Pbescott Knight, E.A.,is a son of the celebrated 
comedian, who married a Miss Clews, of Stafford, where 
their son was bom in 1803. He accompanied his parents 
to London, when the rising fortunes and extended popu- 
larity of his father brought him to the " London boards." 
He was educated at a private school, and was afterwards 
placed as a junior clerk in a West Lidia merchant's office, 
in Mark Lane, City. Bankruptcy overtook the firm, and 
happily left the young man idle for a time, waiting for 
another appointment, during which interval he took to 
drawing, and copied several of West's designs out of a 
large illustrated Bible, to the satisfaction of his father 
and family, all of whom had a taste for art, and criticised 
his early productions with a salutary severity, until at last, 
by his perseverance in conquering their defects, they 
attained an excellence which justified him in taking 
lessons in drawing from Mr. Henry Sass, and in colouring 
from George Clint. He also became a student at the 
Eoyal Academy in 1823. When thus commencing his 



Ch. XV.] J. P. KNIGHT 176 

career as an artist, he was left to depend on his own re- 
sources, by the untimely death of his father. He resolved 
to persevere ; and was greatly encouraged by finding his 
first two pictures, sent to the British Listitution, sold on 
the opening day of the exhibition, and highly praised by 
Collins, Stanfield, and other competent judges. In 1836 
he attained his first honours in the profession, being then 
elected an Associate of the Eoyal Academy; he suc- 
ceeded to the higher rank of E.A. in 1844. Thus, as he 
himself said, " My ambitious hopes have, at all events, 
been Mfilled b/ my .dnJMon' U. *at body who« 
great names had always stood as a beacon to my eflTorts — 
the association with whom has been my highest reward." 

He married the daughter of an eminent sohcitor, and 
has since continued to pursue the profession of a portrait- 
painter with great success ; but he sometimes exhibits 
pictures of a more fancifiil character. From year to 
year he has painted a large number of presentation por- 
traits for pubUc buildings and institutions, as weU as 
smaller works, aU of them executed with a vigorous hand, 
a broad touch, good effects of colour, and all the expres- 
sion and character necessary to distinguish them as 
striking portraits. In 1857 he exhibited the admirable 
portrait of Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, the President, which 
he painted for and presented to the Eoyal Academy, and 
from which a wood engraving has been made for this work. 

He was appointed in 1839 Professor of Perspective at 
the Eoyal Academy, and performed his duties in a most 
exemplary manner, with great advantage to the students, 
till April 1860, when he tendered his resignation of the 
Professorship. In 1847 he was also elected to fiU the 
office of Secretary, before his two years' service as a 
member of the Coimcil had expired. His integrity in 
the faithful discharge of the duties of the office, and his 
urbanity to all those with whom he is brought into 
communication, alike confirm die appropriateness of the 
selection. 



176 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

Chaeles Landskeb, E.A., the second son of John 
Landseer the engraver, and the elder brother of the 
animal painter, Sir Edwin Landseer, was bom in 1799, 
and was first instructed in art by his father. By him 
also he was taken, with his brothers, to Benjamin E. 
Haydon, who took much interest in him as a pupil ; and 
he was also entered as a student at the Eoyal Academy 
in 1816. By all these advantages in study at home and 
in schools of art, he was well grounded in the tech- 
nicalities of painting ; and in all his works he has shown 
carefulness in composition, and proved himself a good 
colourist. He became an Associate in 1837, and in 1845 
a Eoyal Academician. 

In 1851, on the resignation of George Jones, E.A., he 
was appointed Keeper, an office which requires him to 
give instruction in the Antique SchooL In the pictures 
he has painted he has paid great attention to all the 
accessories and details, studying propriety in costume and 
character, and giving a general effect which is harmonious 
and pleasing. They are mostly taken from scenes in 
domestic history, or the works of the poets and novelists, 
and are deservedly popular. ' The Meeting of Charles L 
and his Adherents before the Battle of Edgehill,' is a 
fine work, engraved in mezzotinto by Bromley. * Clarissa 
Harlowe in the Spunging House,' (from Eichardson's 
novel), in the Vernon Collection, is ftiU of simplicity and 
tenderness, and is suggestive of many useful and elevating 
thoughts. ' The Temptation of Andrew Marvel' (1841), 
in the Sheepshanks Collection, is a work in a different 
style, telling the story of his refusal of the King's present, 
sent by the Lord Treasurer, with great effect Another 
picture in the South Kensington Museum, presented by 
Mr. Jacob Bell, represents the sacking of a Jew's house, 
and depicts a scene of cruelty and spoUation with painful 
truthfulness. Charles Landseer does not exhibit many 
pictures ; his duties as Keeper in the schools of the Eoyal 
Academy doubtless engross so much of his time as to 



Ch. XV.] TIIOMAS WEBSTER 177 

leave little opportunity of practising the art of painting 
on his own account. 

Thomas Webster, RA., was bom in Eanelagh Street, 
Pimlico, on the 20th of March, 1800. His father, being 
employed in the household of King George m., took 
him to Windsor when a mere boy, and had him trained 
as a chorister at St. George's Chapel. There he remained 
till the death of the venerable king, but after his father 
left Windsor, his strong predilection for painting led him 
fortxmately to the abandonment of music as a profession, 
and in 1821 he became a student at the Eoyal Academy, 
where he gained the first prize for painting in 1825. His 
first exhibited work was a portrait group sent to the Eoyal 
Academy in 1823. His next, *Eebels shooting a Pri- 
soner,' exhibited at the Society of British Artists in 
1825, was a specimen of the style which he has since 
constantly followed. In the Academy his studies led 
him to historical subjects ; but his genius was evidently 
peculiarly directed towards portraying children in their 
sports and occupations, whether in the sunshine of their 
joy, or under the cloud of a passing sorrow. In^ this 
field he has met with no rival, has found it ever fiidt- 
ful in new material, and has attained a perfection of 
nature, humour, and pathos which has never been 
excelled. 

From his first appearance before the public he con- 
tinued annually to exhibit, first at the Society of British 
Artists, and afterwards at the British Institution and at 
the Eoyal Academy, a variety of pictures in which chil- 
dren were the principal actors ; and by these works his 
fame has been established. * Gunpowder Plot,' *The 
Prisoner,' 'A Foraging Party roused,' 'The Boy with 
many Friends,' ' The Sick ChUd,' * Going to and coming 
fix)m School,' are among his works previous to 1840, 
when he was elected an Associate of the Eoyal Academy. 
In that year also he painted two pictures, * The Smile ' 

VOL. II. N 



178 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

and ' The Frown,' representing two rows of country boys 
seated on school forms, in the one case overflowing with 
mirth, in the other awed by fear — both of which are 
well known by the engravings from them published by 
the London Art Union. He has since exhibited a great 
number of pictures, of which the principal are ' Punch ' 
(1841), * Sickness and Health' (1843), 'The Dame's 
School' (1845), 'The ViUage Choir' (1847), 'A Eubber 
at Whist' (1848), 'A See-saw' and 'A SUde' (1849), 'A 
School Playground' (1852), * A Eace' (1855), 'Hide and 
Seek' (1856), 'Simday Evening' and ' Grace before Meat' 
in 1858, ' Autumn' and ' Winter' (1860). He was elected 
a Eoyal Academician in 1846. 

In all respects Thomas Webster is an admirable artist. 
He draws with great correctness, arranges his figures 
happily, colours brightly and harmoniously, introduces 
effective Ughts and shades, and tells his story so clearly, 
that all can not only understand the whole plot, but 
share the feelings he wishes to excite, whether they be of 
hearty enjojrment of the fun and froUc of his urchins, 
or of kindly sympathy with their trials. Few artists' 
pictiyes have such a genial healthful influence as his. 
They show the sunny side of human nature in its ordi- 
nary every-day hfe; our boyhood's days come back 
again as we look upon them, and we seem to be bold 
and daring, mischievous and wilfiil, thoughtless and 
joyous once more as we examine his transcripts of the 
scenes in which he revels with such satisfaction, and 
which he portrays with so much success. 

In the Vernon Gallery there are two of his pictures, 
'Going into School' (1836), and 'The Dame's School' 
(1845) ; and in the Sheepshanks Collection there are 
six others ; viz., ' Sickness and Health,' a touching scene 
painted in 1843 ; ' Going to and returning from the 
Fair,' two pictures exliibited at the British Institution 
in 1838 ; a work worthy of and equal to those of 
Hogarth, entitled 'A Village Choir' (1847), 'Contrary 



Ch. XV.] J. R. HERBERT 179 

Winds' (1843), and * Eeading the Scriptures.' A striking 
testimony to the attractiveness of these pictures, is the 
eagerness with which they are examined by the crowds 
of persons of the humbler class who gather round them 
in the galleries at South Kensington. 

John Eogebs Herbert, E.A., was bom at Maiden, in 
Essex, on the 23rd of January, 1810. He came to 
London in 1826, and was admitted as a student at the 
Koyal Academy. His first labours in art were portraits 
and designs for book illustrations, from which he was 
led gradually to attempt more important works. One of 
the first of these, exhibited at the British Institution, was 
entitled ' The Appointed Hour,' and represented a lover 
lying assassinated at the foot of a staircase, down which 
his mistress is hurriedly passing to meet him. The 
engraving of this picture made the artist favourably 
known to the pubhc. A visit to Italy induced him to 
paint numerous subjects from the history of that country, 
and several of 'The Brides of Venice.' He also exhi- 
bited, in his early manner, ' Constancy,' and ' Boar Hunters 
refreshed at St. Augustine's Monastery, Canterbury.' 

About the year 1840 he became a member of the 
Eoman Cathohc Church, through the influence of Welby 
Pugin, with whom he shared a strong feeUng for mediaeval 
art ; and from this time forward he chose a new class of 
subjects for his pencil, investing them with much of the 
symbolism and formality of the Church and the painters 
of Italy. In 1842 he exhibited the first of these—' The 
Introduction of Christianity into Britain' and * A Portrait 
of Dr. Wiseman.' In the next year, * Christ and the 
Woman of Samaria.' In 1844 *Sir. T. More and his 
Daughter' and ' The Trial of the Seven Bishops,' painted 
some years before, on commission, in his old manner. 
In 1845, * St. Gregory teaching his Chant;' the next 
year, a portrait of his friend 'Welby Pugin ;' in 1847, 
* Our Saviour subject to his Parents ;' in 1848, ' St. John 

n 2 



180 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

the Baptist reproving Herod;' in 1849, 'The Outcast of 
the People.' A portrait of 'Horace Vemet' appeared in 
1855 ;' A View on the Coast of France' in 1856 ; ' Mary 
Magdalene' in 1859 ; and a picture of the 'Virgin Mary' 
(1860), painted for the Queen. 

For some time Mr. Herbert held the appointment 
of Head Master in the School of Design at Somerset 
House. In 1841 he became an Associate of the Eoyal 
Academy, and was created E.A. in 1846. In that 
year he was selected by the Eoyal Commissioners to 
execute one of the frescoes in the vestibule of the 
new House of Lords, and subsequently to paint a series 
of nine subjects illustrating "Human Justice," selected 
from the Old Testament, for the Peers' robing-room. 
These are to represent ' Man's Fall ' and ' Condenmation 
to Labour,' ' Moses bringing the Tables of the Law,' 
' The Judgment of Solomon,' ' The Visit of the Queen of 
Sheba,' 'The Building of the Temple,' 'The Judgment 
of Daniel,' ' Daniel in the Lions' Den,' and ' The Vision 
of Daniel.' Some of the studies for portions of these 
have since been exhibited at the Eoyal Academy. They 
have taken long to prepare ; but he is now steadily pro- 
ceeding with the painting of the series in the stereo- 
chrome, or water-glass method adopted by Maclise, and 
has cancelled all that he had done in the old method, 
lest it should perish as so much of the work executed in 
tliat style in the Houses of ParUament has unfortunately 
done. In the Poets' Hall, he was appointed to paint 
some subjects from " King Lear," which are fast decaying. 
Two of these he exhibited at the Eoyal Academy, ' Lear 
disinheriting Cordelia,' in 1849, and 'Lear recovering his 
Eeason,' in 1855. Several drawings of studies of heads 
of Lear and Cordelia, and of our Lord and the woman of 
Samaria, are in the South Kensington Museum, where is 
also, in the Vernon Collection, one of his finest works, 
' More and his Daughter observing from the Prison Win- 
dow the Monks going to Execution' (1844). 



Ch. XV.] HERBERT — COPE 181 

All his pictures are the fiiiit of long study and most 
careful workmanship. He is scrupulously attentive to 
the preparation of his subjects and the composition of 
them, and he paints slowly and minutely all the details 
of the design. He is said to have cut out portions of his 
'Lear' pictures five times before he was satisfied with the 
result he had attained. Extreme simpUcity, elaborate 
finish, deep and earnest expression, an avoidance of all 
accessories except such as are suggestive of deeper mean- 
ing than mere ornaments could give, and, in his sacred 
subjects, a feeUng of devotion and spirituahty, characterise 
generally the works of this talented artist ; and, despite 
the mannerism and rigidity which they have of late years 
assumed, there is a dignity and eloquence in hia repre- 
sentations of the human form which is rarely found in 
the works of modem English artists. 

Chables West Cope, RA., was bom at Leeds in 1811, 
and was educated in the Grammar School there, receiving 
his first instruction in art fi'om his father, Mr. Charles 
Cope, who was practising as a drawing-master of some 
repute in that town. He came to London at the age of 
fifteen, attended the drawing school of Mr. Sass, and 
in 1828 became a student at the Eoyal Academy. Early 
in his career he went to Eome and Venice for study ; 
and by a picture painted in Italy, exhibited on his return 
to England, he made the first favourable impression on 
the pubUc. In 1841 he exhibited ' Poor Law Guardians 
— AppUcations on Board Day for Bread,' and in 1843, 
'The Cotter's Saturday Night.' Afterwards he chose 
more poetic subjects, illustrative of the works of Spenser, 
Milton, and Goldsmith. 

In 1843 he was elected an Associate, and in the same 
year entered the Cartoon competition of the Eoyal Com- 
mission on the Fine Arts. He obtained one of the highest 
prizes (£300) for his cartoon of *The First Trial by 
Jury ; ' and in the next year he exhibited in Westminster 



182 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

Hall, for the fresco competition, ' The Meeting of Jacob 
and Eachel.' These works were so excellent that they 
led to his obtaining commissions to paint frescoes from 
British history for the new Houses of Parliament. In 
due time * Edward HI. conferring the Order of the Garter 
on the Black Prince/ and * Prince Henry's Submission to 
the Law,' were produced for the House of Lords, Subse- 
quently he has painted ' Griselda's First Trial,' and * The 
Death of Lara,' the latter unfortunately suffering from the 
same cause of injury which is marring the beauty of so 
many of the works executed for the ornamentation of the 
new building. The decoration of portions of the Peers' 
corridor was also assigned to him, and he has completed 
' The Embarkation of the Pilgrim Fathers' (1856), 'The 
Burial of Charles L' (1857), ' The Parting of Lord and 
Lady Eussell' (1859), and ' Charles L erecting his Stan- 
.dard at Nottingham' (1862); for these he has received 
£3,600. The subjects of the rest of the series are, ' The 
Defence of Basing House,' * The Fellows of a College at 
Oxford expelled for refusing to Sign the Covenant,' 
' Speaker Lenthall resisting Charles I.'s Attempt to seize 
the Five Members of the House of Commons,' and ' The 
Train bands leaving London to raise the Siege of Glou- 
cester.' Since he has been thus employed in painting 
frescoes, his general works have also partaken of their 
character in subject and treatment, and many of the 
designs for them have been exhibited at the Koyal 
Academy. 

In 1848 he obtained the rank of RA., and in the same 
year painted, for H.E.H. the late Prince Consort, * The Last 
Days of Cardinal Wolsey.' In 1850 appeared ' Lear and 
Cordelia ;' in 1 85 1, * Laurence Saunders, the Marian Martyr, 
in Prison ;' in 1852, ' The Marquis of Saluce marrying Gri- 
selda ; ' the next year, ' Othello relating his Adventures ;' 
in 1855, 'The ChUdren of Charles L ;' in 1859, ' CordeKa 
receiving Accounts of her Father's Ill-treatment;' and, 
in 1861, * The Parting of Lord and Lady William 



Ch. XV.] COPE— DYCE 183 

Kussell.' Mingled with these large and important works, 
there are some smaller ones which have been eagerly 
sought for and studied by visitors to the exhibition — the 
representations of a single child, sometimes resting in a 
mother's arms, or employed in its own simple way, pre- 
paring for its meals or its bed, petted in its sickness, or 
having its wants, on recovery, suppUed by a sister's 
watchful care. 

In the Sheepshanks Collection there are some small 
pieces of the same simple and fanciful character : 
'Ahnsgiving' (1839), * Beneficence ' (1840), * The Haw- 
thorn Bush' (1842), 'Palpitation' (1844), 'The Young 
Mother' (1846), ' Maiden Meditation' (1847), 'L'Allegro' 
and ' n Penseroso ' (1848), and ' The Mother and Child ' 
(1852) ; also a collection of fourteen very beautiful studies 
of heads, hands, drapery, &c. Constant employment for 
several years on a great national work such as that in 
which Mr. Cope has been engaged, has, to a certain ex- 
tent, withdrawn his most important productions from 
the pubUc eye, and prevented him from enhancing his 
reputation by contributing some of the chief attractions 
to the annual exhibitions. In fresco-painting he is ad- 
mitted to occupy a very prominent place ; and in all his 
productions he shows himself to be an artist thoroughly 
conversant with all the technical appliances of colour — a 
master of efiects of light and shade, groupmg his compo- 
sitions with great skill, and combining with his manual 
dexterity, a mind full of vigorous thought, a well-ordered 
judgment, and a heart ahve to the delicate sensibiUties of 
human nature, in all its varied circumstances, even to 
the tenderness of children's helpless confidences or mis- 
givings. 

William Dyce, R A., is the son of the late Dr. William 
Dyce, F.E.S.E., a physician who practised in Aberdeen, 
where he was bom in 1806. He was educated at the Ma- 
risthal College of that city, where he took the degree of 



184 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Oh. XV. 

M. A. at the age of sixteen. He commenced the study of 
art in the Eoyal Scottish Academy, where he afterwards 
made his first appearance as a painter of classical sub- 
jects. Inl825 he visited Italy, and spent nine months in 
Eome, devoting himself earnestly to those studies which 
would best qualify him to become a historical painter. He 
returned to Aberdeen in 1826, and decorated a room in 
his father's house there in the Arabesque manner ; he 
also painted a picture of ' Bacchus nursed by the Nymphs 
of Nyssa,' which was exhibited at the Eoyal Academy in 
1827. In the autumn of that year he again set out for 
Eome, and studied and imitated those early religious 
works, from which he doubtless derived that ' pre-Eafiaell- 
ite ' manner his pictures sometimes assume. In 1828 he 
painted a ' Madonna and Child ' in this style at Eome. 
On his return to Scotland, in 1830, he took up his abode 
at Edinburgh, where he remained eight years. Not 
meeting with the encouragement he hoped for as a his- 
torical painter, he devoted himself chiefly to taking 
portraits (especially those of young children), except 
when he occasionally contributed to the exhibition of the 
Eoyal Scottish Academy — of which he was elected an 
Associate in 1835 — some pictures of a higher class. In 
1836 ' The Descent of Venus ' appeared in the exhibi- 
tion of the Eoyal Academy in London. 

In 1838 he obtained the appointment of Superintendent 
and Secretary to the recently-established Government 
School of Design at Somerset House. This situation he 
owed to a pamphlet he published in the preceding year, 
addressed to Lord Meadowbank, suggesting a scheme for 
the improvement of the Schools of Design belonging to 
the Board of Trustees for Manufactures in Edinburgh, and 
the best means of applying design to manufactures. After 
he obtained this appointment, he was sent on a mission 
of enquiry into the working of similar schools in Prussia, 
Bavaria, and France. His report was printed by order 
of the House of Commons in 1840, and led to the re- 



CH.XV.] WILLIAM DYCE 185 

modelling of the schools in London. In 1839 he 
exhibited at the Eoyal Academy ' St. Dunstan separating 
Edwy and Elgiva ; ' and in the next year ' Titian teach- 
ing Irene de Spilembergo.' In 1841 he sent to the 
British Institution 'The Christian's Yoke ;' and in 1843 
' Jessica ' to the Eoyal Academy ; all these displayed 
to a great degree the deep thought and power which 
characterise liis later works. 

During these years he was busily employed in the Go- 
vernment School of Design, and also turned his attention 
to the revival of ancient sacred music. He foimded the 
" Motett Society " for the practice of the Church Music of 
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which has since 
been incorporated with the Ecdesiological Society ; and in 
furtherance of the same object, he pubhshed, in 1842-43, 
the Book of Common Prayer, with the ancient canto 
fermo set to it at the Reformation, for which he received 
the gold medal of Science and Art from the King of 
Prussia. He resigned his appointment in the School of 
Design in 1843, and was then appointed Inspector of the 
Provincial Schools and a member of the Council. These 
offices he filled for two years ; and in 1848 again took 
part in the government of the schools as then reorganised. 

In 1844 he was elected an Associate of the Eoyal 
Academy, having in that year exhibited *King Joash 
shooting the Arrow of Deliverance,' a work so pure in 
style, so original in design, and so effective in treatment, 
that it at once estabhshed his reputation. Previously to 
this time he had been studying carefully the works both 
of the early Italian and the modem German school, and 
had acquired their facility in fresco-painting, as he proved 
in the Westminster Hall competition, where he exhibited 
two heads for a composition, representing ' The Conse- 
cration of Archbishop Parker in Lambeth Palace in 
1559.' This led to his being selected as one of the six 
artists to paint compartments in that style in the Houses 
of Parliament, the others being MacUse, Cope, Horsley, 



186 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch, XV. 

Tenniel, and E. Armitage. In 1846 he painted in fresco, 
for the House of Lords, ' The Baptism of King Ethelbert ; ' 
and he has since been almost constantly employed in the 
adornment of the Queen's robing-room, which is to be 
wholly ornamented with a series of pictures from the 
" Legend of King Arthur." He commenced this task in 
1848, undertaking to complete it in eight years ; but, from 
many causes of delay, it is still far from finished. On the 
west wall are pictures of ' Eeligion,' or the Vision of Sir 
Percival and his Companions ; ' Generosity,' King Arthur, 
unhorsed, is spared by his adversary, and ' Courtesy,' or 
Sir Tristam. On the north wall one of two frescoes is 
completed — * Mercy ;' and Mr. Dyce is now employed on 
the largest of the series — * The Court of King Arthur.' 
There are yet remaining to be executed two pictures on 
the east, and a portion of one on the north side, besides 
the friezes on all the four sides. Another commission he 
obtained was from Her Majesty, by whom he has been em- 
ployed at Osborne, and in the decoration of the summer- 
house at Buckingham Palace — at the latter to paint illus- 
trations of Milton's " Comus," in conjunction with Sir C. 
Eastlake, Landseer, Eoss, Maclise, Uwins, Leslie, and 
Stanfield. 

These works have engrossed the greater part of his 
time, and left him httle opportunity for making any impor- 
tant contributions to the Eoyal Academy Exhibition. In 
1846, however, he sent a ' Madonna and Child,' which 
was purchased by the late Prince Consort. In the next 
year a sketch of a fresco — painted for His Koyal Highness 
for Osborne House — of * Neptune giving the Empire of 
the Sea to Britannia.' In 1848 he was elected a Koyal 
Academician ; and in the following year he exhibited ' Om- 
nia Vanitas,' and a sketch of one of the * King Arthur ' 
frescoes. In 1850 and 1853 he contributed pictures of 
*The Meeting of Jacob and Eachel,' — the subject differently 
treated, and which he has repeated three or four times. 
In 1851 he exhibited * King Lear and the Fool ;' in 1855 



Ch. XV.] WILLIAM DYCE 187 

* Christabel/ — not the ideal of Coleridge, but a very 
beautiful Madonna-like face, treated in the German manner. 
In 1856 and 1859, *The Good Shepherd;' in 1857, 
' Titian preparing to make his First Essay in Colouring ;' 
in 1860, * The Man of Sorrows ' and ' St. John leading 
Home his adopted Mother,' a picture painted in 1844, 
but revised in 1851 ; and, in 1861, * George Herbert at 
Bemerton,' — wondrously painted, and filled with that 
spirit of poetry and devotion with which the character and 
writings of the good pastor are identified. 

Simultaneously with these labours, he undertook a 
commission to decorate with fresco paintings the east 
end of All Saints' Church, Margaret Street, Cavendish 
Square, which he completed in 1859. ' The Crucifixion ' 
and * The Virgin and Child ' are in the two centre com- 
partments. Twelve others (six on either side of these) 
contain figures of the Apostles. Surmounting the whole, 
and occupying the tympanum of the gable, is * Our Lord 
Enthroned,' supported by saints and angels, all painted in 
fresco, on golden ground. He has also executed designs 
for stained glass — one, the choristers' window in Ely 
Cathedral, and another at Alnwick, in memory of the 
late Duke of Northumberland. 

In addition to all these artistic labours, he wrote, many 
years since (as long ago as 1828) an essay on "Electro- 
magnetism," which obtained the Blackall prize at Aberdeen, 
and has since pubKshed several lectures and pamphlets on 
art subjects. He is Professor of the Theory of the Fine 
Arts at King's College, London, and is a member of the 
Eoyal Scottish Academy, and of the Academy of Arts of 
Philadelphia. As a painter, his style more nearly re- 
sembles that of the early Italian masters than the produc- 
tions of any other modern artist ; and he has caught 
their spirit as well as their style in the solemnity of 
thought, and the reverent feeling for holy things, which 
are manifest in all his representations of sacred subjects. 
His compositions generally are simple, even to severity ; 



188 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [On. XV. 

his drawing is correct and unaffected ; his colouring solid 
and brilliant, though not excessive ; and his representa- 
tion of religious themes is so fuU of hidden thought and 
elevated sentiment, that his pictures are addressed more 
to the educated and devout than to the multitude. 

From this goodly array of eminent painters who be- 
came Eoyal Academicians during the period in which Sir 
M. A. Shee was President, we turn to notice the four 
sculptors raised to the same rank. These were John 
Gibson, elected in 1836 ; William Wyon,in 1838 ; Patrick 
McDowell, in 1846 ; and Kichard Westmacott, in 1849. 

John Gibson, E.A., is the son of a landscape gardener, 
a native of Anglesea, North Wales, who was employed 
in laying out the grounds of a gentleman of fortune at 
Conway, at the time when his now illustrious son was bom 
at Gyffn, near that old romantic town, in 1791. While 
but a child, his mother observed and encouraged his early 
passion for drawing geese and horses on his father's slate ; 
but in the little town of Conway he found no one to 
direct him in such pursuits. When he was nine years old 
his parents removed to Liverpool, intending to emigrate 
to America, but afterwards abandoned the project. Their 
son was thus afforded the means of education in a large 
town, and the opportunity of studying prints in the shop 
windows, some single figures in which he would often 
examine carefully till he could go home and copy them 
from memory. These sketches, good for practice, were 
also profitable ; for the young artist sold them to his 
schoolfellows, and thus obtained pocket money wherewith 
to buy fresh materials. 

When in his fourteenth year, he begged hard to be 
allowed to become a painter; but his father chose for 
him the trade of a cabinet-maker, from which he was 
afterwards transferred, at his own request, to a wood- 
carver, and was employed for two years in carving scrolls 



CH.XV.] JOIIN GIBSON 189 

and ornaments for furniture. He had previously made 
some clever carvings in wood with a conamon pocket 
knife ; and was fiill of genuine enthusiasm and love for 
art. At sixteen, he happened to visit the marble works 
of Messrs. Francis, and was so forcibly impressed with 
the beauty of their productions, that he positively refused 
to work any longer for the master to whom he was ap- 
prenticed, and determined to become a sculptor. About 
this time he modelled a small figure of ' Time ' in wax, 
which was very beautiful. By forbearance and kindness 
on the part of his employers, his wish to be a sculptor was 
gratified, by the transfer of his indentures to Mr. Francis, 
who paid £70 to the wood-carver as compensation for 
the loss of his apprentice's services. 

After seven years of active labour and study in his new 
profession, having given great satisfaction to his employers, 
he was introduced by them to Mr. William Eoscoe, then 
residing at Allerton Hall, who was so struck with the 
beauty of Gibson's designs and modelUng, that he lent 
him some fine old drawings and prints to copy and study, 
invited him to his house, and introduced him to the 
society of Mrs. Lawrence and Mrs. Eobinson, two ladies 
of great mental power and refined taste, who exercised 
an important influence for good on the mind of Gibson 
in this the turning period of his career. In his eighteenth 
year he commenced the cartoon of the * Falling Angels,* 
now in the Liverpool Listitution ; and shortly afterwards a 
subject from Dante. After an interval of thirty years, he 
again saw this work, when he said that he felt a humbling 
doubt whether he could then excel that early efibrt These 
designs show how much he was impressed by the style 
of Michael Angelo, and how greatly he had profited by 
Mr. Eoscoe's descriptions of the mode in which that great 
artist worked. A desire to visit Eome was strengthened 
as he proceeded; and by the kind aid of his early 
friend and other patrons, he was supphed with means to 
study there for two years, and was furnished with an 



190 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

introduction to Canova from General D'Aguilar (the 
brother of Mrs. Lawrence), and also one from Lord 
Brougham. With these he proceeded to Bome, after 
paying a visit to London, where he met with a kind 
reception from Flaxman. 

Li October 1817 he arrived in Eome; and he has 
made it his abode ever since. Canova was most kind and 
generous to the young sculptor. He told him that he 
was then rich, and that by study his young friend would 
soon also become independent, and offered to defray all 
his expenses, that he might pursue his studies without 
obstacle, until his own talent and industry should make 
him equally prosperous. This offer was gratefully de- 
clined ; but Canova gave Gibson a place in his studio, 
and allowed him to attend his night-academy, where he 
soon discovered how Uttle he then knew of the rules and 
Umits of his art On leaving Canova's studio, three years 
afterwards, he set up for himself, in 1821, in the Via della 
Fontanella ; and in the same quiet modest studio he con- 
tinued to pursue his labours for years. Mr. Watson Taylor, 
whom he had met in London, gave him several commis- 
sions for busts of himself and family ; but the first commis- 
sion he received in Eome was from the late Duke of 
Devonshire, who was sent to him by Canova, and who 
found him engaged on a group of ' Mars and Cupid,' which 
he at once purchased for Chatsworth, where it now is. 

After Canova's death, in 1822, Gibson sought to attain 
further knowledge ; and although then himself a master, 
again became a pupil under Thorwaldsen. Yet he proved 
by all his subsequent works that he was no imitator, but 
simply strove to perfect his own individual conceptions by 
the more disciplined methods of his predecessors. * Psyche 
bome by the Zephyrs ' was executed by him in marble in 
1827, for Sir George Beaumont, and was his first work 
exhibited at the Eoyal Academy. Subsequently, he made 
a bas-relief of the ' Meeting of Hero and Leander ' in 
marble for Chatsworth, from the cast he had previously 



CH.XV.] JOHN GIBSON 101 

produced at Canova's request from a drawing he took 
with him to Eome. In 1829 he exhibited at the Academy 
a * Cupid ;' in 1831, * A Nymph untying her Sandal ; ' and 
in 1833, * Venus and Cupid.' In this year he became an 
Associate, and in 1836 a Eoyal Academician. 

Many of his happiest conceptions were suggested by 
casual actions observed in the streets of Eome, as, for 
instance, his * Wounded Amazon faUing from her Horse,' 
the bas-relief of * Jocasta parting her Angry Sons,' and 
' A Nymph dancing a Cupid on her Foot,' in which he 
has adapted incidents of daily life to poetical purposes. 
His works are very numerous and highly popular; 
many of them he has had to execut.e as often as seven 
times for different patrons, — ' Cupid disguised as a Shep- 
herd Boy ' was one of these. Many of his productions 
were purchased by his admirers at Liverpool, who seem 
to claim him as a native of their opulent and thriving 
community. * Hebe,' ' The Greek Himter and his Dog,' 
'Aurora,' * Sleeping Shepherd,' * Sappho,' 'Proserpina,' 
' Hylas and the Nymphs ' (now in the Vernon Gallery), are 
among his chief poetical statues, with the exception of 
one, ' Venus ' (which he retained for several years in 
his studio at Eome), shghtly coloured with a pale flesh 
tint, blue eyes, and flaxen hair ; the drapery left pure 
white, with the exception of a border of pink and blue. 
Mr. E. B. Preston has sent this fine work to the Interna- 
tional Exhibition, where are also 'Pandora' and 'Cupid,' 
tinted in the same manner. This novel course Gibson 
has defended by ancient Greek precedents, although its 
desirabihty is gravely questioned by many competent 
judges. In bas-relief his most striking productions are 
' Amalthea feeding the Infant Jupiter,' ' Hebe pouring 
out Nectar for Psyche,' 'The Hours leading forth the 
Horses of the Sun,' ' The Angel of Hope,' and ' Cupid 
and Psyche.' 

In portrait statues he is no less celebrated. His first 
notable work was the pubhc memorial of the lamented 



192 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Oh. XV. 

Mr. Huskisson, erected in the cemetery where he 
was buried, a duplicate in bronze given by his widow 
to Liverpool in 1847, and another statue of him in 
marble at Lloyd's in London. Others, equally excellent, 
were those of Sir Eobert Peel in Westminster Abbey ; 
Mrs. Murray, exhibited at the Eoyal Academy in 1846 ; 
and George Stephenson, in 1851. When Gibson visited 
England in 1844, for the first time for twenty-eight 
years, the Queen summoned him to Windsor, and gave 
him a commission for a statue of herself — "a faithful 
portrait, such as her children should recognise." For this 
Her Majesty sat to the sculptor for ten successive days, 
but though the head and bust were modelled from Kfe, 
the statue was executed at Eome, and exhibited at the 
Academy in 1847. It is a most graceful and dignified 
figure, fiill of gentleness, yet queenly in its pose. It is 
slightly tinted in the drapery, and the wreath and 
bracelet are gold-colour, a proceeding which was warmly 
discussed as an innovation at the time. A second 
statue of the Queen has been executed by Gibson for the 
Prince's Chamber in the Houses of Parliament, in which 
Her Majesty is represented sitting on her throne, Justice 
and Clemency standing on either side of her. His absence 
from England deprived him of the pleasant task of doing 
honour to the memory of his early friend and patron, Wil- 
liam Eoscoe, the commission for his monument having been 
given to Chantrey. Sir E. L. Bulwer has dedicated his 
last edition of "Zanoni" to Gibson in very flattering 
terms ; but not more so than the genius he possesses, the 
refined taste, simplicity, patient and earnest study and 
labour in his art deserved — qualities which have rendered 
him one of the glories of the coimtry which gave him 
birth, and the admiration of all the nations of Europe in 
which his works are known. 

William Wyon, R A., was bom at Birmingham in 1795, 
and was descended from a German family, many of whom 



Ch. XV.] WILLIAM WYON 193 

possessed the same talent for the art of gem-engraving 
as that by which he obtained celebrity. His grandfather, 
George Wyon, engraved the silver cup, embossed with a 
design of the assassination of Julius Caesar, which was 
presented by the City of London to Wilkes. His father, 
Peter Wyon, was a die-sinker at Birmingham, in partner- 
ship with his brother Thomas. In 1809 he was appren- 
ticed to his father, and studied very careftdly the designs 
of ilaxman, for whom he entertained a profound venera- 
tion. In 1813 he gained the gold medal of the Society 
of Arts for his copy of ' The Head of Ceres' which was 
purchased by the Society for distribution as a prize medal 
for agriculture. For a group of 'Victory in a Marine 
Car, drawn by Tritons,' by which this work was followed, 
he obtained a second gold medal from the same society. 
A few years later, he completed a figure of * Antinous,' 
which was so highly prized by his father that he had it 
set in gold, and wore it tiU his death. 

William Wyon came to London in 1816 to assist his 
uncle in engraving the public seals, and became a student 
at the Eoyal Academy in the following year. The post 
of second engraver at the Mint was ofiered by competition 
to the engraver who should produce the best design of 
the head of George HI. Sir Thomas Lawrence was the 
umpire, and he decided in favour of Wyon, who thus 
found himself appointed the assistant of his cousin, Thomas 
Wyon, the chief engraver. The latter died unexpectedly, 
and was succeeded by Mr. Pistrucci, who seems to have 
been indolent, and to have left the greater part of his 
work to Wyon, although claiming aU the honour of it. 
This led to disagreement, and under a new Master of the 
Mint the matter was arranged, in 1824, by half the salary 
of Pistrucci being given to Wyon, who then virtually 
became chief engraver, although the former nominally 
retained the appointment till 1828. A list of Wyon's 
works, exceeding 200 in number, with a memoir of his 
life, was printed for private circulation, in 1837, by his 

VOL. IL 



194 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

friend Mr. Nicholas Carlisle, and the Boyal Academy 
recognised his merits by electing him A.RA. in 1831, and 
RA. in 1838. 

His works consist of pattern pieces of coins not used, 
and of medals and seals. His coins include those of the 
later years of the reign of George IV., all those of his 
successor, and such of those of Her Majesty's reign as 
were issued before he died. He followed Chantrey's 
designs in the coins of George IV. and William IV., but 
made his own for those of the Queen. The pattern 
pieces include the crown, and nine patterns of a florin, 
and a £5 piece of the Queen, in which a figure of Una is 
introduced on the reverse. The crown piece, of a 
mediaeval character, was not coined, as the Company of 
Moneyers, who then farmed the Mint, objected to the 
amount of extra care and loss of profit to themselves 
which it would have involved. His war medals comme- 
morate the Peninsular victories, Trafalgar, Jellalabad, and 
Cabul; those for learned Societies include the Eoyal, 
Geological, Geographical, and many others, native and 
foreign ; the Eoyal Academy and Art Union medals ; the 
Harrow medal, given by Sir Eobert Peel, with a reverse 
of Cicero ; that of the Eoyal Institution, with a head of 
Lord Bacon ; the University of Glasgow, with that of Sir 
I. Newton ; the Geological Society, with that of Dr. Wool- 
laston ; and the Art Union, with that of Chantrey ; also 
the Brodie Testimonial, with the eminent surgeon's bust 
on one side, and 'Science trimming the Lamp of Life' 
on the other. He designed all the Portuguese coins 
among other commissions from foreign countries ; and 
while he generally drew the reverses himself, he sometimes 
obtained them from Flaxman, Howard, or Stothard. 
The last-named designed the reverse for his medal of 
Sir Walter * Scott ; and Chantrey the reverse of Queen 
Adelaide, on the coronation medal of King William IV. 
His works combine accuracy in portraiture, with force 
and delicacy of execution ; and his designs were always 



Ch. XV.] WYON — McDowell i96 

conceived in a purely classic spirit. Among his latest 
works were the obverses of the Great Exhibition medals 
of 1851. He died at Brighton on the 29th of October 
in that year, leaving a son, Leonard, who aided him 
in his labours, and has inherited his genius. 

Patrick McDowell, E.A., was bom at Belfast on the 
12th of August, 1799, and was the son of a tradesman 
who died while he was an infant, leaving his mother with 
very limited means, in consequence of some unfortunate 
speculations, by which he lost the greater part of his 
property. At eight years old he was sent to a school 
kept by Mr. Gordon, who was also an engraver, and 
who encouraged the boy's early fondness for drawing 
by lending him prints to copy. There he remained four 
years, when his mother removed to England, and sent 
him for two years to a clergyman in Hampshire. At 
fourteen he was bound apprentice to a coachmaker in 
London, who four years afterwards became a bankrupt, 
and McDowell's indentures were consequently cancelled. 
He then took lodgings in the house of a French sculptor, 
Chenu, in Charles Street, Middlesex Hospital, where he 
spent his idle hours in sketching from the casts aroimd 
him, and in striving to acquire a knowledge of sculpture. 
He tried to model portions of the human form, and at 
length attempted to make a reduced copy of a ' Venus,' by 
Donatelli, which he showed to Chenu, who was so pleased 
with it that he bought it from him. Thus encouraged, he 
persevered, and made other models for which he also 
found purchasers. 

Subsequently, he became, in 1830, a student at the 
Eoyal Academy. He was an unsuccessful competitor for 
the pubUc monument to Major Cartwright — for although 
his model was chosen, the money subscribed was not 
sufficient to defray the cost of its execution. The major's 
widow and family became his friends and patrons ever 
afterwards, and he thus obtained commissions for several 

o 2 



196 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

busts, some of which were received into the exhibitions 
at the Eoyal Academy. His first ideal work was from 
Moore's " Loves of the Angels," which was purchased by 
Mr. Davison, of Belfast. His next group was the ' Ce- 
phalus and Procris' of Ovid, which he executed in marble 
for Mr. E. S. Cooper, then M.P. for Sligo. He followed 
this by a Ufe-sized ' Bacchus and Satyr,' and a model of 
*A Girl Eeading;' the latter he exhibited at the first 
exhibition in Trafalgar Square, in 1837. It attracted the 
attention of Sir J. E. Tennent, who was pleased to find in 
the sculptor of it a self-taught artist and a fellow towns- 
man of his own. He gave him a commission for a bust 
of himself and another of Lady Tennent, and introduced 
him to Mr. W. T. Beaumont, M.P. for Northamptonshire, 
who became a liberal patron, giving him a commission to 
execute ' The Girl Eeading' in marble, and stipulating 
to employ all his time for three years. In 1838 he 
exhibited the beautiful figure referred to in marble, which 
was greatly admired, and again repeated, with Mr. Beau- 
mont's concurrence, for the Earl of Ellesmere. In 1840 
he produced another work for his patron, ' A Girl going 
to the Bath,' 

In 1841 he was elected an Associate of the Eoyal 
Academy, of which event he afterwards wrote (in the 
Autobiography published in the " Art Journal" in 1850), 
** I cannot forbear here remarking, that although much 
has been said of the interested partiality of the members 
of that institution in awarding . its honours, I can most 
conscientiously assert that, at the time of my election, I 
was not acquainted with a single member of that body, 
nor had I made a single advance to become so." Mr. 
Beamnont now persuaded him to go, at his expense, to 
Eome, where he remained only eight months, subse- 
quently executing for the same gentleman, in marble, * A 
Girl at Prayer' exhibited in 1842, * Love Triumphant' 
in 1844, 'Cupid' in 1845, and * Early Sorrow' in 1847. 
In 1846 he executed the statue of * Viscount Exmouth' 



ch. XV.] Mcdowell — westmacott 197 

for Greenwich Hospital, and obtained the rank of 
E.A. Among the most important of his subsequent 
works are ' Virginius and his Daughter,' 1847 ; ' Cupid 
and Psyche ' and ' Eve,' in 1849 ; ' Psyche,' in 1850 ; 
* The Slumbering Student,' in 1851 ; ' Love in Idleness,' 
in 1852; *The Day Dream' (subsequently executed 
in marble), in 1853 ; ' The First Thorn in life,' and 
a bronze statue of the late young * Earl of Belfast' (a 
most graceful and successful work), in 1856 ; * Viscount 
Rtzgibbon' (a young hussar officer who feU at Bala- 
klava), in bronze for the city of Limerick, in 1858 ; the 
statues in bronze for the House of Lords of ' Waryn, Earl 
of Pembroke,' and *Almeric;' and those in marble for 
St. Stephen's Hall, .of * William Pitt' and the *Earl of 
Chatham ; ' besides a large number of marble busts. 

All his works evince careful study, and are executed 
in so masterly a style as to leave no traces of their 
author being a self-taught artist. Grace of form, and cha- 
racteristic expression of the particular sentiment he desires 
to impart, are found in all his impersonations of female 
beauty ; and his male figures, if not always so striking 
and vigorous, are nevertheless of great excellence. The 
contrast between the muscular development of the sturdy 
Virginius and the slight and dehcate form of his daughter, 
in the group he designed for Mr. Beaimiont, displays his 
complete power over his materials. His busts are truthful 
and simple portraits, carefully and artistically executed. 
His mind is thoroughly. imbued with the graces of Greek 
sculpture ; and while he is an exquisite modeller, he throws 
over all his works an elevated feeling of chastity and 
refinement. 

BiCHARD Westmacott, RA., is the son of the late Sir 
R Westmacott, RA., and was bom in London in 1799. 
He became a student at the Eoyal Academy in 1818, 
and was also instructed in the art of sculpture by his 
father, who sent him in 1820 to Italy, where he remained 



108 raSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Oh. XV. 

six years, studying the remains of Greek and Boman art, 
and investigating their history. After his return to England 
he pursued his profession with great success, his works 
being much admired for their purity of style, their 
graceful design, the tender feeUng they express, and the 
classic simplicity by which they are distinguished. In 
monumental sculpture, which requires more of a devotional 
and solemn character to be given to the design, West- 
macott is especially successful ; and in this style, and also 
in the execution of portrait sculptures, he finds constant 
employment Of these, the best examples are the recum- 
bent figure of Archbishop Howley in Canterbury Cathe- 
dral ; Earl Hardwicke at Wimpole ; and the Ashburton 
monument. His busts of Earl EusseU, Sir F. Burdett^ 
Sydney Smith, and Sir E. Murchison, are good specimens ; 
but he is especially happy in those of ladies. His poetic 
conceptions are also very beautiful ; instance, 'The Cymbal 
Player,' the property of the Duke of Devonshire ; ' Venus 
carrying Cupid,' and ' Ariel.' Of his works of a religious 
character, the best are 'The Angel watching,' 'Prayer 
and Eesignation,' ' David as the Slayer of Goliath,' and a 
bas-relief illustrating the sentence, ' Go and sin no more.' 
Other bassi-rehevi of classic subjects are very happily 
treated by him ; among these may be mentioned, ' Paolo 
and Francesco,' executed for the Marquis of Lansdowne ; 
'Venus and Ascanius,' 'Venus instructing Cupid,' and 
' Bluebell' and 'Butterfly,' designed for the Earl of Elles- 
mere. The alto-rehevo on the pediment of the Eoyal 
Exchange was also executed by him. 

Westmacott is also known as a contributor to art- 
literature. He supplied the articles on ' Sculpture ' for 
the ' Encyclopaedia Metropolitana ' and the ' Penny Cyclo- 
paedia,' and other papers on kindred subjects to several 
publications. He has delivered Lectures on the ' History 
and Principles of Sculpture' at the Eoyal and London 
Institutions, and was chosen F.E.S. in 1857. He was 
elected as an Associate of the Eoyal Academy in 1838, 



Ch. XV.] WESTMACOTT — COCKERELL 199 

and R.A. in 1849. He succeeded his father as Professor 
of Sculpture in 1857, and was, in 1861, selected by the 
Eoyal Academy to represent the art of sculpture at the 
grand congress of artists of all nations held at Antwerp 
in August of that year. 

Four Architects were added to the roU of Academi- 
cians during the period between 1830 and 1850, in 
which Sir M. A. Shee was President These were, C. R 
CockereU, elected in 1836; J. P. Deering (formerly Gandy), 
in 1838 ; P. Hardwick in 1841, and Sir C. Barry in 1842. 

Charles Eobbrt Cockeeell, E.A., was bom in London 
in 1788, and was in his youth aflforded all the necessary 
instruction to qualify him for his profession as an archi- 
tect Before beginning to practise as such, however, he 
proceeded to Asia Minor and Italy, where he made a long 
stay, that he might study, carefully and systematically, 
the chief classic remains of art. During this important 
period of his life he not only examined what he saw, 
but imdertook extensive excavations at jEgina, Phygaha, 
&c., and brought home many of the antiquarian fragments 
he discovered, which are now in the British Museum. 

Thus prepared for the active duties of his profession, 
he quickly obtained important engagements as an archi- 
tect At both the Universities, Mr. CockereU has had his 
skiU called into requisition — in 1840, for the new Li- 
brary at Cambridge, his plan for which has only par- 
tially been carried out ; and in 1845, for the University 
Galleries at Oxford, a large and noble structure, the pecu- 
harities of some parts of the plan having, however, at the 
time called forth a variety of opinions for and against it. 
His design for the College at Lampeter is in the Gothic 
style, as are also the Chapel and Speech-room at Harrow, 
and the Philosophical Institution at Bristol. In succes- 
sion to Sir John Soane, he obtained the appointment of 
Architect to the Bank of England ; and has from time to 




200 raSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

time carried out the extensive alterations which have 
been required in that building during the last twenty- 
five years, and has also erected the branch banks at 
Liverpool, Manchester, and other places. The Assize 
Courts and St. George's Hall, at Liverpool, were de- 
signed by him, and also a large number of buildings for 
commercial purposes in London, as the London and West- 
minster Bank (in conjunction with Mr. Tite), the Sun 
Fire Office, and the Westminster Fire OflBce. 

In aU these buildings, so varied in their style and 
character, there is so much originahty of design, and so 
much inventive power in adapting them to their several 
purposes and positions, that they have established Mr. 
Cockerell's reputation as an architect of first-rate abihty. 
From his early models, and from his careful study of the 
works of Wren, he has always shown a strong bias for 
the classic style of the Greek and Eoman types ; and he 
has of late years evinced his knowledge of Gothic archi- 
tecture by his careful illustrations of the west front of 
Wells Cathedral, and of the sculptures, &c., of Lincoln 
Cathedral, of which he has published some careful mono- 
graphs, and also " An Architectural Life of WiUiam of 
Wykeham." From time to time Mr. CockereU has ex- 
hibited at the Academy drawings of some of the ruins 
he visited in Italy, &c., and some plans and designs of 
great interest ; one was ' A Tribute to the Memory of 
Sir Christopher Wren,' exhibited in 1838, in which 
he arranged together Wren's principal works, and drew 
them to the same scale. This clever and useful design 
has been engraved. Another, also done on one scale, 
was entitled * The Professor's Dream,' and gave a synopsis 
of the principal architectural monuments of ancient and 
modern times. 

Mr. CockereU was elected A.E.A. in 1829, and E.A. 
in 1836. In 1839 he was appointed Professor of Archi- 
tecture at the Eoyal Academy, in succession to Mr. Wil- 
kins. The lectures he dehvered in that capacity were 



Ch. XV.] • COCKERELL — DEERING 201 

full of valuable information respecting the history and 
theory of architecture, and were interesting to many 
others besides professional students, from the notices they 
contained of the works of Wren and of other buildings 
famiUar to our eyes, as well as of notable works of art 
in foreign countries. He resigned his Professorship in 
1856. As a member of the Council of the Eoyal 
Academy, he proposed the creation of Honorary Foreign 
Members ; but after the subject had been fully discussed, 
it was not found practicable to entertain the proposal. 
He is himself one of the eight foreign Associates of the 
Academy of the Institute of France, a Member of the 
Academy of St. Luke at Eome, and of the Academies of 
Munich, Berhn, &c. In 1860 he was elected President 
of the Institute of British Architects, in succession to 
Earl de Grey. 

John Peter Deering, RA., was bom about 1788, 
became a student at the Eoyal Academy in 1805, was 
elected an Associate in 1826, and R.A. in 1838. His 
name was originally Gandy, and he was a younger 
brother of Joseph Gandy, the architect, who was also 
an Associate of the Academy. In the commencement of 
his career he was employed imder the auspices of the 
Dilettanti Society to proceed upon a professional mission 
to Greece. After his return, he designed, in conjunc- 
tion with Wm. Wilkins, E.A., the University Club-House, 
which was completed in 1826 ; and in 1831, Exeter 
Hall in the Strand was erected from his drawings. His 
professional career was, however, virtually brought to a 
close in 1827, when he succeeded to a considerable 
landed property in Buckinghamshire, and assumed the 
name of Deering. In the first reformed Parliament, he 
was returned as a Member for Aylesbury. He was fond 
of his art ; and if he had not become independent of it, 
and thus been tempted to relinquish his profession, he 
possessed sufficient taste and ability to have led to his 



202 fflSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

attaining a distinguished position as an architect. He died 
on March 22, 1850. 

Philip Hardwick, E.A., was bom in June 1792, in the 
parish of St. Marylebone, London. His father, John Hard- 
wick (who had been a pupil of Sir William Chambers), 
was also an architect, and built the new church of St. 
Marylebone and Christ Church in the same parish. His 
son PhiHp was educated at Dr. Barrow's School, in Soho 
Square, and at an early age entered his father's office, 
and prosecuted the study of architecture with great per- 
severance. He also became a student at the Eoyal 
Academy in 1808. In his twenty-fourth year he ob- 
tained the appointment of Architect to the Hospitals 
of BrideweU and Bethlehem, which he continued to 
fill for twenty years, when his numerous engagements 
compelled him to resign it. The better to qualify himself 
for has profession, he visited France and Italy in 1818- 
19. In 1825 he designed and superintended -the erec- 
tion of the buildings for the St. Katharine's Docks (Tel- 
ford being the engineer), and in 1827 succeeded his 
father as architect to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. In 1829 
he was appointed architect to the Goldsmiths' Company, 
and shortly afterwards designed their new Hall. The 
exterior, bold and well-proportioned in every part, was 
completed in 1832, and the whole building — a noble 
specimen of the architect's abiUties — was opened by a 
grand banquet in 1835. The Grammar School at Stock- 
port, erected in the Tudor-Gothic style in 1832, was 
designed by Mr. Hardwick for the same company. He 
became an Associate of the Eoyal Academy in 1839, and 
RA. in 1841. The large entrance Gateway at the 
Euston Square Station, in the Greco-Doric style, was 
his next important work. In 1843 he commenced the 
new Hall and Library for the benchers of Lincoln's Inn — 
a noble structure in the Tudor style, built of red brick 
with stone dressings. The Queen publicly opened this 



Ch. XV.] HARDWICK — SIR C. BARRY 208 

Hall in October 1845. A severe illness, from which, 
unhappily, he has never thoroughly recovered, overtook 
him during the progress of this work, in which he was 
largely assisted by his son, Mr. Philip C. Hardwick, who 
is also a talented architect. 

Mr. Hardwick was elected a I^ellow of the Eoyal 
Society in 1828 ; was Architect to Greenwich Hospital ; 
and held a like appointment to the late Duke of Wel- 
lington, whom he followed to his grave in St. Paul's in 
that capacity. He has received the Eoyal Gbld Medal 
from the Institute of British Architects, of which he is 
a Fellow and Vice-President ; and was awarded one of 
the Gold Medals at the Paris Exposition of 1855. From 
1850 to 1861 he held the offices of Treasurer and Trustee 
to the Eoyal Academy. 

Sir Charles Barrt, RA., was bom in Bridge Street, 
Westminster (opposite the clock-tower of the Houses of 
Parliament) on May 23, 1795. He was the son of Mr. 
Walter Barry, a stationer who was employed by Govern- 
ment, and who left his family weU provided for. After 
his school education was completed, he was articled to 
Messrs. Middleton & Bailey, surveyors and architects at 
Lambeth, with whom he remained about five years. In 
1812 he exhibited his first drawing at the Eoyal Academy 
(he was not then seventeen), and by a strange coincidence 
it was * A View of the Interior of Westminster HaU,' the 
building with which his future fame is so closely con- 
nected. In the next year he sent an original design for 
a church ; in 1814 a design for * A Museum and library,* 
and in 1815 for ' A Nobleman's Country Mansion.' His 
father died in 1816 ; and as he thus obtained a little 
property, he resolved to travel. In April 1817, in com- 
pany with two other young architects, he proceeded 
to Florence and other Italian cities, where they employed 
their time in measuring and drawing the chief buildings. 
In 1818, in company with Sir C. Eastlake and others 



204 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

whom he met at Eome, he proceeded to Greece, and 
there made a large number of drawings. One of these, 
' The West Front of the Parthenon,' was exhibited in 1821 ; 
another, * The Temple of Theseus at Athens,' in 1823. 
On his return to Eome, with a portfoUo full of sketches, 
he met with a gentleman of fortune, Mr. Baillie, who 
offered him an engagement as his travelling artist. With 
him, in 1818-19, he went up the Nile and through the 
Holy Land ; some of the sketches he then made were 
afterwards engraved in " Finden's Landscape Illustrations 
of the Bible," and ' A Street in Grand Cairo ' was ex- 
hibited in 1824. At Sinai he met Mr. WiUiam Bankes, 
who afterwards became a hberal patron ; and in July 1820 
he returned to England. 

During this useful and interesting tour, Barry (whose 
early predilections were for Greek rather than Gothic 
art), became confirmed as an admirer of the beauties of 
Palladio, Sans Ovino, and Sans MicheU. He now es- 
tabhshed himself in business at No. 39 Ely Place, and 
married a lady to whom he had been long engaged, 
Miss EowselL In 1821 he exhibited another of his 
foreign views, * Euins of the Great Temple of Egyptian 
Thebes ; ' and in 1822 he obtained his first commission 
to erect a church — St. Matthew's — at Manchester, and 
another the following year at Oldham. In that year he 
also exhibited designs for St. Peter's, Brighton. Com- 
missions for the erection of three churches in Ishngton and 
a chapel at Birmingham were shortly afterwards given to 
him ; and he found it necessary to make a tour through 
England for the purpose of studying the mode of applying 
Gothic architecture to such buildings. Employment was 
now abundant, and in 1827 he removed his oflBce to 27 
Foley Place, Marylebone. Meanwhile he had been ap- 
pointed architect to Dulwich College, and was employed 
to build a mansion in the pure Greek style for Sir T. 
Potter, near Manchester, where he also erected the Eoyal 
Institution of Arts. 



Ch. XV.] Sm CHARLES BARRY 205 

A long series of works was subsequently entrusted to 
him. The Travellers' Club, erected in 1832 (the Carlton 
Terrace front of which is especially fine), was the first 
of those Italian palatial edifices which are now such a 
conspicuous feature in Pall Mali and its vicinity, and 
excited much notice by its elegant exterior and clever 
internal arrangements. The College of Surgeons was 
erected by him in 1835, and the Manchester Athe- 
naeum, begun in 1836, was completed in 1839. After a 
keen competition, his design for the Eeform Club was 
accepted in 1837, being modelled after the Famese 
Palace. Next came King Edward's Grammar School at 
Birmingham, an elegant and handsome structure in the 
Tudor-Collegiate style ; and the new buildings at Uni- 
versity College, Oxford, in the same manner, in 1840. 
One of his early designs for noblemen's mansions was the 
villa for Lord Tankerville, erected at Walton-on-Thames. 
Subsequently he was employed by the Duke of Suther- 
land at Stafford House, Trentham, Chefden, and Dun- 
robin Castle, nearly all of which he reconstructed, and 
greatly improved and enlarged them. For the Earl of 
Ellesmere he designed Bridgwater House in the Green 
Park, in 1841 ; but his first plans were subsequently 
altered, and the house was not erected till 1847-50. 
At the same time he was employed in remodelling the 
Treasury Buildings at Whitehall, originally designed 
by Sir J. Soane ; and no architect perhaps has been so 
successful as he was in adapting existing structural ar- 
rangements, and converting buildings possessing no archi- 
tectural attractions into others of great elegance in style 
and appearance. 

But the chief and endiu-ing monument of Sir Charles 
Barry's fame is that great work — the Houses of ParUa- 
ment — to which he devoted a large portion of the last 
twenty-six years of his Ufe. The old building was de- 
stroyed by fire in October 1834. A Eoyal Commission 
was appointed, and an open competition for designs for 



206 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV. 

the New Houses was announced by them (for which five 
premiums of £500 were offered), which was responded 
to by ninety-seven architects, who submitted as many 
designs, comprising upwards of a thousand drawings. 
One of these was imanimously assigned the preference 
over all the others by the Eoyal Commissioners, and this 
proved to be the one sent by Barry, and drawn chiefly 
by his own hand. It was a condition of the competition, 
that the building should be either Gothic or Elizabethan, 
else Barry would in all probability have made his design 
in the Italian style. It is not necessary here to describe 
the work which then fell to the share of the architect. 
It is one of the most magnificent buildings ever erected 
continuously in Europe, and is probably the largest Gothic 
edifice in the world, covering an area of nearly eight acres. 
The facade on the river front is 940 feet in length, divided 
into five principal compartments, panelled with tracery, 
and decorated with rows of statues and shields of arms 
of the kings and queens of England from the Conquest 
The west, or land front, is not an uninterrupted line. 
The Clock Tower, 40 feet square, and 316 feet high, 
surmounted with a richly decorated belfry spire, is at the 
north-east end. The central tower is 60 feet in diameter, 
and 300 feet to the top of the lantern. Various smaller 
towers break the line of the roof, until the Eoyal or Vic- 
toria Tower is reached at the south-west angle, one of the 
most splendid structures of its kind, 75 feet square, 336 
feet high, richly and beautifiiUy groined, and decorated 
with statues and ornaments. This is the Eoyal entrance, 
leading to the Norman Porch, thence to the Eobing 
Eoom, along the Eoyal Gallery, 110 feet long, to the 
Prince's Chamber, and so to the House of Peers, gor- 
geously enriched by ornamentation of many kinds, yet 
so harmoniously blended that the eye, although resting on 
such varied objects crowded together, is not wearied or 
dazzled by them. The House of Commons is reached 
by passing along the corridor across the Central HaU, 



CH.XV.] Sm CHARLES BARRY 207 

and is altogether simple in its decorations. From this 
point St. Stephen's Hall (covering the site of the ancient 
Chapel) is reached, and also Westminster Hall, which 
has been slightly altered at the upper end, to connect it, 
as a grand vestibule, with the main building. No de- 
scription thus brief can give any idea of the amount of 
elaborate design and workmanship bestowed on this 
structure, which will carry down with honour to suc- 
ceeding ages the name of the architect who designed and 
so nearly completed it The building was commenced in 
1837, as far as the coffer dams were concerned, the 
first stone was laid on April 27, 1840, by the architect's 
wife, without any public ceremony ; and the first stone 
of the Victoria Tower was laid by that lady on her birth- 
day, December 22, 1843. The House of Lords was 
opened on April 15, 1847 ; and on the 2nd of February, 
1852, the building was brought so near completion that 
the new House of Commons and all the grand halls and 
corridors were opened, and the Queen alighted for the 
first time under the great tower. On the 11th of the 
same month Mr. Barry received the honour of knight- 
hood at Windsor Castle, — an honour worthily bestowed 
by Her Majesty upon the architect, in recognition of 
his important pubUc services. 

Sir Charles Barry was suddenly removed from the 
midst of his labours. On the 11th of May, 1860, he was 
transacting business as usual at the Houses of Parliament, 
and on the following day went to the Crystal Palace at 
Sydenham. On his return he was seized with paralysis, 
which terminated fatally in a quarter of an hour, even 
before medical aid could be obtained. He was buried 
(in a grave near that of Robert Stephenson) at West- 
minster Abbey on the 22nd of May — an honour which 
is accorded to few, but which was signally appropriate in 
his case, since the modern work which will lend a lustre 
to his name overshadows that ancient pile. The solemn 
procession of Academicians, members of architectural 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Ch. XVI.] GEDDES — PATTEN 211 

Other portraits, those of Wilkie, Henry Mackenzie — the 
author of " The Man of FeeHng," — Dr. Chahners, and 
other Scottish celebrities. 

In 1814 he came to London ; and having previously 
obtained a large amount of pubUc approbation in Scot- 
land, he then entered his name as a candidate for the 
Associateship at the Eoyal Academy. Not succeeding 
the first year, he withdrew it, and id not again apply 
for ten years, when he felt how unreasonable was the 
offence he took at not receiving an immediate recog- 
nition of his claims, to the prejudice of prior claimants. 
In 1815 he visited Paris, and spent a portion of each 
year after that period in London. In 1818 he painted 
a picture of * The Discovery of the Kegalia in Scotland,' 
introducing portraits of Sir W. Scott and other distin- 
guished natives of Edinburgh. In 1828 he made a pro^ 
longed visit to Italy, Germany, and France ; and after 
his return to England in 1831, he painted an altar-piece 
for the church of St. James, Garhck Hill, the subject of 
which was, ' Christ and the Woman of Samaria.' In 1832 
he was elected an Associate of the Eoyal Academy. He 
was chiefly a portrait painter, but executed also a few 
historical pieces, and occasionally landscapes. His small 
full-length portraits are the best He was a skilful etcher 
in the manner of Eembrandt, but his productions in this 
style were not published. One of his pictures, * A Por- 
trait of Terry, the Actor, and his Wife ' — the sister of 
Patrick Nasmyth — who has read her husband to sleep, is 
in the Vernon Gallery. For four years before his death 
he suffered from the effects of consumption, and at length 
fell a victim to that disease, on the 5th of May, 1844. 

George Patten, A.E.A., is the son of a miniature 
painter, and was bom on June 29, 1801. Desiring to 
foUow his father's profession, he became a student at the 
Eoyal Academy in 1816, and diligently applied himself to 
the study of the human form. Several years afterwards, 

F 2 



212 iriSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Of. XVI. 

in 1828, he again became a student at the Academy — 
a rare circumstance in an artist's life — in order that he 
might qualify himself for the change in his style of 
painting which he was anxious to effect. He practised 
as a miniature painter till 1830, when he abandoned that 
method for oil-painting, which he has constantly pur- 
sued ever since. In 1837 he went to Italy, visiting 
Home, Venice, and Parma, for the purpose of study, 
and was elected an Associate of the Eoyal Academy. 
After his return to England, he visited Germany, where, 
in 1840, he painted a portrait of the late Prince Consort, 
who subsequently conferred upon him the appointment 
of Portrait Painter in Ordinary to His Eoyal Highness. 
His chief employment has been in painting presentation 
portraits on a large scale, many of which have been 
annually exhibited at the Academy. Among his works 
of this class was a portrait of Signor Paganini (1833), 
the only one ever painted of the famous musician. This 
picture and another, ' Dante in Inferno,' were selected by 
the Eoyal Academy for exhibition at the Paris Universal 
Exposition in 1855. In addition to these he has pro- 
duced a variety of classical and fancy subjects, in which 
he has displayed a great deal of spirit, and has succeeded 
in portraying natural flesh tints with great success. 
Among them are — 'A Nymph and Cupid' (1831), 'A 
Bacchante' (1833), 'Maternal Affection' and ' Cymon 
and Iphigenia ' (1834), ' Bacchus and Ino ' (1836), ' The 
Passions' (from CoUins's Ode), 1838, 'Eve' (1842), 
' The Madness of Hercules ' (1844), ' Hymen burning 
the Arrows of Cupid,' ' Cupid taught by the Graces,' 
and 'Flora and Zephyrus' (1848), ' The Destruction of 
Idolatry in England' (1849), 'The Prophet Isaiah,' 
' Susannah and the Elders,' and ' The Bower of Bliss' — a 
subject from Spenser — (1858), ' Bacchus discovering the 
Use of the Grape, ' Apollo and Clytie' (1859), &c. 

John Hollins, A.EA., was bom in 1798 at Binning- 



Ch. XVI.] HOLUNS — DUNCAN 213 

ham, where his father was a portrait painter. His own 
practice was chiefly in the same style, his portraits being 
characterised by much freedom and vigour, although 
deficient in grace and delicacy of handling. In the early 
part of his career he painted>some pictures illustrating 
history, and the works of the poets and noveUsts. 
Among these the best were, ' A Scene from the life of 
Benvenuto Cellini ; ' ' Andrea del Sarto's first Interview 
with Lucrezia di Baccio del Fede, afterwards his Wife ; ' 
' Tasso reciting his " Jerusalem Delivered '* to the Princess 
Leonora d'Este ; ' ' Margaret at her Spinning- Wheel,* 
from " Faust ; " * A Scene from " Gil Bias," ' &c. Subse- 
quently he began landscape-pieces, in which he intro- 
duced prominent figures, as in 'The Hayfield,' * Dover 
Hovellers,* ' Coast-Guard — Clifis near Dover,' ' A Scene 
on Deal Beach,' * The Fish-Market and Port of Dieppe,' 
' Grouse-shooting on the Moors,' * Young Highlanders — 
Scene in Argyleshire,' * Gillies with a young Heron,' 
' Scene near Loch Inver, with Portraits ; * * A View of 
Loch Etive,' and one, painted the year before he died, 
in conjunction with F. E. Lee, E.A., ' Salmon-fishing on 
the Awe,' in which representations of several well-known 
sportsmen were introduced. He was elected A.E. A in 
1842, and died at his residence in Bemers Street, on the 
7th of March, 1855. 

Thomas Duncan, A.E.A., was bom on 24th of May, 
1807, at Kinclaven, in Perthshire, and was educated in 
Perth, where his parents went to reside soon after his 
birth. In his boyhood he took great delight in painting 
portraits of lus young companions ; and while yet a school- 
boy, he painted the scenery for a dramatic representation 
of '* Bob Eoy," got up in his school. His parents feared 
that painting might be improfitable as a profession, so 
placed him in a writer's office, where he fulfilled the 
allotted period of his engagement, and afterwards visited 
Edinburgh, where he became a student at the Eoyal 



214 inSTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch.XVL 

Scottish Academy, under the then new president, Sir 
W. Allan. His strong desire to become a painter, when 
guided and directed by judicious teaching, soon de- 
veloped his natural talent ; and in drawing the himian 
figure he quickly excelled all his compeers in the 
Academy. His first exhibited picture was ' The Milk- 
maid,' followed by ' Old Mortality ' and ' The bra' Wooer.' 
These alike displayed his correct drawing, fine feeling, 
and masterly execution to great advantage, and led to his 
appointment, at a comparatively early age, as Professor of 
Colour and Drawing in the Academy art Edinburgh, of 
which he was also elected an Associate. 

Having thus acquired considerable local celebrity, 
Mr. Duncan, in 1840, sent to the Boyal Academy Exhi- 
bition in London his picture of ' Prince Charles Ed- 
ward and the Highlanders entering Edinburgh after the 
Battle of Prestonpans,' a fine work, afterwards engraved 
by Bacon. The next year he exhibited a lovely picture, 
' The waefu' Heart,' from " Auld Eobin Gray ; " in 
1842, 'Deer-stalking;' and in 1843, 'Prince Charles 
Edward asleep after the Battle of Culloden, protected by 
Flora M'Donald,' which has also been engraved, by Mr. 
Eyall In this year he was elected an Associate of the 
Eoyal Academy. In the following year he exhibited 
' Cupid ' and ' The Martyrdom of John Brown of Priest- 
hill in 1685.' While thus but at the commencement of 
a prosperous career, he was removed from this life on 
the 25th of May, 1845, in his 38th year. Had he been 
spared, he would doubtless have attained to eminence 
as a historical painter ; for notwithstanding some defects 
in his costumes and accessories, there were so many 
excellences in his pictures, in their composition, colour- 
ing, and chiar'oscuro, that he could not fail to have 
risen to be one of the ornaments of the British school. 
His portraits also were faithful and artistic; that of 
himself was purchased by subscription by his coimtry- 
men, and presented to the Eoyal Scottish Academy. 



Ch. XVI.] DUNCAN _ COOPER 216 

There he bore a high name as a patient, kind, and 
anxious instructor of the students, and in all the re- 
lations of domestic life he was highly esteemed ; hence 
his los8 was alike lamented by his Mends and by the 
admirers of art 

Thomas Sidney Cooper, A.K.A., was bom at Canter- 



216 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVI. 

I asked, "I never heard of the word.' 'Well,' he 
rephed, * my boy, it is that necessary principle of art 
that makes a thing look large although at a distance ' (I 
now suppose he paeant its retaining its real size although 
appearing small to the spectator) ; ' and if you will come 
to me to-morrow morning, I will teach you. My address 
is at the theatre.' " Cooper's new friend was a Mr. Doyle, 
by whom he was initiated into the first principles of art ; 
but the season at the theatre soon expired, and his 
instructor left the place. 

By the sale of his sketches he was subsequently enabled, 
at his own expense, to join Mr. John Martin's evening 
classes ; and by assisting his junior pupils afterwards, re- 
ceived his own instruction gratis. Mr. Doyle returned to 
Canterbury the following year, but died soon after his 
arrival ; and Mr. Dowton, the proprietor of the theatre, 
engaged Cooper to finish the scenery commenced by 
Doyle, and recommended him for similar employment at 
Feversham, where he painted the scenery for " Macbeth " 
and other pieces. In 1820 he went to Hastings, where he 
painted during the whole of the summer. At the request 
of his uncle, a clergyman, who objected to his wander- 
ing, uncertain mode of hfe, he came to London on the 
promise that he should become a student at the Eoyal 
Academy. Two years elapsed before he could accom- 
phsh this object ; but in 1823 he began studying at the 
British Museum, and was introduced by Sir T. Lawrence 
to the Angerstein Gallery, and in 1824 to the schools of 
the Academy. After nine months spent there, however, 
his imcle declined to retain him any longer in his house ; 
and from 1824 to 1827 his chief occupation was teaching 
at Canterbury and in the surrounding towns. Finding 
this employment greatly reduced by the arrival of a 
French gentleman who settled as a drawing-master in his 
native city, he resolved to try his fortune, in company with 
a schoolfellow, also an artist, in a foreign land. Accord- 
ingly they set sail from Dover for Calais, and there earned 



Ch. XVL] T. S. COOPER 217 

a few francs by painting the portraits of the landlord of the 
inn at which they put up, and of several members of his 
family. They found similar occupation at Gravelines and 
Dunkirk, and proceeded by Bruges and Ghent to Brussels. 
There they took lodgings, and exhibited their drawings in 
the window. These attracted attention ; and the pencil 
sketches of landscapes executed by Cooper proved very 
profitable and obtained many pupils for him. Thus for 
four years he continued to labour, enjoying the highest 
patronage of the place. He married an English lady 
resident there, and gained the friendship of Verboeck- 
hoven, the great animal painter, to whom (although he was 
unable to devote any of his time to study under his guid- 
ance) he has always attributed his own success in that 
branch of the art for which he is now so much cele- 
brated. 

During a tour in Holland for the purpose of making 
sketches of the principal towns, CSooper had the oppor- 
tunity of becoming acquainted with the works of the 
great animal painters of the Dutch school, and for the 
first time became impressed with the feeling that this 
style of art was not adequately developed in England. 
The Eevolution which about that time broke out at 
Brussels, hastened his return to his wife, whom he found 
with her child, outside of the town at her father's house, 
and her only brother kiUed in the conflict. Dreadful 
scenes followed ; and after nine months of anxiety and 
suffering, undergoing imprisonment and overcoming many 
difficulties. Cooper was compelled to return to England. 
In 1831 he again commenced his career as an artist in 
this country, without friend or patron. Conscious of his 
own love for art, and resolving to establish his reputation 
as a painter, he commenced a course of study, drawing 
animals in the fields and landscapes from nature during 
the day, and in the evening making pencil sketches and 
drawings on stone, to support his famUy. 

Thus he continued to labour till 1833, when he exhi- 



218 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVI. 

bited his first picture at the Suffolk Street Gallery, which, 
to his delight, was purchased by Mr. Vernon. " Then it 
was," he tells us in his autobiography, " on my first visit 
to my dear mother and family, that my townsmen received 
me with open hands, congratulating me on the distin- 
guished position to which I was raising myself. Yes, 
these very persons who never helped me when I needed 
assistance, who never put forth the fostering hand to the 
* poor artist boy,' now assumed the credit and participa- 
tion in the honour I was gaining, and called me their dis- 
tinguished townsman, and praised that structure to which 
they gave no helping hand ! Subsequently, irom year to 
year, I met with equal success, till, in 1845, 1 was elected 
an Associate of the Boyal Academy ; previous to attaining 
which object of my ambition, I lost her who was my best 
friend, who consoled me in all difficulties and sustained 
me in all circumstances, who rejoiced with me in my suc- 
cess and was one whose agreeable society and amiable 
disposition gained her many friends, and whose death has 
left a void which eternity only can fill." The wife to 
whom he thus tenderly alluded died in 1842. 

For many years some of his works have been annually 
exhibited at the Eoyal Academy, and others also at the 
British Institution. The charm of his pictures lies more 
in the pure feeling of nature, and in the knowledge and 
masterly use of the means of representation which they 
manifest, than in the subjects chosen by him ; for, like 
Cuyp and Paul Potter, his pencil wanders exclusively 
among farm-yard scenes and green pastures, whether on 
lowland or on moors, among oxen, cows, sheep, and 
goats. Since 1848, he has painted frequently in con- 
junction with F. R Lee, E.A., in whose beautiful land- 
scapes he has successftdly introduced some of his most 
charming groups of cattle and sheep. His animals are 
perfect in naturalness of attitude and occupation, in 
colour and texture. All his pictures are more or less 
identical in character, but each is excellent of its kind. 



CH.XVI.] COOPER — FROST 219 

He has painted more than a hundred large groups of 
cattle, &c., mostly commissions. In 1860 he deviated 
from his ordinary style, delicious as it was, and exhibited 
a snow scene, ' Crossing Newbiggin Moor, East Cumber- 
land, in a Snow-drift : ' a work of great truthfulness and 
power. Two good specimens of his usual subjects are in 
the Vernon Gallery, 'A Farm-yard: Milking Time,' a 
study near Canterbury, painted in 1834; and 'Cattle — 
Early Morning on the Cumberland Hills ' (1847). 

WiLUAM Edward Frost, A.E.A., was bom at Wands- 
worth, Surrey, in September 1810. His jEather early 
discovered his unmistakable passion for art ; and after he 
had learnt something of drawing from Miss Evatt, a 
neighbour, who was a clever amateur artist, he was intro- 
duced to Etty at the time when he was painting his 
picture of ' Woman Pleading for the Vanquished.' From 
that time he became the young aspirant's friend and 
adviser ; and the subjects he chose are those to which 
Frost has since applied his own pencil. By his advice he 
was placed at Mr. Sass's Academy, in Bloomsbury Street, 
where he studied for three years during the summer 
months, and in the British Museum in the winter. In 
April 1829, he became a student at the Eoyal Academy, 
and dihgently laboured to qualify himself for his adopted 
profession by constant attendance in the Life School. 
As the reward of his assiduity, he gained the first medals 
in each of the schools — except in the Antique, where he 
had Maclise for a competitor. He began his career by 
paintingportraits, executing some three himdred such works 
in the course of the first fourteen years, few of which^ 
however, were exhibited at the Eoyal Academy ; only one 
in 1836, and two in 1839. In the last-named year he 
competed for the gold medal, and gained it, for his picture 
of 'Prometheus bound by Force and Strength,' which 
was exhibited the following year. In 1842, he exhibited, 
at the British Institution, a small pictiu-e full of humour. 



220 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVI. 

entitled ' Consequence/ which at once found a purchaser ; 
and in the Cartoon Exhibition at Westminster Hall, he 
gained the £100 prize for 'Una alarmed by the Faims 
and Satyrs.' In 1843, he exhibited at the Academy a 
picture of ' Christ crowned with Thorns,' which was 
selected by a prize-holder of the Art-Union. In the same 
year, a sketch, ' Confidence,' was sold from the British 
Institution ; and the next year, ' A Bacchanalian Dance,' 
from the same place, and ' Nymphs Dancing,' from the 
Academy. 

These pictures were the beginning of that series of 
subjects of a sylvan and bacchanahan character, suggested 
by Spenser and Milton, which Mr. Frost has since 
pursued with so much success — combining the charm 
of the grace and loveUness of the female form with the 
brightness and beauty of the scenery of nature. In 1845 
appeared his admirable picture of 'Sabrina,' engraved 
for the Art-Union of London. The next year 'Diana 
and Actajon,' bought by Lord Northwick, which obtained 
for him his election as an Associate in the following 
November. His picture of ' Una and the Wood Nymphs,' 
exhibited in 1847, was purchased by Her Majesty ; and 
that of ' Euphrosyne,' painted in the next year for Mr. 
Bicknell, was afterwards repeated for the Queen as a gift 
to her Eoyal Consort, and obtained the prize at the 
Liverpool Academy, where it was also exhibited. His 
chief works since have been 'The Sirens,' 1849 and 
1860 ; ' The Disarming of Cupid,' painted for the late 
Prince Consort, and ' Andromeda,' in 1850 ; the ' Wood 
Nymphs,' and 'Hylas,' in 1851; 'Nymph and Cupid,' 
and * May Morning,' in 1852 ; * Chastity,' 1854 ; 
* Bacchante and Young Fawn Dancing,' 1855 ; * The 
Graces,' 1856; 'Narcissus,' 1857; 'Euphrosyne,' 1858; 
' The Daughters of Hesperus,' 1860 ; ' Venus lamenting 
the Absence of Adonis,' and ' A Dance,' 1861. He has 
also contributed annually some smaller works of great 
beauty and merit to the British Institution. 



Ch. XVI.] FROST - TIIORBURN 221 

Although Frost has followed Etty in some degree in 
choice of subject, in mode of colouring, and style of 
composition, he certainly cannot be regarded as his 
imitator, for he differs materially from him in the chastely- 
correct and highly-finished manner in which he depicts 
the undraped nymphs in his pictures. They are always 
full of grace and refinement, of beauty and feminine 
simplicity ; and there is nothing in his pictures which the 
most delicate and highly-cultivated taste could disapprove. 
Although he has confined himself to a certain class of 
subjects, he has so much inventive power, and such a 
well-stored mind, that, if he chose, he could labour with 
equal success in a much wider field. His works typify his 
character, which is described by all who know him inti- 
mately to be ftiU of purity of thought and purpose, and of 
great amiabihty and gentleness of disposition. 

EoBERT Thorburn, A.R.A., was bom in March 1818, 
in Dumfries, where his father was engaged in trade, 
and where one of his brothers became a skilful carver 
in wood. He was educated at the High School there. 
When a mere boy, a lady observed him drawing on a 
stool in his father's shop, and afterwards helped him in 
his artistic efforts. In 1833 some gentlemen of the town 
provided him with the means of proceeding to Edin- 
burgh, where he became a student at the Eoyal Scottish 
Academy. He was dihgent and painstaking ; and, imder 
Sir Wm. Allan, made rapid and decided progress, and 
gained the highest prize. After residing for some years 
in Edinburgh, he went to London, and became a student 
at the Eoyal Academy in 1836. The Duke of Buccleuch 
gave him introductions to the best circles in the me- 
tropolis ; and he has since devoted himself exclusively to 
portraiture, in which he has deservedly attained to great 
eminence. 

The exquisite miniatures which he exhibited for many 
years at the Eoyal Academy were scarcely less attractive 



222 HISTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVI. 

to the visitors than those of Sir Wm. Eoss ; and it is to 
be regretted that this elegant branch of art has declined 
before the advance of the process of photography, since, 
whatever the superior advantages of the latter in some 
respects, we lose, in good miniatures, permanent artistic 
works of real beauty. Many of those by Thorbum were 
fiill-length portraits in a landscape or interior, which, 
thus elaborately detailed, constituted pictures of great 
interest ; while the brilliancy of colour, the great power 
of expression, the exquisite finish, and the calm grace and 
dignity of position and feature with which he invested 
his subjects, rendered them worthy of careful study and 
examination. 

In 1846 he received his first commission from Her 
Majesty, and he has since painted miniatures of most of 
the members of the Eoyal family. In 1848 he was 
elected an Associate of the Boyal Academy. More re- 
cently he has painted large portraits in oil and chalk, 
which possess great freedom and power of resemblance ; 
but they have not the especial attraction of the works by 
which he acquired his fame, although they are bright in 
general tone, and well painted both in the flesb and 
draperies. 

EoBEET Graves, A.E., was bom on the 7th May, 1798, 
in the parish of St. Pancras, and is a member of a family 
long celebrated as printsellers in London — his brother, 
Mr. Henry Graves, carrying on the business in Pall Mall 
which was estabUshed by Alderman Boydell, and con- 
tinued by Hurst and Eobinson, and Moon, Graves and 
Boys. In 1812 he became a pupU of Mr. Joljn Eomney, 
the engraver, and afterwards studied in the life School, 
then held in Ship Yard, Temple Bar. From making a 
large number of drawings in pen and ink, he proceeded 
to engraving illustrations for the Annuals, the Waverley 
Novels, the " Art Journal," &c. 

In 1832 Mr. Graves was married to Miss L. M. Percy, 



Ch. XVI.] GRAVES - WILLMORE 223 

by whom he has had two sons. On the death of James 
Fitder, he was elected an Associate Engraver of the Eoyal 
Academy, in 1836. He has since been engaged on many 
interesting and important works. Among the larger 
plates engraved by him are, ' The Abbotsford Family/ 
after Wilkie ; ' The Examination of Shakspeare,' ' The 
Castaway,' and ' The First Eeading of the Bible in Old 
St. Paul's,' all after G. Harvey, E.S.A. ; ' The Highland 
Whisky Still,' after Sir E. Landseer; *The Baron's 
Charger,' after J. F. Herring ; ' Cromwell refiising the 
Crown,' after C. Lucy ; and ' A Slide,' after T. Webster, 
R.A. Among his smaller plates, the best are, 'The 
Virgin with the Eosary,' after MuriUo ; ' The Children of 
George HI.,' after Copley ; ' The Sisters,' after Eastlake ; 
*The Princess Victoria Gouramma of Coorg,' after 
Winterhalter ; and ' The Princess AmeUa,' by Lawrence, 
from the originals in the Eoyal Collection. Li all these 
productions there is evidence of a thorough knowledge of 
his art, and a successful rendering of the character and 
effect of the original works. 

James Tibbetts Willmobb, A.E., was bom at Hands- 
worth, in Staffordshire, on the 15th September, 1800. 
He was articled as a pupil to the late Mr. Eadclyffe the 
engraver, of Birmingham ; and in 1823 came to London, 
and was for three years an assistant of Mr. Charles Heath. 
He was elected as an Associate-Engraver by the Eoyal 
Academy in 1843. 

He has engraved a large number of interesting and 
important works. Among them, ' Crossing the Bridge ' 
and 'Harvest in the Highlands,' after Landseer; 'Til- 
bury Fort,' 'The Ehine,' and 'Powys Castle,' after 
Callcott ; an ' Italian Town,' after Stanfield ; ' The Gate of 
the Seraglio at Constantinople,' after Danby ; and ' Ancient 
Italy,' ' BelUni's Picture carried to the Church of the Ee- 
demption,' ' The Golden Bough,' ' Mercury and Argus,' 
'The old T^m^raire,' 'The Temple,' 'The Dogana,' 



224 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVL. 

' Tancarville,' * Llanberris,' ' Uanthony,' * Alnwick Castle,* 
and other works by Turner. In all of these he has dis- 
played great taste and ability, and a desire carefully to 
render the style of the artists whose pictures he has 
engraved. Declining health has, unhappily, recently 
prevented him from pursuing his profession. 



CHAPTEE XVn. 

THE ROYAL ACADEMY UNDER THE PRESIDENTSHIP OF SIR 
CHARLES LOCK EA8TLAKE. 

(Vioitt of a new President — Tkt late Pnttce Contort'* Tedinumy to the Qualtfi- 
nrtiww of Sir C. Eadhke for the Office — The IVrtidetU'l Fird Addrem — 
The Great Exhibition of 1851 — T7te Academy Diimer, and the laU Prince 
Comorl't Addreu — Convertaaone for Exhihitora eitablithed — Dittribxdion 
of Gnld Medali—Channe* in the School* — The Science and Art Department 
eMiihUthed— The Otiild of Liierature and Art — Speechet at the Annual 
Sinner, \B&2 — Vamithing Dayi ditcontinued — The Nallonat Qtdlery and 
the Turner Cailection of Pktura— The new Historical PortraU Gallery — 
.Formation of the Iiulifide of BrituA Sctdptort — Engratieri' Ctn'mi to full 
Academic ffonoure— The Dublin Erhibition, \8I>A~ 77ie Preiidenfi Addreti 
— Enffravert efected ai Academiciaiu — Lord Mayor Moon'i Dinner to the 
Boyal Academy — The Pretident appointed Director of the National QaUery— 
Parii ErpoM^ion, 1806 — Academy Exhibition, ISlifl — La»i» of Copyright in 

VOL. 11. Q 



226 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVH. 

Art — Additional Lectures at the Academy — Gold Medals distributed hy 
the President in 1857, and his Address to the Students — Manchester Art- 
Treasures' Exhibition — TTie Sheepshanks^ Collection — Report of the Commission 
on the Site for a New National Gallery — Parliamentary Proceedings relating 
to the Academy y 1858-59 — Proposed Assignment of a Site at Burlington 
House for a New Academy — LordLyndkursfs Address to the House of Lords 

— Communication between the Academy and the French Government, on Art 

— Retirement of Sir Robert Smirke, M,A, — Publication of a Report by the 
Council on the History and Proceedings of the Royal Academy — Alterations 
in the E^chtbition Rooms — Admission of Female Students to the Schools — 
Revised Code of Regulations for Students — Changes among the Officers and 
Members — ExhtbitionSy and the Receipts from them — Items of Expenditure 
— Address of Condolence to the Queen on the DeatJi of the Prince Consort — 
List of Present Officers and Members of the Royal Academy, 

FOR some time before the decease of Sir Martin A. 
Shee, the probability of that event — considering his 
enfeebled state during the last three or four years of his 
long and usefid life — had naturally forced itself upon 
the attention of the Eoyal Academicians and the public. 
When, in August 1850, the venerable President who had 
so ably resisted all encroachments upon the rights of the 
institution, passed away, the members had no hesitation 
in nominating as his successor Mr. Charles Lock East- 
lake, whose high reputation as a painter, whose abihties 
as a scholar and a writer upon art, and whose courtesy 
and high principle as a gentleman, combined to quahfy 
him pre-eminently for the duties of the office which Rey- 
nolds, West, Lawrence, and Shee, had filled before him. 
A difficulty, however, presented itself, in the circumstance 
that he was at that time filling the office of Secretary to 
the Royal Commission on the Fine Arts ; and it became a 
question whether he could discharge the onerous duties 
of that office, and yet occupy the high position to which 
his brethren desired to elevate him in the Royal Aca- 
demy. He felt that he was bound in honour to retain 
his post in the Royal Commission, which he had filled 
with so much advantage to the arts, and to the country, 
since its formation, until his labours were completed ; and 
it was not till it was determined that he should continue 
to hold that office, that he accepted the added dignity of 



Ch. XVn.] ELECTION OF SIR 0. L. EASTLAEE 227 

the Presidentship of the Eoyal Academy. Her Majesty 
had previously privately intimated to Sir Edwin Landseer 
(who was then at Balmoral), that EasUake's appointment 
would be highly agreeable both to herself and the Prince 
Consort. This was made known to him by Leslie, who 
says, " we had determined to vote for him whenever the 
vacancy should occur, long before we knew how accept- 
able the choice would be to the Queen." Thus unani- 
mously raised to the position for which he was so emi- 
nently qualified, Mr. Eastlake was informed that Her 
Majesty had been pleased to confirm the selection of his 
brother Academicians, and to bestow on him the honour 
of knighthood ; and the late lamented Prince Consort, as 
President of the Eoyal Commission, bore testimony to 
the value of the services rendered by Sir Charles Eastlake 
as its Secretary, on the occasion of ihe first annual dinner 
at the Academy after his election as President (May, 
1851), when his Eoyal Highness said : — 

*' Although I have^ since my first arrival in this country, 
never once missed visiting the exhibition of the Royal Academy, 
and have always derived the greatest pleasure and instruction 
from those visits, it is but seldom that my engagements will 
enable me to join in your festive dinner. I have, however, on 
this occasion, made it a point to do so, in order to assist at 
what may be considered the inaugurative festival of your newly- 
elected President, at whose election I have heartily rejoiced — 
not only on account of my high estimate of his qualities, but 
also on account of my feelings of regard towards him personally. 
It would be presumptuous in me to speak to you of his talent 
as aa artist, for that is well known to you, and of it you are 
the best judges ; or of his merits as an author, for you are all 
familiar with his books — or, at least, ought to be so ; or of his 
amiable character as a man, for that also you must have had 
opportunities to estimate ; but my connection with him now for 
nine years, on Her Majesty's Commission for the Promotion of 
the Fine Arts, has enabled me to know, what you can know less, 
and what is of the greatest value in a President of the Royal 
Academy — I mean that kindness of heart and refinement of 
feeling which guided him in all his communications, often most 

q2 



228 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVIT. 

difficult and delicate^ with the different artists whom he had to 
invite to competition, whose works we had to criticise, whom we 
had to employ or reject." 

It has already been stated that the Academicians voted 
an annual pension of £300 a year to Sir M. A. Shee 
during the last few years of his life. On the election of 
his successor to the presidental chair, it was proposed by 
C. E. Leslie that the sum thus voted should be continued, 
and the suggestion was readily adopted. He tells us, 
however, that " some of the Academicians considered it 
undignified that the President of the Boyal Academy 
should be paid for his services — a view, I confess, en- 
tirely opposite to that which I take of the matter* In 
the first place, £300 a-year (voted until the bequest of 
Chantrey comes into effect) is no payment for the time 
and money the President is now called on to expend in 
the service of the Academy ; and in the second, it seems 
to me that it would be much less dignified in that body 
to allow a distinguished artist to make the great sacrifices 
he must make for the benefit of the institution, wholly 
without remimeration." 

Sir Charles Eastlake made his first public appearance 
as President on the 10th of December, 1850, the eighty- 
second anniversary of the foundation of the Eoyal Aca- 
demy, when a large number of the Academicians and 
Associates assembled to witness the distribution by him 
of the prizes to the students. In a brief address, he re- 
ferred to the time when he had himself been one of their 
number in their old rooms at Somerset House, and had 
to contend with all the difficulties and disappointments 
which must be felt at some time or other even by the 
most assiduous in the path to artistic reputation ; and 
he put it to them, that if such be the lot of the diligent 
students, what can they expect who neglect half the op- 
portunities afforded them for improvement, or mis-spend 
the time which ought to be employed in close and ener- 
getic study ? Whiltf thus urging all to greater perseve- 



Ch. XVIL] the prince and the exhibition of 1861 229 

ranee, he however complimented the students upon the 
attention, good conduct, and satisfactory progress they 
had manifested during the past season, and which had 
determined the council to award an extra medal in each 
of the schools. Before dispensing these valued gifts, he 
referred to the great and varied talents of the late Presi- 
dent, Sir Martin Archer Shee, alike as a painter and as a 
poet and writer on art, and also to his kind and judicious 
deportment towards the students, upon whom he always 
endeavoured to inculcate the principles of sound morality 
and the habits of gentlemen, while urging them to store 
their minds with subjects upon which to exercise the 
art of which they were acquiring a knowledge. Allusion 
was also made to the resignation of the office of Keeper, 
by Mr. George Jones, whose watcliful attention to all the 
wants and interests of the students, and his habitual cour- 
tesy and kindness, had won for him the high esteem and 
respect of all those placed under his guidance in the 
schools. The office has since been filled by Charles Land- 
seer, xCxx. 

The year 1851 will be memorable in English annals 
as that in which the Exhibition of the Industry of All 
Nations was held, and which was the precursor of many 
similar displays in other coimtries, and in our colonies, in 
subsequent years. The first suggestion for this great 
design was made by the late lamented Prince Consort, 
who, in this as in so many other things, showed his wis- 
dom, taste, and judgment, and practically exercised an 
influence for good upon the country which was so proud 
to own him as only second to the Sovereign in their re- 
gard and honour ; and whose removal in the midst of his 
useful plans and purposes has shed so deep a gloom, not 
only over the inner circle of the Boyal Family, but over 
the whole country. We did not know how much we loved 
him till he had been called to his reward ; w^e did not 
estimate his ceaseless labours for the promotion of all that 
was good and useful in social progress, in literature, science 



280 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVII. 

and art, until his work was done, and we could no longer 
reap the advantage of his highly cultivated intellect and 
his no less noble heart, both alike devoted to the wel- 
fare of our country. 

Although the Fine Arts, strictly so trailed, with the 
exception of sculpture, found no place in the Crystal 
Palace in Hyde Park, the application of art to manufac- 
tures, and the improvements suggested in the design and 
ornamentation of objects in e very-day use in our homes, 
produced a most beneficial effect upon the popular taste 
for the beautiful. Sculpture found in that building a noble 
opportunity for displaying its powers. Baily, McDowell, 
Foley, Marshall, and Weekes, contributed by their works 
to maintain, in conjunction with other English sculptors, 
the reputation of our native artists in competition with 
those of other nations. The impulse thus given to art- 
manufacture, and to the cultivation of a more refined 
taste in design and for the Fine Arts, has since shown 
its fruits in the remarkable improvement and progress 
which has taken place in both respects within the last ten 
years. That six milUons of visits to the Great Exhibition 
were paid for, and that a surplus of some £150,000 
should remain after all expenses incidental to the under- 
taking were defrayed, is a proof of the wide influence 
which it exercised upon the population of England, and 
upon those who were attracted by it to our shores from 
abroad. 

The opening of this remarkable Exhibition immediately 
preceded that of the Koyal Academy, and for a short 
time considerably diminished the number of those who 
usually throng its rooms for the first few weeks after the 
opening. Subsequently, the number of visitors to the 
Academy increased beyond those of any preceding year 
in its history ; and to meet the necessity of affording as 
many as possible of the strangers then visiting the metro- 
polis an opportunity of seeing our chief annual display of 
art, the exhibition was kept open till the 16 th of August, 



Ch. XVn.] THE PRINCE'S SPEECH AT THE ACADEMY 231 

instead of being closed, aa usual, in the last week of the 
month of July. The large number of 136,821 persons 
visited the ediibition, and the amount of the receipts 
from the charge for admission and the sale of catalogues 
in the year 1851, was £9,017 95. The exhibition was 
admitted to be one of the most interesting that had been 
seen for years, and was rich in works of merit. The 



232 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVII. 

warmth of feeling, and a free flow of imagination. This renders 
them most tender plants^ which will thrive only in an atmosphere 
calculated to maintain that warmth ; and that atmosphere is 
one of kindness — kindness towards the artist personally, as 
well, as towards his production. An unkind word of criticism 
passes like a cold blast over their tender shoots, and shrinks them 
up — checking the flow of the sap which was rising to produce, 
perhaps, multitudes of flowers and firuit. But still criticism is 
absolutely necessary! to the development of art; and the in- 
judicious praise of an inferior work becomes an insult to superior 
genius. In this respect, our times are peculiarly unfavourable, 
when compared with those when ^ Madonnas ' were painted in 
the seclusion of convents ; for we have now, on the one hand, 
the eager competition of a vast array of artists of every degree 
of talent and skill, and, on the other, as judge, a great public, 
for the greater part wholly uneducated in art — and this led by 
professional writers, who often strive to impress the public with 
a great idea of their own artistic knowledge by the merciless 
manner in which they treat works which cost those who produced 
them the highest efforts of mind and feeling. The works of 
art, by being publicly exhibited and offered for sale, are be- 
coming articles of trade, following, as such, the unreasoning 
laws of markets and fashion; and public and even private 
patronage is swayed by their tyrannical influence. It is, then, 
to an institution like this, Gentlemen, that we must look for a 
counterpoise to these evils. Here young artists are educated, 
and taught the mysteries of their profession ; those who have 
distinguished themselves, and given proof of their talent and 
power, receive a badge of acknowledgment from their profes- 
sional brethren, by being elected Associates of the Academy, 
and are, at last, after long toil and continued exertion, received 
into a select aristocracy of a limited niimber, and shielded in 
any further struggle by their well-established reputation, of 
which the letters * E.A.,' attached to their names, give a pledge 
to the public. If this body is often assailed from without, it 
shares only the fate of every aristocracy ; if more than another, 
this only proves that it is even more difficult to sustain an 
aristocracy of merit than one of birth or of wealth, and may 
serve as a useful check upon yourselves, when tempted, at your 
elections, to let personal predilections compete with real merit. 
Of one thing, however, you may rest assured ; and that is, the 



CH.XVII.] THE CONVERSAZIONE FOR EXHIBITORS 283 

continued favour of the Crown. The same feeling which actuated 
George III. in founding this institution, still actuates the Crown 
in continuing to it its patronage and support, recogaising in you 
a constitutional link, as it were, between the Crown itself and 
the artistic body ; and when I look at the assemblage of guests 
at this table, I may infer that the Crown does not stand alone 
in this respect, but that those feelings are shared also by the 
great and noble in the land. May the Academy long flourish, 
and continue its career of usefulness!'' 

The close of the exhibition, the opening of which 
was thus auspiciously inaugurated, was followed by a 
Conversazione to the general body of exhibitors, which 
was attended by a large number of visitors, and proved 
exceedingly attractive to all who were present. The 
brilliantly lighted rooms gave a new aspect to the pic- 
tures and sculptures, while the gay and tasteful dresses of 
many of the guests added much to the beauty of the 
scene. The President, wearing his gold chain and medal 
of ofl&ce, and the Secretary and some other members, 
received the guests as they arrived. Besides the ex- 
hibitors, the officers of the other art societies in London 
were invited, and several distinguished foreign artists 
who were in this country at the time. Light refresh- 
ments were provided in abundance, and the whole en- 
tertainment was a decided success. It has since been 
annually repeated, and still retains its popularity. This 
entertainment is a substitute for the birthday dinner — to 
which, formerly, only the Academicians and their friends 
were invited — and manifests the wish of the members 
to do what they can to extend their hospitality to the 
whole brotherhood of artists. 

One valuable result of the Great Exhibition of 1851 
was the comparison it caused to be instituted between 
our manufactures and those of other countries, and the 
consequent efforts which were made to improve the pubhc 
taste. The Government, in 1838, had taken the subject 
of Art-education into consideration, and had established 



234 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVIL 

the School of Design at Somerset House, to train designers 
for manufactures ; but its progress had been very slow, 
only twenty-one branch schools having been established 
in the provinces during twelve years, and these chiefly 
subsidised by the State. After the discovery of our 
national deficiency in the art of design, in 1851, further 
efforts were made, first by the formation of the Depart- 
ment of Practical Art, and then by the present Science 
and Art Department, under the Committee of Privy 
Council on Education. The objects sought, as respects 
art, are to train male and female teachers ; to give them 
certificates of qualification, and to make them annual 
fixed payments ; to aid and assist in the establishment of 
self-supporting local schools of art ; to hold public 
examinations, and to award medals and prizes ; and to 
establish a central museum of works of art, and a Ubrary 
of books and engravings, from whence they may be cir- 
culated among the schools of art. The plan has been very 
successful, under the able management of Mr. Kedgrave, 
RA. Between 80,000 and 90,000 persons are now imder 
art instruction in about ninety schools in various parts 
of the country, at an average expense of 8^. 6d. each. 
These measures cannot fail to effect, as indeed they have 
already produced, a vast improvement in the application 
of design to manufactures. In former years, the Eoyal 
Academy students often afterwards found employment in 
this way ; hereafter, it will only be students of a much 
higher class who will seek admission to its schools, where 
a corresponding standard of excellence in the higher 
branches of art is maintained. 

The question, as to the removal of the National Gal- 
lery, and therefore, as a consequence, the position of the 
Eoyal Academy in Trafalgar Square, was again mooted 
in 1851. A Commission was appointed, of which Sir 
Cliarles Eastlake, Sir Eichard Westmacott, and Mr. Ewart, 
M.P. were members, to decide on an estimate and plan 
for a new National Gallery. Her Majesty offered a site 



CH.XVn.] CURATORS OF THE SCHOOLS 236 

in Kensington Gardens, and the Committee stated their 
opinion that a site, either there or in the neighbourhood 
of Hyde Park, would be desirable, and might be obtained 
on advantageous terms. Lord John Eussell, in presenting 
the report, stated that the Government would consider and 
decide upon the whole subject before the next session of 
Parliament ; and in the following year the question was 
again submitted for the consideration of the House. 

In the schools of the Academy an appointment was 
made in 1851 by which it was hoped that the eflGiciency 
of the instruction given to the students would be pro- 
moted — Mr. Woodington, a sculptor of refined and 
poetic taste, being selected to act as the Curator of the 
School of Sculpture. He resigned the appointment in 
1855, and was succeeded by Mr. Loft, who still retains 
it. Mr. Lejeune, an artist whose figure-drawing and 
colouring are pre-eminently true and rich (and to whom 
the gold medal was awarded in 1841 for his painting of 
* Samson bursting his Bonds '), was chosen as Curator in 
the School of Painting in 1848. These appointments 
were made in addition to the duties of the Visitors in 
the schools. It was in 1852 that the medal for the best 
painting from the living draped model was established, in 
heu of that which had previously been given for the best 
copies from pictures made by tJie students. The latter 
practice was commenced in 1815, when the system was 
adopted of selecting from the Dulwich Gallery * a number 
of pictures, not exceeding six, for the purpose of being 
copied by the students. The first Curator in the Paint- 
ing School was J. Frereson, appointed in 1815, who 
resigned in 1835, when A. J. OUver, A.E.A., succeeded 
him till 1842. Samuel Drummond, A.E.A., and M. A. 
Archer preceded Mr. Lejeune in the same office. 

• The Gallerj was placed by the Curators of the coUection, and they 

will of the widow of Desenfans, to fidfilled this trust until the Act of 

whom it was first bequeathed by Parliament, in 1867, remodelled the 

Sir F. Bourgeois, in the charro of the whole coustitutiou of the establish- 

members of the Royal Academy, as ment. 



236 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVII. 

The prizes awarded in 1851 to the students included 
three gold medals and nine silver ones. The President 
having remarked upon the various works submitted in 
competition, proceeded to distribute these prizes, and 
afterwards addressed the Students upon the general prin- 
ciples of art in each of its branches, without, however, 
trenching upon the province of the several professors of 
painting, sculpture, and architecture. He dwelt specially 
upon form, and on the necessity of unequal quantities 
in composition on flat surfaces, as being essential to 
picturesque representations. Afterwards he advocated 
careful finish in drawing, without falling into minute 
elaboration in painting ; and, from his well-stored mind, 
quoted the various authorities on art with which he is so 
thoroughly familiar, in support of the principles he re- 
commended for adoption. 

Among the other events by which it was rendered 
noticeable, the year 1851 gave birth to an association 
entitled the "Guild of Literature and Art." It was 
founded by Mr. Charles Dickens, Sir E. B. Lytton, and a 
number of eminent literary and artistic associates. The 
chief points in its constitution were, that no professional 
working member was to be admitted until he had insured 
his Hfe for at least £1,000 ; that there should be a sick 
fund for the relief of subscribing members during illness ; 
and that annuities should be founded, to which members 
of either profession, or their widows, should be eligible. 
It was proposed " to associate an honourable rest from 
arduous labours Avith the discharge of congenial duties in 
connection with popular instruction ; " for " each member 
will be required to give, either personally or by a proxy 
— selected from the Associates, with the approval of the 
Warden — three lectures in each year ; . . . they shall 
usually relate to letters or art. The offices of endow- 
ment will consist of a Warden, with a house and salary of 
£200 a year ; of Members, with a house and £170 a year, 
or, without a house, £200 a year; and of Associates, with a 



Ch. XVIL] « THE GUILD OF LITERATURE AND ART " 237 

salary of £100 a year." Sir E. B. Lytton offered to pre- 
sent the land for these residences, and wrote a comedy, 
"Not so bad as we seem," which was sold for £550. 
Mr. Dickens and Mr. M. Lemon composed a farce, " Mr 
Nightingale's Diary ; " and a company of eminent amatem^s, 
authors and artists, performed these plays, thus adding 
£3,000 to the fund. The qualification of authors who 
are eligible is defined ; and artists must be " exhibitors 
of either sesc, of works of original design in painting, 
sculpture, or architecture, at any public exhibition in the 
United Kingdom, designers of approved merit for en- 
gravers, and engravers." An entrance fee of two guineas 
is required ; and the honorary members are donors of a 
fixed sum per annum. In 1853 it was found that an Act of 
ParUament was required to legalise the Guild as a benefit 
society, and it was obtained in June 1854. By a legal 
technicality, seven years had to elapse before the funds 
could be appropriated, and this time having expired, we 
may soon hear of the plan being carried out by its 
founders, themselves practical men, desiring to establish a 
means whereby a self-helping provision may be made for 
authors and artists. 

The annual dinner preceding the exhibition of 1852 
passed off with more than usual eclat It was held on 
the Ist of May, the birthday of the Duke of Wellington, 
who was present, and whose health was drunk with 
especial enthusiasm. An amusing instance of the friendly 
pleasantry of rival statesmen was given in the appeal 
which Mr. Disraeli — as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 
the new Government then recently formed by the Earl 
of Derby — made to Lord Eussell, to combine with him 
in carrying out some plan for the promotion of art. " I 
cannot forget," he said, *' that if the House of Commons 
be appealed to for this great object, there sits here one 
who is distinguished for abiUty, and who is — what I have 
no claim to be — an eminent and successful statesman. 
K I could be assisted by the noble Lord, the member for 



238 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVH. 

London — if he would but exert his authority in that 
house, on whatever side he may sit, I might, indeed, 
indulge in the hope that I could succeed in fulfilling your 
expectations — in achieving a great result that has been 
too long delayed, and to which my noble fiiend so signifi- 
cantly alluded to-night. I will indulge in die hope, from 
that reference, that a palace may arise in the great metro- 
polis, worthy of the arts, worthy of the admiration of the 
foreigners, worthy of this mighty people, as the becoming 
emporium where all the genius and inventions of man 
may be centred and celebrated. But to accomplish that 
hope, we must enlist all the sympathies of all the parties in 
the State ; and it is not to me, but to those whose long 
services and the evidence of whose great abilities have 
gained the confidence of the country, you must look ; and 
if assisted by the noble Lord, the member for the city of 
London, then, indeed, the Koyal Academy and this com- 
pany may expect the accomplishment of that which they 
have so long desired." His Lordship, in a genial reply, 
readily promised his aid, and complimented Mr. Disraeli 
in the following terms ; " I ventured last year to observe, 
that it was remarkable how many persons, eminent in the 
arts, had succeeded in literature, and that we had no 
better works than those written by painters who at the 
same time were at the head of their profession ; and I 
stated that I had not remarked that many of those great 
in literary eminence, had shown similar proficiency in the 
art of painting. Mr. Burke and Mr. Macaulay were both 
famous in hterature ; but I do not know that either of 
them could produce a painting equal to any in this room. 
Now this is an arena which yet remains open for the 
Chancellor of the Exchequer; and as he has succeeded 
in so many other things already, I hope he will try to 
succeed in the fine arts, as he has done in literature and, 
as I must say, he has done in political science." Lord 
Derby expressed his hope that his administration " might 
have an opportunity of testifying their goodwill to a 



Ch. XVn.] SPEECHES AT THE ANNUAL DINNER 239 

pleasing and delightful art, by providing a more fitting 
and more adequate locality for the treasures of ancient 
and modem art accumulating in the country." 

It had hitherto been the custom to regard the anniver- 
sary dinner as one of a private nature — a gathering of 
the members of the Eoyal Academy and of the friends 
and patrons of art — who met in social converse to inaugu- 
rate the annual display of the works of art collected for 
exhibition. But when it was known, in 1 851, thatH.E.H. 
the Prince Consort and many illustrious personages formed 
part of the assembly, and that in the speeches made on 
these occasions so much of talent and good feeling were 
displayed by those whose words were valued by the 
public — the desire was generally expressed in all circles 
that some account of the proceedings might be given in 
the newspapers. To meet this wish on the part of the 
public, the practice of inviting a reporter of the " Times " 
newspaper to be present at the entertainment was 
commenced in 1852, on the understanding that other 
newspapers would be furnished with a report of the pro- 
ceedings by him. Since which time not the least^part of 
the interest of the newspaper on the day following the 
Academy dinner, is the accoimt of the pleasant manner 
in which the leaders of our great political parties har- 
monise when they meet in the home of the arts of Peace ; 
and how men, eminent in varied walks of life, find a 
common bond of sympathy and concord on these occa- 
sions. 

The Academy exhibition of 1*852 was of general 
average merit — noticeable chiefly for the many good 
pictures by the younger painters, rather than for any 
striking works by those whose fame was already made. 
As many as 1,492 works were displayed. It was in this 
year that the privilege of " varnishing days," previously 
permitted to the members of the Academy, was abolished. 
Sir Charles Eastlake referred to the fact at the dinner of 
"The Artists' Benevolent Fund," and stated that the 



240 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVII. 

practice would have been discontinued long before, but 
that the works of Turner (who died the preceding year) 
gained so wondrously by the process, that it would have 
involved a great loss to his pictures to have excluded 
them from the benefit of his final touches. The Acade- 
micians, however, had no wish to retain a privilege 
which might give them an undue advantage over 
others, and therefore all pictures would thenceforward 
be hung as they were sent to the Eoyal Academy. 
As a further extension of the principle of giving pub- 
hcity to the proceedings, the art-critics for the news- 
papers, &c., were admitted to the private view of the 
exhibition. At its close, the soiree to the exhibitors 
was again held, and attracted a large company of artists 
and others. 

Various subjects bearing on the promotion of art were 
brought before Parliament in 1852. Mr. Hume, in the 
House of Commons, proposed the removal of the National 
GaQery to Kensington Palace, as a measure which would 
save the expense of erecting a new gallery. Mr. Ewart, 
as a member of the Eoyal Commission appointed in the 
preceding year, stated it to be their unanimous opinion 
that the best site for a new building would be to the north 
of Kensington Gardens, looking to the TJxbridge Eoad, 
and enclosing such a portion of the gardens as might 
serve the purpose of an ornamental garden, with fountains 
and statues. The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated 
that Her Majesty and the Prince Consort, as well as the 
Government, were very desirous that the subject should 
be duly and considerately weighed, as it was of the most 
critical importance that no mistake should be made when 
the final step was decided upon. The noble bequest 
made by Turner, of his gallery of paintings, increased 
the necessity for providing additional accommodation for 
the public exhibition of the national pictures, and a pro- 
posal made by Earl Stanhope (then Lord Mahon) that a 
small sum should be annually voted for the piupose of 



Ch. XVn.] GO^TIRNMENT PATRONAGE OF ART 241 

establishing a British Historical Portrait Gallery^ of emi- 
nent persons who had distinguished themselves in past 
ages, and whose deeds or writings gave them a claim to 
national distinction, also indicated that a feeling for art was 
taking deep root among us, and developing itself in new 
forms of usefulness ; while a passage in the Eoyal speech, 
on the opening of the new Parliament by Her Majesty, 
on the 11th November of this year, led to the supposition 
that the Government were about to enter upon the patro- 
nage of art to an extent never before attempted. Her 
Majesty's words were — " The advancement of the fine arts 
and of practical science will be readily recognised by you 
as worthy of the attention of a great and enlightened 
nation, I have directed that a comprehensive scheme 
shall be laid before you, having in view the promotion of 
these objects, towards which I invite your aid and co- 
operation/' 

The Prince Consort also — whose constant activity in 
every good and great work has enshrined his memory so 
brightly in the hearts of our countrymen — took advan- 
tage of the appointment of the Select Committee on the 
National Gallery, to lay before them (April 25, 1853) a 
plan which he had prepared for the formation of a col- 
lection of paintings illustrative of the history of art (as 
far as possible from the earliest times), first by specimens 
of ancient art^ and afterwards of the various schools of 
painting ; and with this object His Boyal Highness caused 

^ Although this collection is yet Bridport, and Mrs. Siddons ; Dawe's 

in its infimcy, and is not fonned with Princess Charlotte, and Dr. S. Parr : 

any view to'collect portraits notahle Lawrence's Sir J. Macintosh, and 

as works of art, but rather those of Bight Hon. W. Windham ; Opie's 

celebrated personages, it already con- portrait, by himself; Phillips's por- 

tains many interesting works by traits of Sir F. Burdett, Charles 

members of the Boyal Academy. Dibdin, and Sir F. Chantrey ; North- 

Among them, Beynolds's portraits of cote's Viscount Exmouth, and Dr. 

himseu in 1749, Sir W. Chambers, Jenner ; Sir M. A. Shoe's portrait of 

Lord Ashburton, Admiral Boscawen, Sir Thomas Picton ; Arkwright, 

the first Marquis of Lansdowne, and Darwin, and Wright (of Derby^, by 

W. Pulteney, Earl of Bath ; George that artist ; and W. Wordsworth, by 

Colman, by Ghdnsborough ; Dance's H. W. Pickersgill. 
Lord Cliye; Beechey's Viscount 

VOL, n. R 



242 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVIT. 

a detailed classified catalogue to be made, enumerating 
the masters and principal followers of each school, ar- 
ranged in historical order, " a glance at which would show 
not only what the gallery already contains, but what would 
be wanting to make such a collection complete." He 
hoped that by this means specimens of particular schools 
would be presented or purchased, which were previously 
wanting ; but wisely suggested that " care should always 
be taken that the picture so purchased should be both 
a standard work of the master whom it was sought to 
represent, and that it should possess merit in itself as a 
work of art." The' catalogue brought down the history 
of painting from the earliest times to the date when it 
was prepared, not including the name of any artist then 
living. In conclusion Sir Charles Grey was requested to 
state that " His Eoyal Highness is anxious that it should 
be clearly understood that he is actuated solely by the 
interest he has always taken in the subject of their 
enquiry, and that nothing can be further from his wish 
than to influence in any way either the course of that 
enquiry or the recommendations in which it may result" 
While thus the prospects of art seemed to have entered 
upon a new era of prosperity, there were movements 
among some of its professors having the same end in 
view, while also seeking to advance their own interests. 
It was in 1852 that the formation of "The Institute of 
British Sculptors " was first proposed by a Committee of 
some of the most eminent sculptors (among whom were 
five Members of the Eoyal Academy), who hoped thus to 
benefit their own profession by creating union amongst 
its members, and by bringing their art more prominently 
before the pubUc. Engravers, also, were seeking to obtain 
a higher status in the Eoyal Academy ; and a petition to 
the Queen was prepared and signed by G. Burnet, G. T. 
Doo, W. Finden, E. Goodall, J. Pye, J. H. Eobinson, and 
J. Watt, praying Her Majesty to give her assent to any 
proposal the Academy might think right to make, to 



Ch. XVn.] POSITION OF ENGRAVERS IN THE ACADEMY 243 

entitle engravers to full membership. The question was 
deliberated upon in the meetings of the Academicians, 
and many of its most distinguished members desired to 
recommend some arrangement by which the still vexed 
question might be finally set at rest. Her Majesty, as the 
Patron of the Academy, was also pleased to recommend 
the General Assembly to consider in what way the wishes 
of the engravers could be met ; and a modification of the 
laws on the subject was subsequently made. 

The death of John Landseer, the engraver, in this 
year, led to the whole question of the position of en- 
gravers being discussed in the Academy ; and it was on 
the occasion of the election of his successor, that Leshe, 
as a member of the Council, proposed that the exclusion 
of engravers from the highest Academic honours should 
be reconsidered. He said that on former occasions when 
the point had been discussed, he had been among the 
opponents of the measure ; but he had changed his 
opinion after a careful examination of the question in 
its relation to the arts and to the Academy, and therefore 
wished to take what steps he could to bring about an 
alteration of the laws on the subject. The great battle 
was always about the relative dignity of the art ; but, he 
adds, " whatever that may be, I cannot look at the best 
works of the best engravers, and not feel that they are 
the productions of genius." In his "Autobiography" 
he has stated his views at length on the subject He did 
not doubt that Sir Joshua Eeynolds and others were 
sincerely of opinion that engravers should receive an 
inferior distinction to that conferred on painting, sculpture, 
and architecture, because it is an art not requiring inventive 
power. But he knew that it had been found difficult to 
fill the number of six Associate-Engravers added in 1769 
to the Academy ; that many years elapsed before it was 
complete, and that it did not then include the engravers 
who were at the head of their profession, for they would 
not receive an inferior distinction as a final recognition of 

R 2 



244 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVII. 

their talents. James Heath and John Landseer accepted 
the rank in the hope, as members of the Academy, of 
effecting an alteration in the laws respecting engravers ; 
and LesUe observed as years rolled on, that the advocates 
of such a change increased, when it was found that the 
law, originally deemed a wise one, acted prejudicially. 
He felt that artists owed much to engravers — that 
Hogarth, Wilkie, and Turner had made fortimes by the 
engraving of their works ; and that the purchase of 
pictures for engraving had become one of the chief means 
of patronage to painters. When to these considerations 
he added the fact that a large number of eminent 
engravers had stood aloof from the Academy, he came to 
the conclusion that the title of Associate-Engraver would 
cease to be an honour if it continued to be refused by 
the most celebrated members of that profession ; and he 
therefore urged their admission to equal rank with artists, 
at the same time acknowledging that " if the Academy 
could be filled with such artists as Eeynolds, Gainsborough, 
Wilson, Chambers, Banks, and Flaxman, there would 
unquestionably be no room for the best of engravers." 

The next year (1853) was one of comparative quietude 
in the Academy and in the world of art The exhi- 
bition contained 1,465 works, and the greater portion of 
those which possessed real merit were either commis- 
sioned or were disposed of soon after the opening of the 
exhibition — the demand for modem English pictures in 
this year having far exceeded that of any previous one. 

The distribution of gold medals to the students, in 
addition to the ordinary annual award of silver medals, 
was made this year on the 10th of December ; and Sir 
Charles Eastlake, besides commenting on the works of the 
successful competitors, and on the advantages of instruc- 
tion founded upon a classical basis, dehvered a discourse 
of a purely practical character, in which he dwelt first of 
all upon the question as to the advantages and disadvan- 
tages of Academies, pointing out that there are certain 



Ch. XVn.] PRESIDENTS ADDRESS 246 

common principles which all men educated in art must 
acknowledge, and which it is the purpose of the academic 
system to teach ; but that, beyond these immutable 
principles. Academies do not impose rule or precept. He 
cited Wilkie and Turner as instances of contrasting views, 
yet both triumphantly successful in the opposite courses 
which they followed, while both submitted to those common 
principles of art which have been universally acknow- 
ledged from the days of Giotto to the present, and which 
it is the province of Academies to teach. The President 
afterwards urged the necessity of truth and distinctness 
of representation, and of carefiil attention to the functions 
of the limbs, and especially the hands, in the drawing of 
figures, illustrating his remarks by reference to the 
pictures of Eafiaelle and Da Vinci, in which the hands 
are often rendered impressively effective. 

A notable event in the annals of the same year, was 
the opening of the Exhibition of Art and Art-Industry 
in Dublin, which originated in the magnificent offer of 
one of its citizens, Mr. WiUiam Dargan, to supply the 
necessary funds for its erection, and for carrying out the 
project. There was a Fine- Art Court in this building, 
for the exhibition of pictures, one side of which was 
filled with the works of British artists, numbering upwards 
of one hundred, including specimens by Lawrence, Turner, 
Mulready, Landseer, Leshe, Etty, ColUns, Callcott, Herbert, 
Goodall, Stone, Uwins, Maclise, and other members of 
the Eoyal Academy. 

In the year 1854, the exhibition at the Academy con- 
tained 1,531 works, every available space being filled, 
even the staircase being embelUshed with engravings, 
although some 2,000 works were excluded. It was con- 
sidered one of the best displays, in point of merit, which 
had been made for many years, numbering Frith's ' life 
at the Seaside,' Maclise's * Strongbow,' Ward's * Sleep of 
Argyll,' Leslie's * Rape of the Lock,' Poole's * Trouba- 
dours,' W. H. Hunt's ' Light of the World,' and * The 



246 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVII. 

Awakening Conscience ' — two of the most remarkable 
productions of the pre-Eafiaellite school. The annual 
dinner took place on the 4th of May, and the conversa- 
zione to exhibitors and others was held as usual at the 
close of the exhibition. The Professor of Painting, the 
talented C. E. LesUe, resigned the appointment, and was 
succeeded by Mr. Hart, who still fills the office. The 
opening of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, in this year, 
is an event not to be passed by unnoticed, inasmuch as 
the building affords many opportunities for displaying 
works of art, especially sculpture, and may be made con- 
ducive to the advancement of the Fine Arts in all their 
different branches, both by teaching and illustration, 
imder judicious and tasteful management. 

The 10th of February, 1855, was the day on which 
the first engraver was admitted to fiill Academic honours, 
Mr. Samuel Cousins being the recipient of the long- 
coveted distinction sought for by the profession of which 
he is a member. He was the first Associate, elected in 
November, 1854, under the new law, by which engravers 
of that class were rendered ehgible for the higher rank. 
In the same year the practice of filling vacancies within 
three months, instead of waiting for the annual election, 
was introduced, and thus the full number of members 
can now be completed in a much shorter period than was 
formerly the case. This rule was also extended at a 
later period (1860), to the election of Associates. The 
exhibition contained 1,558 works, and called forth "Notes 
on some of the principal Pictures exhibited in the Eooms 
of the Eoyal Academy," by John Euskin, the first of a 
series which he continued for several years. The ex- 
hibition was preceded and followed by the usual annual 
dinner and soiree. In addition to these entertainments, 
the members of the Academy were all invited to the 
Mansion House, to dine with the Lord Mayor, Sir Francis 
Graham Moon, Bart., formerly a print publisher in the 
City, who followed the example of the worthy Alderman 



CH.XVn.] LORD MAYOR'S DINNER TO THE ACADEMY 247 

Boydell, in his enterprise and energy, and in producing 
a large number of engravings from the works of the best 
artists of the English school. One noble specimen of his 
success in this most refined branch of commerce is the 
folio edition of Eoberts's " Holy Land, Egypt, Nubia, 
&c.," upon which an enormous capital was expended. It 
was a graceful act on the part of one whose fortune was 
made by art, to gather around him during his mayoralty 
the members of the profession to which he was so much 
indebted, and who owe him also a large debt of gratitude 
for his promotion of a taste for the highest class of pic- 
tures. The banquet to the Academicians, the heads of 
the other art institutions, and representatives of several 
learned societies in London, was held at the Egyptian 
Hall of the Mansion House on the 7th of July, 1855. 
The President of the Eoyal Academy acknowledged the 
toast of " the Artists," and Mr. T. H. Hope that of 
" the Patrons of Art." A hundred and ten guests were 
present, all deUghted with the compliment paid to genius 
by the chief magistrate of our great capital. 

The reconstitution of the National Gallery took place 
in this year, when the President of the Eoyal Academy 
was appointed the Director — not by virtue of holding 
the highest office among artists, but because none could 
be foxmd having a more intimate acquaintance with the 
great masters of all periods, or with such an extensive 
knowledge of the theory and practice of art, as Sir 
Charles Eastlake. His duties were stated to be — to 
purchase, or recommend the purchase, of pictures for the 
National Gallery ; and the arrangement, description, and 
conservation of the collection ; also to compile a correct 
history of every picture in the collection, and to report 
on its condition. He was nominated for five years, re- 
ehgible for appointment; and from the benefits which 
have resulted from his past labours, it is to be hoped 
that our national collection will long remain under his 
direction. 



248 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVU. 

Among the many International Exhibitions which 
have been opened since our first example of such a 
gathering of the industry of all nations in 1851, one of 
the most important was the " Paris Universal Exhibi- 
tion," which was opened on the 15th of May, 1855. 
Living English artists were invited to exhibit their works 
there, and a commission, consisting of the President of 
the Eoyal Academy and the Presidents of all the other 
art societies in England, was formed to carry out the 
arrangements. The result was, that 234 paintings, 145 
water-colour drawings, 197 engravings and lithographs, 
127 architectural works, 51 statues, and 24 busts and 
bas-reliefs — a total of 778 works — ^were exhibited by 299 
British artists. As no works could be exhibited by any 
artist who was not living in June 1853, none even by 
Turner, Wilkie, Hilton, Etty, Constable, Collins, or others 
recently deceased could be admitted ; but notwithstanding 
this drawback, the English school of art was worthily 
represented, and its professors obtained many of the 
prizes awarded by the French Government The large 
gold medals were awarded to Sir E. Landseer and Sir 
C. Barry ; ten first-class, twelve second, and seven third- 
class gold medals were also awarded to others ; and 
thirty-four artists were " honourably mentioned" for their 
works ; in addition to which. Sir C. L. Eastlake, Mul- 
ready, Gibson, and Cockerell received the decoration of 
the Legion of Honour. 

The year 1856 was an ordinary one in the annals of 
the Academy. At the dinner preceding the opening of 
the exhibition, there was a brilliant assemblage, in- 
cluding several of Her Majesty's Ministers; and the 
speeches on the occasion were of that kindly genial nature 
which seems to characterise the proceedings at these 
celebrations by the professors of the arts. Mr. Dyce, E. A., 
as we have elsewhere stated, has studied music as well 
as painting, and on this occasion composed some new 
music to the old words " Non nobis," which was greatly 



Ch. XVn.] COPYEIQHT IN ART 249 

admired. Much complaint having been made in pre- 
ceding years of the disadvantage (arising from defec- 
tive Ught) to works hung in the Octagon Eoom, the 
Academicians in this year discontinued the practice of 
hanging paintings in that room, and adopted the plan of 
using it as an office, where the price of the works in 
the exhibition might be ascertained by those who wished 
to make purchases, from the clerk placed there. This 
arrangement, however, of course added to the number 
of works excluded for lack of space, and reduced the 
number of those exhibited to 1,376. The conversazione 
at the termination of the season was held as usual, and 
was attended by a large number of exhibitors and others 
who always seem to enjoy these gatherings of artists 
and lovers of their work ; and certainly the assembly, 
surrounded by such a display of beautiful objects, is an 
attractive and gratifying one to every beholder. 

A meeting of the Council was held early in the year, 
specially to consider the question of copyright in art, in 
order to determine what course should be taken to en- 
deavour to obtain some law on the subject. The result 
of these proceedings was a petition from the Eoyal 
Academicians, to be laid before ParUament, soliciting the 
extension of the law of copyright to the fine arts. Sub- 
sequently a Select Committee was appointed by the House 
of Commons " To enquire into the present state of the 
law of artistic copyright ; the operation of the Engraving 
and Sculpture Copyright, and International Copyright 
Acts ; together with the conventions entered into by Her 
Majesty with various foreign states, and the Orders in 
CouncU founded thereon, so fer as the same relate to 
artistic copyright, with a view to the amendment and 
consolidation of the Engraving and Sculpture Copyright 
Acts." In ParUament, also, the first vote of £2,000 was 
made, for the purchase of portraits for the National 
Portrait Gallery, which is annually increasing in interest, 
and will, it is hoped, soon have a more permanent home 



250 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. X\TI. 

among us. A committee was specially appointed by the 
Academy in this year, to enquire into the extent and ar- 
rangement of the schools, and into various details con- 
nected with instruction in art ; but as the question of the 
removal of the Academy from its present locality has ever 
since been in abeyance, the arrangements which the 
committee proposed in their report have not been fully 
carried out, since they would in all probabihty require 
modification in any other building. 

The newly-formed Institute of British Sculptors — which 
included Baily, McDowell, Marshall, Foley, and Weekes, 
from the Academy, among its members — addressed a me- 
morial to the Council of the Eoyal Academy, soHciting that 
some arrangement should be made by which sculptured 
works might be more advantageously placed in the exhi- 
bition, and suggesting that some of the lighter and more 
poetic works might be placed in the larger rooms devoted 
to the pictures. Such a plan was not thought safe or 
practicable, considering the number of persons by whom 
the rooms are crowded ; but the recent alterations have 
at least removed the chief objections to the room formerly 
appropriated to sculpture at the Academy. Subsequently, 
the same Institute addressed a communication to the 
Minister for Public Works — Sir B. Hall, now Lord Uan- 
over — appeaUng against the practice, so prevalent, of ig- 
noring the abihty of British sculptors, by giving Govern- 
ment commissions for public monuments to foreign artists ; 
which, although unsuccessful, at least indicates the value 
of the association in watching the interests and uphold- 
ing the legitimate rights of the profession. 

The year 1857 was not notable in the history of the 
Academy for any remarkable events — its continuous 
labours having been carried on without interruption or 
hindrance. The annual dinner did not take place, the 
decease of Her Eoyal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester 
having taken place just before the time when it is usually 
held ; but the conversazione to exhibitors followed on the 



Ch. XVIL] additional lectures 251 

close of the exhibition. There were 1,372 works dis- 
played, and at least an equal number excluded ; while 
the employment of several of the best artists in painting 
for the Houses of ParUament, diminished the attractions 
of the collection — although a large majority of the 
works exhibited indicated the growing excellence of the 
English school. 

With the view of adding to the instruction of the stu- 
dents in the schools of the Academy, the Coimcil passed 
a resolution, granting permission for lectures to be given 
by the members, irrespective of the professorships, on the 
subjects of painting, sculpture, architectiu:e, engraving, or 
any others which, when submitted to the Council, might 
be deemed by them to be desirable ; and " that such in- 
struction may consist of short courses, or even of single 
lectures, to suit the convenience of members. That mem- 
bers, including Associates of the Eoyal Academy, and 
honorary members, on testifying their wish to the Coun- 
cil, may, with the sanction of the Council, be authorized 
to give lectures accordingly." The first effects of this 
resolution were, the addresses on architecture which were 
deUvered to the students by Mr. Sydney Smirke and Mr. 
G. G. Scott, in the spring of this year, and the lecture on 
" Art and Utterance," by E. J. Lane, A.E. A. This ar- 
rangement, affording facilities for such instruction being 
given by competent lecturers, cannot fail to have a bene- 
ficial influence on the students. The schools seem to 
have been carried on with energy during the year, if we 
may judge by the successes of the competitors for prizes. 
At the distribution of medals, on the 10th of December, 
fourteen silver medals were awarded to students in the 
various schools, besides the three gold medals for paint- 
ing, sculpture, and architecture, and The Turner Medalj 
now for the first time distributed, in commemoration of 
the artist. It was awarded to Mr. N. 0. Lupton, for the 
best EngUsh landscape. The medal was charmingly mo- 
delled by Leonard Wyon, from designs made by Daniel 



252 lUSTOKY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVn. 

Maclisc, II.A. The portrait of Turner occupies the ob- 
verse, wliile on the reverse is a student of nature amidst 



the symbols and characteristics of landscape — three figures 
personifying the primitive colours surmounting the whole. 
It was in this year also that the " Turner Gift " was first 
distributed, consisting of annual grants of £50 each to 
six deserving artists. 

After the distribution of the medals, the President deli- 
vered an address, relating " to some of the distinguishing 
characteristics on which the theory and practice of art, 
and especially of painting, are formed." Defining the 
terra " character" as denoting those essential qualities which 
are proper to subjects of which the mind alone takes 
cognizance — he proceeded to show that while relative dis- 
tinctness would thus be obtained, it is not necessary to 
select only the most normal appearances, for every figure 
would thus be a type of its class ; neither, on the other 
hand, is habitual exaggeration necessary, for " experience 
shows that an exclusive love of the extraordinary may 
end in the very defect of triteness and sameness which it 
was first intended to avoid." In his remarks on varieties 
in practice, he observed — " Even assuming that it is deal- 
raMe to return to the pure feeling and simple earnestness 



Ch. XVII.] PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 263 

of the Italian tempera painters, there can be no reason 
for imitating in any method their often timid and painful 
execution ; but least of all in a method not requiring it, 
and in first practising which the ItaUans themselves in- 
stinctively threw ofi* the dryer manner to which they 
were accustomed. I take occasion here to remark, that 
while it is desirable that a museum of pictures should in 
its completeness contain examples of every school and 
period, it by no means follows that all such examples are 
fit objects of study for young artists. A museum of sculp- 
ture, if worthy of the name, comprehends specimens of 
every school and age of antiquity ; but it is not expected 
that students in sculpture should imitate archaic Greek 
bas-reliefs, Etruscan drapery, or Egyptian compositions." 
On the general question of the picturesque, he remarked 
that " the most efiectual, and at the same time the wor- 
thiest mode of rendering unpromising or ordinary appear- 
ances picturesque, is to take advantage of Nature's fortu- 
nate moments ; " but that "it seems unaccountable that 
there should ever have been a disposition to exaggerate 
the opposite quaUty — yet such has been the case." 
" Whatever may be recommended for beginners, the oc- 
casional treatment of apparently unpromising materials 
is highly useful to more advanced painters, since it must 
lead them to study the picturesque in arrangement, the 
modes of suppressing intractable details, the refinements 
of colour, and the uses of Ught and shade in creating and 
varying them." 

The Manchester "Exhibition of Art-Treasures" took 
place in the same year (1857), and was the first attempt 
made to display, in their chronological order, and pro- 
perly classified, the vast assemblage of works of art which 
are possessed by private owners in this country, and 
which do not, therefore, ordinarily meet the public eye. 
The English school was illustrated by numerous speci- 
mens in oil painting, commencing with the works of Aik- 
man, Kent, and Jervas, who flourished in the beginning 



254 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVH. 

of the eighteenth century, and in water colours, begin- 
ning with Paul Sandby, Cozens, and Girtin, and continu- 
ing in one unbroken series to exhibit specimens of all the 
principal artists, in both styles, to the present time. The 
Eoyal Academy contributed some very important works 
to this interesting collection, lending many of the diploma 
works of deceased members, and other pictures and sculp- 
tures in their possession, that the collection might be ren- 
dered as complete as possible. Forty-eight pictures (in- 
cluding six by Sir J. Eeynolds), besides Cipriani's drawing 
for the diploma ; West's design for ' Death on the Pale 
Horse ; ' eight frames of studies by Stothard ; and three 
pieces of sculpture and. two busts, were sent to Man- 
chester by the Academy, and many of them were the 
only specimens exhibited of the works of those by whom 
they were executed. The exhibition was a decided suc- 
cess, and furnished another proof of a wide-spread taste 
for art, in its best and highest forms, among all classes. 

In February 1857, Mr. John Sheepshanks munificently 
ofiered to present his collection of EngUsh pictures to the 
nation, on certain conditions, in order that other proprie- 
tors of pictures, &c., might be induced to further the 
object he had in view — the formation of " a collection of 
pictures and other works of art, fiilly representing British 
art, worthy of national support." The deed of gift was 
made to the Department of Science and Art, and was ac- 
cepted as part of a Gallery of British Art, which 'is now 
being formed at South Kensington. This hberal and 
valuable gift made to the public during the Ufetime 
of the owner of the collection, consisted of 232 oil pic- 
tures, mostly of the cabinet size, and 280 sketches and 
drawings. The earhest works are those of Stothard, and 
the series includes many works by Hving artists of emi- 
nence. In the collection there are twenty-four paintings 
by Leslie, twenty-eight by Mulready, and several by 
Landseer, Webster, Cope, Eedgrave, Creswick, Uwins, 
and other members of the Academy. These works, com- 



Ch. XVn.] COMMISSION ON NEW NATIONAL GALLERY 255 

bined with the Vernon gift, and the English portion of 
the national collection, at last afford something like a just 
idea of the capabihties of the British school. 

But while the art-treasures of the public were thus in- 
creased, no very decided steps were taken as to the pro- 
vision of a new National Gallery. The Commissioners 
who were appointed by Parliament to enquire into the 
subject, presented their report, together with a blue-book 
fiill of evidence given by a large number of artists, archi- 
tects, scientific chemists, and others, who were examined 
by them. The commissioners consisted of Lord Brougham, 
the Dean of St, Paul's, Mr. CockereU, Mr. Bichmond, and 
Professor Faraday. Eesolutions were proposed, stating 
first, " That in respect of the future plan of the National 
Gallery, the three leading considerations which should 
govern the choice of a site are, clear space for a building 
of magnitude sufficient to provide for the prospective 
increase of the collection, accessibility to the public, and 
the preservation of the pictures ; and secondly, that, in 
the opinion of the Commissioners, the first consideration 
is essential in any case, that the second and third, although 
of extreme importance, are highly antagonistic, inasmuch 
as the removal of the pictures to a clearer but distant 
place takes away that accessibility which the present site, 
although no doubt with a great amount of wear and tear, 
provides." The first of these resolutions was affirmed by 
four to one ; the second by three to two. It was unani- 
mously agreed that the choice of sites lay between the 
present gallery (if sufficiently enlarged) and the estate at 
Kensington Gore ; and the result was, that the latter was 
voted for by only one member (Mr. Kichmond), the other 
Conmiissioners (with the exception of Professor Faraday, 
who declined to vote at all, his mind being equally 
balanced between the two,) deciding for the present site 
in Trafalgar Square. 

The next year's exhibition (1858) contained 1,330 
works, and was considered to have been a very good dis- 



266 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVH. 

play — not because of any very striking pictures (if we 
except Frith's ' Derby-day'), but from the majority of the 
ordinary contents of the rooms being of a higher degree 
of excellence than usual. At the dinner preceding the 
opening of this exhibition, when the Earl of Derby, as 
Prime Minister, and several members of the Cabinet were 
present, the President endeavoured to elicit some expres- 
sion of the intentions of the Government in regard to the 
Academy ; but, with due caution, no intimation of what 
was proposed was then given by any of the Ministers. 

When the vote for the expenses of the National Gral- 
lery was brought before the Committee of Supply in 
the House of Commons, in July 1858, Lord Elcho sug- 
gested " a very simple mode of providing the requisite 
accommodation" for the National Collection, " with trifling 
expense to the nation — by giving notice to quit to the 
Eoyal Academy." He stated that he made this sugges- 
tion without " the slightest feeling of ill-will " to that 
institution, but simply because he considered that the 
whole building was originally erected for a National 
Gallery, and that the Academy was allowed to occupy 
the vacant space, because there were not enough pictures 
to fill it when it was first built. Mr. Coningham went 
fiirther, and maintained that if the Academy were allowed 
to occupy a public building, " it was the duty of that 
House to adopt a measure which would render that body 
responsible to Parliament and the public." He thought 
this "private society, trafficking for profit, should no 
longer be allowed to enjoy an irresponsible monopoly, 
beneficial only to its members, and the effects of which 
were, he beheved, actually injurious to artists and the 
fine arts." Mr. Locke King, Mr. Danby Seymour, and 
Mr. William Ewart followed in the same strain — the in- 
justice of which our readers do not require us to prove, 
if they have accompanied us thus far in this history. In 
his reply, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, allowing the 
fallacy of these arguments to pass unnoticed, simply 



Ch. XVn.] PROPOSED REMOVAL OF THE ACADEMY 267 

stated that " the Government accepted the responsibility 
of making arrangements, in order that our national 
collections should be placed in a position more worthy 
of the comitry, and more conducive to the advance- 
ment of art," and would submit their plans for approval 
at a future time. 

Consequent on this debate, and the statements made 
by various members, which left such a wrong impression 
on the mind of the House of Commons as to the nature 
of the relations between the Eoyal Academy and the 
pubUc, Sir Charles Eastlake thought it due to the in- 
stitution over which he presided, to forward to the Prime 
Minister and to the Chancellor of the Exchequer a state- 
ment, prepared by the Solicitor to the Academy, respect- 
ing the tenure of the apartments then held by them in 
Trafalgar Square ; and in reply he received a letter from 
the Earl of Derby, stating that the subject to which he 
referred would receive the most careful consideration on 
his part, and on that of his colleagues, diuing the ap- 
proaching recess, adding, — 

** I think I may safely say, on their part, and on my own, 
that we concur in the general principle which, as it appears to 
me, you lay down on behalf of the Royal Academy — that, while 
they have no legal claim to any particular locaUty for their ex- 
hibition, they have a moral claim, should the public require their 
removal from their present locaUty, to have provided for them, 
by the pubhc, equally convenient accommodation elsewhere," 

The subsequent arrangements were discussed personally 
between the President and the Chancellor of the Ex- 
chequer. The Government liberally proposed to place 
the Academy in another building, to be erected at the 
pubUc cost, on part of the site of Burlington House and 
groimds ; and this proposal was met, with the sanction of 
Her Majesty, by an offer on the part of the Academy, to erect 
the building on the site selected, at their own cost. The 
chief conditions for which the Academy stipulated were, 
that the requisite site should be granted as freehold, or for 

VOL. IT. s 



258 HISTORY OP THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XV 

a long lease ; that the portion of the area in question to be 
allotted to the Academy should be next to Piccadilly, and 
that the management of the affairs of the institution should, 
as heretofore, be uncontrolled, except by the will of the 
Sovereign. After the meeting of ParHament, the Chancellor 
of the Exchequer made the following announcement to the 
House of Commons, on February 8, 1859 : — 

"I have the pleasure of informing the House that I have 
succeeded in accomplishing that which appeared to be the 
general wish of the country. The whole of the building in 
Trafalgar Square will speedily be entirely allotted to the National 
Gallery. I was so anxious, on the part of the Grovemment, to 
bring this long-vexed question to a satisfactory settlement, that 
I was prepared to offer to the Eoyal Academy terms which were 
conceived in a liberal spirit. We were prepared to recommend 
Her Majesty to grant them a site, and, I may say, we are 
prepared even now to recommend this House to vote a sum of 
money to raise a building. But the Royal Academy, animated 
by a spirit which the House will appreciate, and which is worthy 
of that distinguished body, considered that if the expenditure 
for that purpose were defrayed out of the public funds, their 
independence would be compromised ; and being in possession 
of sufficient property themselves, they announced their deter- 
mination to raise the building for themselves, and declined any 
public contribution. Taking into consideration, however, various 
questions into the merits of which we need not enter, the 
position they occupied, and the claim they might be said to 
have — from having had a residence furnished, if not granted by 
the Crown originally, and enjoyed so long — the Royal Academy 
came to the conclusion that, in accepting the oflFer of a site, their 
independence would not be at all compromised. I hope and 
trust that the House will agree that the view which they took 
was the just, proper, and honest one." 

He then proceeded to state the arrangements which 
had been entered into for the removal of the Vernon and 
Turner Collections from Marlborough House — where they 
had been located until it was required to be fitted up as 
a residence for H.RH. the Prince of Wales — to new 
rooms prepared for them at South Kensington, and added, 



Ch. XVIL] lord LYNDHURST'S speech 260 

" the result will be that, I hope at the end of two years, 
the Eoyal Academy will be established in their new build- 
ing on the new site, and that the building in Trafalgar 
Square will be completely devoted to the national col- 
lections as well as others which may hereafter be left to 
the country." In reply to the enquiry as to what site 
would be granted to the Eoyal Academy for their new 
building, he stated " part of the ground round Burlington 
House. The Eoyal Academy will be connected with 
other pubUc buildings. The interior will be left to the 
disposition of the Academy : the exterior will be sub(y- 
dinate to the design of the Government, if the Govern- 
ment insist upon that condition." 

On March 4 following this announcement. Lord Lynd- 
hurst, the venerable son of one of the early members of 
the Eoyal Academy (John Singleton Copley), rose, pur- 
suant to notice, to call the attention of the House of Lords 
to the Eoyal Academy ; and, after quoting the arrange- 
ment for the removal proposed by the Chancellor of the 
Exchequer, said, — 

"My Lords, — I consider that much misapprehension has 
existed respecting the tenure under which the Royal Academy 
hold their apartments at present in the National Gallery. Much 
misapprehension appears to me, also^ to exist as to the character^ 
the duties, and the means of performing the duties of the 
Boyal Academy; and much misrepresentation has taken place 
in consequence of such misapprehension. I am, therefore, 
desirous to have an opportunity of entering into an explanation 
upon these points, because I think it will be satisfactory to your 
lordships, and will redound to the credit of the Society to which 
I have referred. I hope, my Lords, I shall not be charged with 
going out of my province in entering upon this subject. My 
justification, or rather my excuse^ may be, or must be, that, in 
the course of last session, I presented a petition to your lord- 
ships from the Boyal Academy^ requesting your lordships to 
pass some Bill for the purpose of extending the law of copy- 
right to paintings and other works of fine art. In consequence 
of this, I have received repeated communications from members 

9 2 



260 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Oh. XVH. 

of the Royal Academy ; and they recall to my recollection many 
circumstances of my early life, when I attended the lectures of 
Sir J. Reynolds, of Mr. Barry, and other professors — when I 
was very much associated, and very conversant, with the pro- 
ceedings of the Royal Academy — and when I was intimately 
acquainted with many of its members. My Lords, there is one 
circumstance, and a remarkable circumstance, that distinguishes 
the Royal Academy in this country from all the other Academies 
that exist on the continent of Europe. There is not a single 
Academy for the purpose of promoting the fine arts upon the 
continent of Europe that is not supported entirely by the 
State ; whereas the Royal Academy here has, almost &om its 
fiftt institution, been self-supporting. It has been of no charge 
whatever to the State, and, in this respect, resembles many 
other of our institutions, which would, in foreign countries, look 
for aid to the Grovemment, but which, in this country, are sup- 
ported by the energy, the vigour, and enterprise of individuals." 

He then proceeded to describe the circumstances under 
which the Academy was founded, and its constitution, by 
the code of laws prepared for it under the immediate 
superintendence of King George 111. "I remember 
hearing, many years ago," he continued — " nearly seventy 
years ago — that the whole system and code of laws were 
referred to and considered by Lord Camden. I find 
that at this time Lord Camden was the possessor of the 
Great Seal ; and we know, according to the practice of 
those days, that the Lord Chancellor was in daily private 
communication vrith the Crown." Passing to the con- 
sideration of the local position of the Academy, His 
Lordship stated : — 

"The Royal Academy was founded in 1768; three years 
afterwards, it was transferred from its original place of residence 
in Pall Mall to the old palace of Somerset House, by the 
authority of the Crown. It remained at the old palace of 
Somerset House until the new building was erected. That 
building, or series of buildings, was erected under the authority 
of an Act of Parliament. That Act of Parliament pointed out 
the particular offices which were to be accommodated in this 
building, . . . and it provided that on the site of the old 



Ch. XVn.] LORD LYNDHURST'S SPEECH 261 

palace such other buildings and offices should be erected as His 
Majesty should think proper to direct** It was under this 
reserved clause that His Majesty directed that that part of the 
present building which fronts the Strand should be erected for 
the accommodation of the Royal Academy, the Royal Society^ 
and the Society of Antiquaries. The keys of that part of the 
building intended to be occupied by the Royal Academy were 
directed by His Majesty to be handed over to Sir J. Reynolds, 
who was then the President. It is clear that at that period the 
apartments which were assigned to the Royal Academy were 
held as part of the old palace of the Sovereign. They continued 
in the occupation of those apartments, undisturbed, for a period 
of nearly sixty years." 

And when the Academy was transferred to Trafalgar 
Square, 

^^ It was stipulated at the time, as part of the arrangement, 
that they should hold those premises precisely on the same 
tenure, and with the same rights and privileges, as they for- 
merly held the premises in Somerset House. . . . They do not 
hold them of the nation, but of the Crown, and at the pleasure 
of the Crown." 

His Lordship next explained the source of their in- 
come — the exhibition — and its appropriation. 

*' I know, my Lords, some persons suppose that the members 
of the Royal Academy may apply this fimd as they think proper. 
Some think they have distributed a portion of it among them- 
selves. Nothing can be more unfounded. They have no power 
whatever over the fund. They cannot dispose of any part of it 
without the consent of the Crown. . . . For what purpose is 
the fund, then, to be applied? There are certain officers 
appointed, with a view to the schools, and the instruction of 
the students. . . . The schools are on a most liberal establish- 
ment. . . . During the last fifty years, by far the larger pro- 
portion of eminent artists in this country have been taught in 
those schools. Two-thirds of the present Academicians had 
their education in those schools. . . . Not long ago, it will be 
recollected that premiums were offered for cartoons, to be em- 
ployed in the decoration of the Houses of Parliament. Eleven 
premiums were so assigned, and more than two-thirds of them 



262 inSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVH. 

were awarded either to students at the Soyal Academy or to 
persons who, at some former time, had been students." 

Having mentioned the allowance given to travelling 
students, His Lordship next referred to the charities and 
grants made by the Academy : — 

** There is no profession which affords more immediate 
pleasure and delight than the profession of the arts ; but, 
unfortunately, pecuniary reward, to any extent, does not always 
accompany exertion in that vocation. Occasionally, from ad- 
vancing life and itfi failing energies, sometimes from loss of 
sight, those who devote themselves to it are unfortunately 
reduced to poverty and distress. The Eoyal Academy also 
appropriates a portion of its funds to the relief of persons of 
that class, and of widows of artists who may have been left 
destitute. These are charitable objects, but they are not con- 
fined to members of the institution; the aid is distributed 
freely to the profession at large, and a much larger sum is 
given to those members of the profession who are not, and 
never were connected with the Academy, than to those who are 
so connected." 

After discussing the questions raised as to the number 
of works exhibited by the members, and the mode of 
conducting the elections. His Lordship concluded his 
very interesting and most valuable testimony by stating 
the wishes of the Academicians in assenting to the plan 
of the Goveifnment for granting them a site in fee upon 
part of the ground occupied by Burlington House : — 

" They are grateful for the offer ; but still they fear that a 
grant from the nation, unless an equivalent was offered by 
themselves, would place them in the position of being called 
upon, from time to time, to make returns for the House of 
Commons, to be examined, and to assume a political character 
quite foreign to the tranquil state so necessary for the well-being 
of art. . . . Their object is, and always has been, to remain 
solely under the control and supervision of the Crown. There- 
fore, what they now propose is this — they will accept the grant, 
on the condition that they, on their part, shall be allowed to 
expend an amount equal to the value of the site in the con- 



L. 



Ch. X^^I.] PROPOSED removal of the academy 263 

struction of buildings necessary for the Academy, to be per- 
manently applied for the purposes of art. Thus the grant from 
the nation will be paid for by that equivalent, because both the 
land and the buildings to be erected upon it are to be devoted 
in perpetuity to a great public object. I think, if this kind of 
arrangement can be carried out, it will not affect the position of 
the Royal Academy, and they will remain, as before, under the 
immediate supervision, control, and government of Her Majesty. 
I was anxious, my Lords, to make this explanation, because I 
was sure, as regarded the conduct and management of the 
Academy, I could say nothing but what would redoimd to the 
credit of that body. ... I am sorry t/O have troubled your 
lordships at such length, but I was glad to have an opportunity 
of addressing you upon a subject which — from the position I 
now stand in, and in which, from the earliest days of my life, I 
have stood in relation to these matters — naturally possesses 
great interest for me." 

The Earl of Derby, then at the head of Her Majesty's 
Government, replied to Lord Lyndhurst as follows : — 

" I am sure the House is indebted to my learned and noble 
friend for the remarks which he has addressed to us. He has 
explained, with his usual clearness and precision, the various 
arrangements which have been made, from time to time, be-, 
tween the Crown and the Royal Academy. I think the principle 
is now recognised on all hands, that while the Royal Academy 
has no right to claim exclusive possession of this or that par- 
ticular building, yet it has a right to claim, on the part of the 
public, that they shall have some means provided for carrying 
on their labours, from which, I readily admits the public have, 
for a series of years, derived the greatest benefit. I believe my 
noble and learned friend has only done justice to the zeal with 
which these labours have been undertaken, and to the services 
they have rendered to the fine arts in this country." 

His Lordship then stated the real position of the Go- 
vernment and the Eoyal Academy towards each other : 

"Your lordships are aware that for a series of years there 
has been a growing feeling that the building occupied partly 
by the national collection of pictures, and partly by the Royal 
Academy, was insufficient, and that it was desirable to separate 



264 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVIJ. 

one portion from the other. For a long time, the question has 
been agitated, whether the National Grallery should be removed, 
and the Academy left in possession of the original site ; but the 
result of enquiries by commissioners and committees appears, 
upon the whole, to be, that there is no site better calculated than 
the existing National Gallery for the exhibition of the pictures 
which belong to the nation. That being the case, it was thought 
that some other place should be found for the Royal Academy. 
In that state of things, the late Government purchased Bur- 
lington House, with the gardens and courtyard attached. In 
order to give some idea of the extent of space required, I may 
state the extent of the National Gallery is 13,000 square feet, 
while the superficial area of Burlington House and grounds is 
143,000 feet, or nearly eleven times as much. It must not, 
however, be supposed that there are not numerous claims on 
this valuable site, and engagements have been entered into with 
various learned societies for portions of that space ; . . . but 
the principle on which the arrangement with the Royal Academy 
is to be carried out has been entirely agreed upon, the settle- 
ment of details being left as a matter for future consideration 
between it and the Government. The principle of the arrange- 
ment is this, — it appears to me to be a reasonable one, — that, 
in order to secure the Royal Academy from the inconveniences 
.attendant upon frequent change of place, to afford them more 
ample accommodation than they now possess, and, at the same 
time, to provide for the public at large that amount of space 
which is necessary to the adequate realisation of the specific 
objects which the Academy has in view, they should, out of 
their own funds, obtain for themselves a site, to be conveyed to 
them in freehold, whereby they would be relieved from all 
apprehension of future removal, while the advantage would 
be secured to the country of having a building suited to the 
purposes for which the Royal Academy is designed. The pro- 
position made to them, therefore, was, that a considerable por- 
tion of the site of Burlington House should be appropriated to 
their use, and should be made over to them, in fee simple, upon 
condition that upon that site they should erect a building 
adapted for the purposes of the Academy, and not, in its style 
and character, incongruous with those other buildings which 
may hereafter be erected in the same locality. ... As to the 
amount of land to be allotted to them, and the particular posi- 



Ch. XVn.] PROPOSED REMOVAL TO BURLINGTON HOUSE 266 

tion they are to occupy at Burlington House, I can only say 
that these are questions^ the solution of which must, to a certain 
extent, depend upon the claims of those other societies to whom 
promises have been made, and also upon the sufficiency of the 
funds of the Royal Academy to enable them adequately to 
occupy the ground which may be assigned for their use." 

Lord Monteagle (who, as Mr. Spring Eice, took a pro- 
minent part in the arrangements which were made for 
the removal of the Academy from Somerset House to 
Trafalgar Square) expressed his opinion that none of the 
societies accommodated in new Somerset House could 
have any Crown right derived from the original occupa- 
tion assigned to them in the old building ; but that by the 
arrangement most properly proposed by the Government, 
the Eoyal Academy would now, for the first time, " pos- 
sess an indefeasible right in the land upon which the build- 
ing they occupied stood. . . . The services rendered to 
the public by the Eoyal Academy were such as entitled 
them to the utmost consideration. He was not desirous 
that Parliament should intermeddle officially in the 
management of the Academy ; but he regretted to hear 
any claim advanced of exemption from the power of 
Parliament." 

But for the change of Ministry which followed within 
three months after these statements were made in ParUa- 
ment, there is Uttle doubt that the arrangement thus 
maturely weighed and considered, would ere this have been 
carried out ; or, at least, that some steps would have been 
taken to commence the new building for the Eoyal Aca- 
demy. The question, however, still remains in abeyance ; 
but it is greatly to be desired that Her Majesty's present 
Ministers should confirm the agreement made by their 
predecessors in office, and thus alike provide the needed 
space for the exhibition of the national pictures and 
enable the Eoyal Academy to pursue its varied labours 
for the education of artists and the display of their works, 
with increased facilities and advantage. 



266 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Oh. XVII. 

The exhibition of the year 1859, though not remark- 
able for any striking pictures, presented evidence of an 
increasing effort at exactitude in drawing and a careful 
attention to the details in most of the pictures contri- 
buted by young artists, in contradistinction to that spirited 
touch which, a few years ago, it was their ambition to 
attain. The works still being prepared for the Houses of 
Parliament continued to withdraw several of the artists 
whose works are usually prominent on the walls of the 
Academy from the exhibition, except in the display of 
small pictures, the fruits of their leisure hours ; never- 
theless, there were many attractions for the lover of art 
amidst the 1,382 works to be foimd there. The annual 
dinner preceding the exhibition was attended, as usual, 
by several members of the Cabinet ; and the Earl of 
Derby pointedly corrected a remark made by the Lord 
Chancellor, when he expressed his hope that such 
assembUes might often meet " within these walls," by in- 
timating His Lordship's own expectation, that it would 
be rather in their proposed new home at Burlington 
House that these pleasant gatherings would thenceforward 
be continued. The conversazione to the exhibitors was 
held, as usual, at the close of the season. 

On the 10th of December, 1859, the President distri- 
buted two gold and thirteen silver medals to the students. 
In the Painting School none of the pictures submitted 
were considered by the Council to be of sufficient merit 
to deserve the distinction of the gold medal, and, there- 
fore, only those for architecture and sculpture were 
awarded. After this interesting ceremonial was con- 
cluded, the President delivered a discourse to the students, 
first reminding them that, " in the observation of nature, 
and in the exercise of the eye, the chief aid of the artist 
is comparison ; " and then he proceeded to exemplify this 
principle by showing the distinctive character of de- 
scriptive poetry and of the formative arts — the poets 
having " frequently dwelt on sounds and perfumes, and 



CH.XVn.] PRESIDENTS ADDRESS 267 

on the sense of touch — even as susceptible of the fresh- 
ness or warmth of the atmosphere, — rather than on 
visible images ; " while artists have only to deal with that 
kind of comparison which can be suggested by the sense 
of sight. " The point is, to distinguish an appearance or 
idea from those with which it is or may be in danger of 
being confounded. Thus, in expressing death in painting 
or sculpture, it is plain that what we have to avoid is, " the 
appearance of mere sleep," on the principle that " things 
being compared together, their character and relative ex- 
cellence will consist chiefly in those qualities which are 
exclusively their own." After illustrating and enforcing 
these principles, the President concluded by impressing 
upon his audience that, — 

" No painter has achieved an enduring reputation who has 
not embodied truth in some sense — truth either ordinary or 
rare, either familiar or exquisite, or both — in some department 
of the art. . . . The advanced student, in aiming at distinction, 
should learn to be true to himself. For if he seeks to be what 
he is not, to adopt the thoughts, the predilections, and the 
practice of others, without sometimes retiring into himself and 
communing with his own heart, his works will either be without 
character or, may be, contaminated by affectation. Let me, 
therefore, earnestly recommend you to preserve your intellectual 
freedom ; and while you adhere to the essential elements of the 
art which you may have chosen, and seek to reproduce in un- 
equivocal representation the qualities of visible things, endeavour 
to adhere no less truly to your own feelings, subject only to the 
salutary modification resulting from knowledge and experience." 

Early in the same year (1859) communications passed 
between M. Th^ophile Silvestre (appointed by the Minister 
of State in France to inspect the museums and other in- 
stitutions of the fine arts in Europe) and the Eoyal 
Academy, relative to the invitation given by the French 
Minister to Enghsh artists, to contribute their productions 
to the annual exhibition in Paris, where a room would 
be especially devoted for their reception. The following 
letter, from the Secretary of the Academy to M. Silvestre, 



268 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVH. 

expresses the cordial sympathy which the artists of 
England cherish for those of France, and their sense of the 
esteem in which their works are held in that comitry : — 

'^ Royal Academy of Arts, London^ 
" January 31, 1859. 

" Sir, — I laid your two letters, the last dated the 24th instant, 
before the President and Council of the Eoyal Academy of Arts, 
at their meeting on Saturday last, and am directed to convey to 
you the assurance of their high appreciation of the expression 
of His Excellency the French Minister of State, in approbation 
of the English School of Art, and also of the oflfer, on his part, 
to devote a room for the reception of English works of art, for 
exhibition at the Palais de I'lndustrie in April next I have 
also received instructions to make known this gratifjdng and 
generous offer to the presidents of the diflferent art societies in 
Great Britain. 

'*The President and Council feel that this expression of 
sympathy for British art, on the part of the French Government, 
deserves and demands an earnest response from British artists, 
as founding a noble emulation and mutual good-will between 
the artists of the two countiies. 

" I have, &c., 
(Signed) « J. P. Knight, R.A., Sec." 

'^ M. Th^ophile Silvestre.''. 

Another instance occurred in this year of one of the 
members of the Academy sun-endering his diploma at the 
close of a long and prosperous career, in order that he 
might not hinder other artists from attaining the like 
dignity. This was in the case of Sir Eobert Smirke, 
who resigned the position he had long held as a Eoyal 
Academician, when he retired, fiill of honours, from the 
active pursuit of his profession as an architect. All vrill 
appreciate the consideration for the younger members of 
his profession which prompted such an act of self-denial ; 
but we hope it may be possible hereafter to make some 
arrangement by which artists who have earned their 
honours so well as Sir Eobert Smirke has done, may be 
permitted to retain the rank and title of Eoyal Acade- 



Ch. XVn.] PUBLICATION OF THE COUNCIL'S REPORT 209 

mician, and yet not thereby exclude the rising members 
of the profession from gaining similar distinctions* 

The year 1860 will be notable in the future annals 
of the Academy, as that in which the first account of 
their proceedings and a report of their finances was 
issued for the information of the pubhc. This very 
interesting and valuable document is in the form of a 
"Eeport from the Council of the Eoyal Academy to 
the General Assembly of Academicians," which was 
presented on February 24, 1860. Its title implies that 
it was primarily intended for the information of the 
members of the Academy; but it has since been cir- 
culated in a wider sphere among those who are interested 
in the history and proceedings of the Institution. The 
report occupies thirty-six octavo pages, and the appen- 
dices fifty-two more. The proposed removal to the new 
building, the means at the disposal of the Academy, and 
the general questions of its relation to the Crown, to the 
pubhc, and to the professors of art, are all clearly and 
ably considered by the Council ; and the documents pub- 
lished in the appendices are in elucidation of these points, 
being copies of the original instrument of institution, the 
laws and other details relating to the schools, the members, 
and exhibitors, abstracts of the accounts, correspondence 
respecting buildings occupied, &c. We have, of course, 
gladly availed ourselves of these authoritative documents 
in this history ; and have, in a future chapter, to consider 
some of the topics to which the Eeport refers — so that it 
will not be necessary to do more than record its appear- 
ance in this place. 

The Exhibition of the year 1860 was generally pro- 
nounced to be one of great excellence — displaying more 
of the real study and spirit of art than is usually found ; 
and that it proved especially attractive is shown by the 
receipts arising from it being greater than in any pre- 
vious year (not even excepting 1851), amounting to 
£10,900 IQs. An arrangement was decided upon, by 



270 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVH. 

which the pictures were not hung to the very top of 
the rooms, as formerly (the upper story being covered 
with dark red baize), in order to prevent the complaint 
so often made, of some pictures being absolutely hung 
out of sight — the practice of covering every available 
space having been previously followed, under the im- 
pression that many esdiibitors would rather see their 
works badly placed than altogether excluded. In con- 
sequence of this alteration, which tended to improve the 
general appearance of the rooms, and to raise the average 
merit of the pictures exhibited, only 1,096 works were 
displayed out of 2,612 sent for exhibition ; but this altera- 
tion did not involve the sacrifice of the interests of those 
unconnected with the Academy, so much as those of the 
members ; for at the annual dinner (at which Viscount 
Palmerston, Earl Eussell, and other Ministers were pre- 
sent), the President stated : — 

'^I must do the memb.ers of the Royal Academy the justice 
to say that some of their own works have been this year with- 
drawn, to make room for others ; and it is satisfactory, amid the 
di^ppointments which under the circumstances are unavoid- 
able, to see works by contributors occupying those prominent 
places which, by a fair and acknowledged privilege, are usually 
assigned to members. From the experience of the present 
exhibition alone, it is plain that the additional space which the 
Academy so much wants would be a boon to the contributors ; 
and it is on this account the more earnestly desired. The 
members of the Eoyal Academy are sincerely anxious to render 
this institution as useful as possible, in conformity with the 
objects of its foundation." 

The soiree to exhibitors followed the close of the 
exhibition ; and on the 10th of December, five silver 
medals were awarded by the President to the successful 
competitors in the schools. 

The new Sculpture Eoom was opened for the first time, 
with the exhibition, in May 1861. It was planned by 
Mr. Pennethome, the Architect to the Office of Works, 



Cfl. XVn.] NEW SCULPTURE ROOM 271 

and is formed partly from the former sculpture room, and 
partly from the old entrance hall of the National Gallery. 
The alteration was decided upon in Parliament (August 
18, 1860) with a view to provide additional space in the 
National Gallery, and to furnish better accommodation for 
the exhibition of sculpture in the Eoyal Academy. Plans 
for these improvements had been prepared, by order of 
the Government, in 1857, and had then been approved by 
the Academy, so that no time was lost in canying them 
into effect as soon as the resolution was passed. In 
September 1860, Mr. Pennethorne commenced the alter- 
ations, by which the halls of both buildings were neces- 
sarily considerably reduced — this loss of space being 
more than counterbalanced by the increased accommoda- 
tion afforded in other respects ; but the whole arrange- 
ment (the act of the Government alone) was simply 
designed to make a temporary improvement until the final 
permanent location of the Eoyal Academy should be fixed. 
The life School was necessarily closed, from August 25 
to the end of the' year 1860, while these alterations were 
in progress, and the Library, from the same cause, was 
closed tiU August 1861. The weight of the works to be 
deposited there of course necessitated the selection of 
the ground-floor for the exhibition of works in sculpture ; 
and in the three compartments of which the room is 
now composed as much more space and light are ob- 
tained as it was possible to procure in the adaptation of 
the site ; while the alterations in the new entrance hall 
and staircase afford a little addition to the space for the 
display of pictures. The number of works in the ex- 
hibition of 1861 was 1,134 ; on the whole it was a good 
one, for there was little of that mediocrity which it is 
so painful to behold in passing through a collection of 
pictures ; and there were many excellences even in the 
smaller works by unknown artists. The usual annual 
dinner preceded the opening, and the conversazione for 
exhibitors and others concluded the public display. These 



272 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVU. 

gatherings, although repeated year by year, lose none 
of their attractions to those invited to them ; and patrons 
of art and the illustrious guests at the one, as well as 
the more exclusively artistic gathering at the other, alike 
feel the genial influence of art in bringing them together 
to enjoy a " feast of reason " and " a flow of soul " under 
the auspices of the Eoyal Academy. A " Grand Con- 
gress of Artists of all Nations " was held after the close 
of the exhibition, at Antwerp, in August 1861, when the 
Eoyal Academicians chose J. P. Knight, the Secretary, 
as their delegate, and Sir E. Landseer, D. Eoberts, 
E. M. Ward, E. Westmacott, and G. T. Doo from among 
their number to represent Enghsh art at the Congress, 
in addition to the representatives of other Enghsh art 
societies. 

A female artist sought and obtained, in this year, ad- 
mission to the schools for drawing from the Antique and 
for Painting at the Academy. No law was passed for the 
admission of female students, as none had previously 
existed forbidding it ; and the only reason why they had 
not before obtained access to these means of study was, 
that they had never applied for them. The number of 
female students has since increased to five, two of these 
having been permitted to study from the living draped 
model. Some time previously (in April 1859), a me- 
morial had been forwarded to each member of the Eoyal 
Academy, by thirty-eight ladies who were professional 
artists, sohciting his influence to obtain for women a 
share in the advantage of the study from the Antique 
and from N ature, under the direction of qualified teachers, 
afibrded by the schools of the Eoj^l Academy ; but as 
this request would necessarily have involved a separate 
Life School, the Eoyal Academy could not entertain the 
proposal in the space to which their schools are at pre- 
sent confined. 

On December 10, 1861, the last distribution of rewards 
to students which we shall have to record took place. 



Ch. XVn.] ADVANTAGES TO STUDENTS 273 

Three gold medals were assigned for the best works in 
historical painting, sculpture, and architecture ; but the 
gold " Turner " medal was not given, as none of the 
competition works were considered deserving of the dis- 
tinction. Twelve silver medals, and awards of books, 
were also distributed by the President, who did not, 
however, deliver a discourse to the students, as is cus- 
tomary on these occasions. The newly-arranged Code of 
Eegulations relating to the students was unanimously 
approved and adopted on the 2nd of the same month, 
after having been long under the consideration of the 
General Assembly, and came into operation at the be- 
ginning of the present year (1862). Many of the alter- 
ations are designed to introduce an improved course of 
study in the different schools ; but the principal advan- 
tages are for students in architecture, for whom the 
Academy finds itself unable to offer, within the institu- 
tion, the same means of study as is given to students in 
painting and sculpture. By the new regulations a higher 
standard of attainment is prescribed for students in archi- 
tecture, to whom an annual travelling studentship is 
offered, it being considered that foreign travel is more 
indispensable to them than to painters and sculptors, espe- 
cially at the beginning of their career, while the latter 
have the advantage of study in many pubUc and private 
galleries at home. By other new regulations a scholar- 
ship of £25 is added to the biennial gold medals in each 
class, granted for one year, but renewable for a second ; 
and in particular cases, permission is given to exchange 
the traveUing studentship in painting or sculpture for an 
allowance of £100 to assist in prosecuting studies at 
home, renewable by the Council for a second year, if 
good use has been made of the first. 

Since Sir Charles Eastlake became President, many 
changes among the members and officers have taken 
place. Several illustrious artists have departed — the 
Academicians who have died since the decease of Sir 

VOL. II. T 



274 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVII. 

M. A. Shee in August 1850 being J. M. W. Turner, C. E. 
Leslie, Sir W. C. Ross, James Ward, Richard Cook, J. J. 
Chalon, A. E. Chalon, Thomas Uwins, Sir R. Westmacott, 
Sir C. Barry, and Wm. Wyon. Another member, Sir R, 
Smirke, has resigned his seat in the Academy. Six 
Associates have died within the same period : four painters, 
William Westall, John Hollins, Francis Danby, and 
Frank Stone; and two engravers, John Landseer and 
Charles Turner. The honorary offices also lost three 
distinguished occupants during the same period: Lord 
Macaulay, appointed Professor of Ancient Literature in 
1850, having died in 1859, was succeeded by Dean Mil- 
man ; Henry Hallam's death caused a vacancy in the Pro- 
fessorship of Ancient History, which was filled in 1860 
by the election of George Grote ; Sir R. H. Inglis, Bart, 
appointed Antiquary to the Royal Academy in 1850, was 
succeeded on his death in 1855 by Earl Stanhope : the 
ofiice of Secretary for Foreign Correspondence, held for 
twenty-one years by Sir George Staunton, Bart., M.P., 
was filled on his decease in 1860 by Sir Henry Holland, 
Bart. ; and the office of Chaplain, so long held by the 
late Bishop Blomfield, was filled after his decease in 
1868 by the present Bishop of Oxford. 

In all the Professorships connected with the work of 
the Academy, alterations have also taken place since Sir 
Charles Eastlake entered upon his office. C. K Leslie 
resigned the Professorship of Painting in 1852, and was 
succeeded by Solomon Hart ; C. R. Cockerell resigned 
the Professorship of Architecture in 1856, which was filled 
in 1860 by Sydney Smirke. Sir Richard Westmacott 
was succeeded in 1857 as Professor of Sculpture by his 
son; and J. P. Knight continued to fill the office of 
Professor of Perspective till he resigned the appointment 
in April 1860. It was subsequently determined that a 
teacher of Perspective should be appointed, and Mr. H. 
A. Bowler has accordingly been selected, Mr. J. H. Green 
resigned the Professorship of Anatomy in 1851, in which 



Ch. X\7L] CHANGES AMONG THE OFFICERS 275 

capacity for twenty-five years he had delivered lectures, 
which were always popular, not only jfrom the eloquence 
with which he was gifted, but from the interest he was 
able to give to his subject, to a professional audience, by 
his own knowledge of art. In 1852 Mr.EichardPartridge, 
r.RC.S., was appointed as his successor ; having been 
Lecturer on Anatomy at King's College, and being a 
surgeon of the highest reputation, he is eminently qualified, 
by the wide range in comparative anatomy which he takes, 
to advance the knowledge of this most important subject 
among. the students of the Eoyal Academy. Anatomical 
demonstrations firom the hving subject are also made 
annually at King's College, at the cost of the Academy, 
for the improvement of the students. It is by this conti- 
nuous course of instruction in every subject that can 
advance the knowledge of art that the labours of the 
rising generation of artists are directed by the teaching 
of the several professors, while the actual practice of 
their art is promoted and corrected in the several schools 
of the Academy by the Keeper, the Curators, and the 
Visitors. 

The appointment of Secretary to the Academy has 
been filled by J. P. Bjiight during the whole period we 
have traced in this chapter. Charles Landseer, who was 
appointed Keeper in 1851 (in succession to George Jones), 
still retains that office. P. Hardwick performed the duties 
of Treasurer firom 1850 to 1861, when Sydney Smirke was 
appointed by Her Majesty to succeed him ; and H. W. 
Rckersgill was nominated by the Queen as Librarian in 
the place of Thomas Uwins, in 1856, and has ever since 
filled the office. 

Passing fi:om these internal arrangements of the 
Academy to its pubUc displays fi-om year to year in its 
annual exhibitions, we do not find so marked a contrast 
to record as in some of the preceding chapters, with 
reference to their chief characteristics ; for, happily, many 
of those whose works were in 1851 its chief attractions 

T 2 



276 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XYU. 

are still among us. We miss, indeed, the gorgeous 
fancies of Turner's last years ; the chaste and elegant 
works of Leslie and XJwins, and Eoss's masterpieces in 
miniature ; Danby's sunsets, and Frank Stone's domestic 
scenes ; but those that remain of their contemporaries, 
and the younger artists who have succeeded to their 
honours, worthily fill their places. In a pecuniary point 
of view the exhibition continues steadily to prosper. 
The large sum which was realised in 1851 (the amount, 
£9,017 95., being more than £2,500 in excess of the 
preceding one) was attributed to the extraordinary influx 
of visitors attracted to London by the Great Exhibition 
in Hyde Park in that year ; but from the last exhibition, 
in 1861, even a larger sum (£10,358 2^.), was obtained 
as the receipts of the year, when no extraordinary 
influence aflected it: so that in this respect we may 
augur for the Eoyal Academy, wherever it may finally be 
permanently located, a continuous addition to its annual 
revenues. Its expenses will, doubtless, be increased in 
proportion, from the desire, whenever the opportunity is 
aflbrded to it, of extending the efficiency of its schools, 
enlarging its charities, and promoting in all ways the 
progress of the arts, and the good of those who are either 
students or professors of them. The expenses of the 
exhibition in 1861 were £2,554 — of the schools above 
£2,400 ; and the sum granted in pensions and donations 
to artists and their famihes was £1,132 10s. 9d. (of which 
£454 Os. 9d. was assigned to members and their fainilies), 
in addition to the smn of £300 awarded in annual 
payments of £50 each to six distressed artists as 
« Turner's Gift." 

Among the special items of expenditure during the 
last few years, deserving of remembrance, are the grants 
made by the Academy of £40 towards the expenses in- 
curred by the Society of Arts in obtaining an Act of 
ParUament on "Copyright in Works of Art;" of £50 
towards the fund for rearing a permanent home for the 



Ch. XVn.] ADDRESS OF CONDOLENCE TO THE QUEEN 277 

"Female School of Art;" of £25 towards the purchase 
of Flaxman's drawings for the gallery of the eminent 
sculptor's works at University College ; of a silver vase 
to Daniel MacKse, E.A., for his beautiful designs for the 
gold " Turner Medal ;" and, lastly — the only saddening 
one among them — of £500 towards the Memorial to 
H.E.IL the late Prince Consort, who, among many 
eminent qualities of mind, was especially gifted with a 
thorough knowledge of art, and who, among many and 
varied works of usefulness, was especially interested in 
promoting every object by which its influences could be 
extended, its treasures secured for the instruction and 
amusement of the people, and its professors raised to a 
position corresponding to the importance of the pursuits 
in which they are engaged. 

We have already mentioned that it has been customary 
for the members of the Academy to address the Sovereign, 
as its Patron, on every occasion of special importance to 
the Eoyal Family. It was their painful duty to condole 
with Her Majesty on the occasion of the death of her 
royal mother in March 1861, and at the close of the year 
to share the universal expression of the sympathy of the 
nation in the deep affiction with which Divine Providence 
had visited our Queen in the removal of H.E.H. the 
Prince Consort. The address of condolence was for- 
warded to the Home Secretary on the 1st January, 1862, 
and was as follows : — 

" To the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty — 

** We, your Majesty's dutiful subjects, members of the Boyal 
Academy of Arts, humbly beg leave to offer your Majesty our 
heartfelt condolence on the unspeakable loss which your 
Majesty, the Royal Family, and the nation have sustained by 
the death of H.B.H. the Prince Consort. 

"Amidst the universal grief which this calamity has occa- 
sioned, those societies which are connected with art or science 
have especial cause to deplore the loss of one who was their 
enlightened adviser, as well as, next to your Majesty, their 



278 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. X\^I. 

powerful protector; and frequent will be the occasions when 
their recollection, not only of His Royal Highness's public and 
private virtues, but of his judgment, knowledge, and taste, will 
renew their admiration and respect, their gratitude and their 
sorrow. 

*'But that sorrow is at present absorbed in the thought of 
your Majesty's aflBicting bereavement ; and with this feeling, we 
desire humbly to assure your Majesty of our earnest sympathy 
and affectionate loyalty, and of the deep interest which we, in 
common with all your Majesty's subjects, shall ever take in 
whatever concerns the happiness of your Majesty and the Royal 
Family." 

(Signed by all the members of the Academy, Academicians, 
and Associates.) 

The year which has opened so mournfully is destined 
to be an eventful one in the annals of art in England — 
it being intended to include in the International Exhibi- 
tion, in which the lamented Prince Consort took so warm 
an interest, specimens of the fine arts of all nations, as 
well as of their industry and manufactures. To the col- 
lection of works by deceased EngUsh artists, the Eoyal 
Academy has contributed several works by its late mem- 
bers, and its own exhibition promises to be one of more 
than usual attraction. These things, however, being 
future, are not within our province; and we conclude 
this portion of our work by giving, for the convenience 
of reference, a complete list of the Uving members of the 
Academy at the present time : — 

Pkesidekt. 

Sir Charles Lock Eastlake. 

HoNo&ABT Members. 

The Bishop of Oxford, Chaplain 

George Grote, Esq., F.G.S., Professor of Ancient History 

The Very Rev. Dean Milman „ „ Literature 

Earl Stanhope, F.R.S., P.S.A., Antiquary 

Sir H. Holland; Bart.; &ecret€try for Foreign Correspondence, 



Ch. XVII.] LIST OF PRESENT MEMBERS 



279 



Baily^ Edward Hodges 
Cockerell, Charles IU>bt. 
Cooper, Abraham 
Cope, Charles West 
Creswick, Thomas 
Dyce, William 
Eastlake, Sir C. L. 
Egg, Augustus Leopold 
Elmore, Alfred 
Foley, John Hemy 
Frith, William Powell 
Gibson, John 
Gordon, Sir J. Watson 
Granl^ Francis 



ACADEMICLANS. 

Hardwick, Philip 
Hart, Solomon Alex. 
Herbert John Rogers 
Hook, James ClarKe 
Jones, George 
Knight, John Prescott 
Landeeer, Charles 
Landseer, Sir Edwin 
Lee, Frederick Richard 
Macdowell, Patrick 
Maclise, Daniel 
Marshall, Wm. Calder 
Mulreadj, William 
Pickersgill, Henry Wm. 



PickersgiU, Fred. Rich. 
Phillip, John 
Poole, Paul Falconer 
Redgrave, Richard 
Roberts, David 
Scott, George Gilbert 
Smirke, Syoney 
Stanfield, Clarkson 
Ward, Edward Matthew 
Webster, Thomas 
Westmaoott, Richard 
Witherington, William 
Frederick. 



ACABEMICIAN-EKeBAVERS. 

Samuel Cousins, and George Thomas Doo. 



Pbofessos of Painting, S. A. Hart 

f, Sculpture, Richard Westmacott 

„ Architecture, Sydney Smirke 

Anatomy, Richard Partridge. 



99 



Associates (in the order of their election as such). 



George Patten 
Thomas Sidney Cooper 
William Edward Frost 
Robert Thorbom 
William Boxall 
Edward William Cooke 
Henry Weekea 



Frederick Goodall 
John Everett Millais 
John Callcott Horsley 
George Richmond 
John Frederick Lewis 
Henry O'Neil 
WuL Chas. Thos. Dobson 



Richard Ansdell 
Thomas Faed 
Baron Carlo Marochetti 
Edw. Middleton Bany 
James Sant 

(One vacancy, vice 
Poole). 



ABSOCIATE-EKGRAyEBS. 

Richard James Lane, Robert Graves, and James Tibbetts Willmore. 
(New Class) Lumb Stocks^ and John Henry Robinson. 



280 



CHAPTER XVin. 

BOTAL ACADEMICIANS ELECTED UNDER THE PRESIDENTSHIP 

OF SIR C. L. EASTLAEJB. 

Frendent : Sir C. L. Eastlaxs. 

Famters : Sir J. W. Gobdok^ Thomas CRESWiCKy Richasd Kedorate, 
Frascib Qrjlnt, W. P. Feith, E. M. Ward, A. Eucobs, F. R. 
PiCKSRBoiLL, J. Phillip, J. C. Hook, A. L. Ego, and P. F. Pools. 

Sculptors : W. C. Mabshall, and J. H. Foley. 
Architects: Stdnet Smirke, and Q. G. Scorr. 
Academician' JEnffravers : Samuel Cousins, and G. T. Doo. 

BEPOEE we proceed to give an account of the Acade- 
micians elected during the present President's tenure 
of office, we have first to speak of his own career, so far 
as his personal history as an artist is distinguished from 
his proceedings in the position he occupies at the head of 
the Eoyal Academy. 

Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, P.R.A., was bom on the 
17th November, 1793, at Plymouth, where his father, 
Mr. George Eastlake, was sohcitor to the Admiralty and 
Judge Advocate. He was a warm friend to the cause of 
popular education, and was the foimder of the public 
library at Plymouth. Sir Charles was his youngest son, 
and was educated, first at the grammar schools of Ply- 
mouth and Plympton (the birthplace of Sir J. Eeynolds), 
and afterwards at the Charterhouse in London. Stimu- 
lated by the example of his fellow-townsman, B. E. 
Haydon (to whom he happened to pay several visits while 
painting his 'Dentatus'), he decided on becoming a 



Ch. XVm.] SIR C. L. EASTLAKE 281 

painter, and entered the schools of the Academy as a 
student in 1809. At that time Fuseli was Keeper, and 
under his guidance and instruction he made rapid pro- 
gress. He also consulted Haydon, who was then endea- 
vouring to establish a school of his own for young artists. 
After leaving the Academy schools, he painted a picture 
of ' The raising of the Daughter of Jairus,' which was pur- 
chased by Mr. J. Harman, and at his request (after paint- 
ing other pictures and several portraits) Eastlake went to 
Paris to examine and copy from the works of the great 
masters collected by Napoleon in the Louvre ; but the 
Emperor's return from Elba put a sudden stop to this oc- 
cupation, and compelled him to come back to England 
He then established himself as a portrait painter at Ply- 
mouth, and subsequently, when the Bellerophon was lying 
off the Citadel, with Napoleon on board of her, Eastlake, 
from a boat, made sketches of him as he walked the deck, 
and from these he painted the last portrait taken of the 
Emperor in Europe. The likeness was admirable, to 
which the French oflScers, to whom it was afterwards 
shown, bore testimony. In 1817 he visited Italy, in com- 
pany with the late Sir C. Barry, the architect, and 
Brockedou, the artist. In 1818 he made a series of 
sketches, on commission, for Mr. Harman, of the architec- 
tural ruins and scenery of the classic land of Greece. He 
visited Malta and Sicily on his way back, and after his 
return to England painted a picture of * Paris receiving 
the Apple from Mercury,' the figures being life-size. His 
father died shortly afl^erwards, and he then returned to 
Some, where he subsequently spent several years. 

In 1823 he became for the first time an exhibitor at the 
Eoyal Academy, his pictures being views taken in Bome 
and its vicinity — St. Peter's, the Castle of St. Angelo, &c., 
and sketches of the peasantry of Italy and Greece. Among 
his early works were several pictures of banditti, which 
were very popular at the time. In 1825 he exhibited 
* A Girl of Albano leading a Blind Woman to Mass ; ' in 



282 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVLU. 

1827 *The Spartan Isidas repelling the Thebans/ a com- 
mission from the Duke of Devonshire — a work so bold and 
spirited, and displaying so much artistic excellence, that it 
doubtless led to his election as an Associate of the Eoyal 
Academy in that year. In 1828 he exhibited ' Peasants 
on a pilgrimage to Rome first coming in sight of the Holy 
City,' which indicated great refinement of thought, deep 
poetic feeling, and growing power of execution. It was 
exceedingly popular, and was quickly engraved on a large 
scale. The original version is the property of the Duke 
of Bedford. The artist has been since called upon to make 
several replicas, in which there are some slight alterations ; 
and he was so constantly soUcited to repeat his principal 
pictures that he was at length obhged to decline to make 
them. He quitted Italy in 1829, and the next year was 
elected a Eoyal Academician, having sent to the exhibition 
of the previous year a picture entitled ' Byron's dream,' a 
landscape in which the poet is represented asleep amidst 
some of the ruins of ancient Greece — the only landscape, 
strictly speaking, painted by the artist. For some years 
afterwards his subjects were derived from the history and 
people of Greece and Italy : among them were the ' Con- 
tadina and Family returning from a Festa,' ' Prisoners to 
Banditti,' * Gaston de Foix before the Battle of Eavenna,' 
' The Salutation of the aged Friar,' ' An Italian family,' 
' Greek Fugitives,' * Italian Peasant Girls,' ' A Pilgrimage,' 
' La Svegliarina,' * Greek Peasants,' &c. 

He commenced another and higher class of subjects in 
1839, when he exhibited 'Christ blessing Uttle Children,' 
a fine work, since engraved in line by Watts. In 1841 
appeared his masterpiece, * Christ weeping over Jerusa- 
lem,' engraved in mezzotint by Cousins — a work which 
will take its place among the best historical paintings of 
the modem school — treated with great simplicity, replete 
with purity of thought and refinement, finished with great 
care, but not too elaborately, and the whole, with its 
subdued richness of colour, conveying a deep sentiment 



Ch. XVIIL] SIR C. L. EASTLAKE 283 

of earnestness and solemnity, which is imparted to the 
beholder, and which could only be the production of a 
mind filled with religious reverence for the theme which 
has been so successfully represented. In the same style, he 
exhibited, in 1843, ' Hagar and Ishmael,' a work of great 
merit, displaying the same purity of feeling and character- 
istic expression, but which did not equal the former in 
interest or beauty. In the next year appeared a scene 
from " Comus," painted by command of the Queen, in 
fresco, for the Eoyal summer-house at Buckingham 
Palace. In 1845 he exhibited a female head of ' Heloise,' 
painted with much sweetness; in 1846 'A Visit to the 
Nun,' now in the Royal collection ; in 1847 'An ItaUan 
Peasant Family prisoners with Banditti; in 1849 ' Helena;' 
in 1850 ' The Good Samaritan,' purchased by the Queen ; 
and * The Escape of the Carrara Family from the Duke of 
Milan;' in 1851 'IppoHte ToreUi;' in 1853 'Violante,' 
and * Kuth sleeping at the feet of Boaz ;' in 1854 ' Irene;' 
and in 1855 * Beatrice ;' since which time none of his 
works have appeared in the exhibitions. Among his 
portrait pieces and figures of single heads, * The Sisters,' 
in the Eoyal collection, and 'The Greek Girl,' in the 
Vernon Gallery, may be cited as specimens of the ex- 
quisite grace and tenderness with which the artist deals 
with such subjects. The nation happily possesses some 
of his best works : a duphcate of ' Christ weeping over 
Jerusalem/ ' The Escape of the Carrara Family,' and the 
head of ' Haidee, a Greek Girl ' (1831), are in the Vernon 
Collection : two of his early works, ' An Italian Contadina 
and her Children,' painted at Eome in 1823, and *A Peasant 
Woman fainting from the bite of a Serpent,' exhibited at 
the Eoyal Academy in 1831, are in the Sheepshanks 
Collection. 

Sir Charles Eastlake paints with all the grace and 
poetic feeUng, and with the vigour of tone and harmony 
of colour, of the old masters of the Venetian school : the 
treatment of his subjects appeals rather to the approbation 



284 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Oh. XVHI. 

of the discerning few than to the multitude, but there is 
in them so much purity of conception, graceful feeling, 
and delicate yet expressive execution, that the contempla- 
tion of his pictures is an instructive lesson as well as a 
pleasure to all who study them. 

Not less important than his contributions to art, have 
been his labours in promoting its extension, and in collect- 
ing and imparting information in regard to its history 
and the modes of practice adopted in different ages and 
countries. In 1841 Mr. Eastlake was appointed (by the 
discernment of Sir Eobert Peel, who saw his fitness for 
the oflSce) Secretary to the Eoyal Commission of the Fine 
Arts, in connection with the decoration of the New Houses 
of Parliament, and for several years he has been engaged 
not only in directing the proceedings of the Commis- 
sioners, but also in collecting materials to enable them 
to decide as to the means of carrying out its purposes, 
and in making investigations as to the history and pro- 
cesses of fresco painting, and other matters connected 
with the work of the Commission. His attainments as a 
scholar, his clear and vigorous mind, his singular apti- 
tude for business, all combined to render his services 
invaluable in this national undertaking ; and by the exer- 
cise of judgment and decision — by the delicate courtesy 
and unassuming manners he displayed in fulfilling the 
duties of an ofiice, which brought him into direct com- 
munication with the late Prince Consort and the nobility 
on the one hand, and the artists to whom they gave or 
declined to give commissions on the other — he showed 
how well fitted he was for that position, and for the office of 
President of the Eoyal Academy, which he was afterwards 
called upon to fiU. The Reports presented to Parliament 
by the Eoyal Commission, and the appendices to them, 
bear record to the ability and the extent of the labours 
of their Secretary ; while the Prince, as we have seen, 
graciously gave testimony to his own estimation of his 
services, on the occasion of his succeeding to the appoint- 



CH.XVin.] SIR C. L. EASTLAKE 285 

ment of President of the Academy. It was feared that 
his elevation to this office would have involved the resig- 
nation of the former one; but happily it was not so, for in 
the fulfilment of the duties of Secretary to the Eoyal Com- 
mission he has conferred great benefit upon the arts in 
this country. 

In 1842 he was appointed Librarian to the Eoyal 
Academy, but was obhged in consequence of his nume- 
rous pubUc engagements to resign the office in 1844. On 
the death of Mr. Seguier, in November 1843, he suc- 
ceeded him as Keeper of the National Gallery, and re- 
tained the appointment till 1847, when he resigned it. 
During this period he was subjected to much annoyance 
and injustice by the statements circulated as to the man- 
ner in which he had fulfilled his duties, and an enquiry 
was instituted by the Trustees in 1846 to investigate the 
charges thus made, the result of which was that they re- 
ported " that in the opinion of the Trustees, the report 
made by Mr. Eastlake is entirely satisfactory, and justifies 
the confidence which they have reposed in his judgment, 
in respect to the treatment of the pictures in the National 
Gallery." As a fiurther proof of this confidence, on the 
reorganisation of the establishment in 1855, Sir Charles 
Eastlake was appointed Director of the National Gallery, 
with a salary of £1,000 a year, it beiog felt that the 
amount of knowledge both of the principles and practice 
of art, ancient and modem, possessed by him, eminently 
quaUfied him for the charge. He has since been exposed 
to many virulent attacks fi:om interested parties, but the 
intelligent part of the community, as well as the Trustees 
of the National Gallery, know how to estimate his ser- 
vices, and to value at what they are worth such statements 
and opinions as those which have been circulated by his 
opponents. He has been carefiil to obtain, whenever 
practicable, specimens of those schools of painting in 
which our national collection is most deficient, and to 
secure any really valuable works to be procured with the 



286 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVni. 

funds placed at his disposal ; and if all the purchases made 
have not been of equal value, yet most of the additions made 
to the Gallery since his appointment as Director (especially 
of specimens by the early Itahan masters) prove how ably 
and zealously he has fulfilled the duties of his ofiice. 

Sir Charles Eastlake has made several valuable contri- 
butions to the literature of art, by which he has shown 
himself to be one of the most learned of modem painters. 
The articles he furnished for the " Quarterly Review," the 
"Penny Cyclopaedia," and other publications, were collected 
together in 1848, and published under the title of "Con- 
tributions to the Literature of the Fine Arts." In 1840 
he pubhshed a translation of Gothe's work on Colour, 
"Farbenlehre," in 1 vol. 8vo., with many valuable notes on 
the great Venetian and Flemish painters. His next work, 
"Materials for a History of Oil Painting" (1847), entered 
more fully into the practice and the materials employed 
by those masters. An edition of " Kugler's Handbook to 
the Schools of Painting" has been published, with notes, 
&c., by Sir Charles Eastlake. The translation is said 
to have been made by Lady Eastlake, to whom he was 
married in 1849. As Miss Kigby she was previously 
known as a lady of great intellectual attainments, being 
the authoress of the "Letters from the Baltic," and other 
works. 

Many honours have been awarded to Sir Charles 
Eastlake. He was elected F.KS. in 1838. He became 
an Associate of the Eoyal Academy in 1827, and RA. in 
1830. He succeeded to the ofiice of President in 1850, 
when he received the honour of Knighthood from Her 
Majesty. In 1853 he was created D.C.L. at Oxford, in 
1855 Knight of the French Legion of Honour, and in 
1858 an Honorary Member of the Academy of Arts of 
Eome, in the place of the eminent French painter, Paul 
Delaroche. As an artist, a scholar, and a gentleman. Sir 
Charles Eastlake possesses the high esteem of the public ; 
and in the inner circle of those to whom he is personally 



Ch. XVm.] EASTLAKE— GORDON 287 

known, and in the Art Society of which he is the head, he 
is justly held in universal respect for his genius, and those 
many personal qualities of heart and mind, which render 
him courteous and afiable, full of deUcacy of feehng, and 
conscientious in the discharge of all the duties which in 
his high position he is called upon to fill. 

During the few years which have elapsed since Sir 
Charles Eastlake's appointment as President, eighteen new 
Koyal Academicians have been elected. Of these twelve 
are Painters, two Sculptors, two Architects, and two Aca- 
demician-Engravers, under the law passed during his 
presidentship. The Painters are Sir. J. W. Gordon, 
Thomas Creswick, Eichard Kedgrave, and Francis Grant, 
elected in 1851; W. P. Frith (1853); E. M.Ward (1855); 
Alfred Elmore (1856); F. R PickersgiU (1857); J. PhiUip 
(1859) ; J. C. Hook, and A. L. Egg (1860); and P. F. Poole 
in 1861. The Sculptors are W. C. Marshall, elected in 
1852, and J. H. Foley in 1858. The Architects, Sydney 
Smirke in 1859, and George Gilbert Scott in 1860. The 
Academician-Engravers are Samuel Cousins (1855), and 
George T. Doo in 1857. 

Sir John Watson Gordon, RA., was bom in Edinburgh, 
the son of a Post-Captain of the Navy, a descendant of the 
Watsons of Overmans, in Berwickshire, and is connected 
through some branches of his father's family with Sir 
Walter Scott. He was intended for the army, but as it 
happened that he was too yoimg when the application 
was made for his admission to the RDyal MiUtary Aca- 
demy at Woolwich, he was sent to the Trustees Academy 
at Edinburgh, then under the direction of Mr. John 
Graham, to be educated as an artist, and he remained 
there pursuing the necessary studies for his profession for 
four years. He commenced his career — as so many other 
young artists have done, afterwards to relinquish them — 
on historical and poetical subjects, but eventually devoted 



288 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVm. 

himself exclusively to portraiture, in which he has shown 
great talent, and met with eminent success. 

He has spent nearly all his life in Edinburgh, taking 
the place of Sir H. Eaebum in painting portraits of all 
the celebrities of the Scottish capital, and indeed of most 
of his coimtrymen wherever resident, giving to his pictures 
a reality which has never been excelled, either in the 
verity of the outward resemblance and characteristic 
features, or in the rendering of the mental qualities of the 
individual represented. While thus making aU his por- 
traits faithful transcripts of the originals, his pictures are 
not deficient in the technical excellences of good painting. 
His drawing is careful and correct, the colourmg is true 
and unaffected, he paints with a firm touch, and subordi- 
nates every part of the picture to the head, which is thus 
brought out into bold rehef. 

So numerous are his portraits, that it would be impos- 
sible to give a list of them ; all the Scottish nobility, men 
of letters and science, eminent lawyers, politicians, and 
merchants of his country, have in turn been his sitters : 
of course in some cases he is more successful than in 
others, and he seems to be most at home when he has to 
depict a sharp, shrewd, and hard-featured man of the 
worldly-wise part of the Scottish character. In the 
Archers' Hall at Edinburgh are two full-length portraits 
by him of the Earl of Hopetoun and the Earl of Dalhousie. 
In the Chambers of the Faculty of the Writers to the 
Signet is the portrait of Lord Justice-General Hope, and 
of his successor. Lord Justice Boyle, of whom also there 
is another portrait belonging to the Faculty of Advocates. 

He was elected an Associate of the Eoyal Academy in 
1841, and RA. in 1851. He was one of the early mem- 
bers of the Eoyal Scottish Academy, and is still one of 
its warmest supporters. In 1850, on the death of Sir 
WiUiam AUan, he was elected as its President. On this 
occasion a public dinner was given to him, on the 13th 
December, at the Waterloo Booms in Edinburgh, at which 



Ch. XVm.] GORDON— ORES WICK 289 

the chair was occupied by Professor Wilson, who paid a 
just compliment to the intellectual and moral qualities of 
the new President of their Academy. At the same time 
Sir John Watson Gordon was appointed as the Queen's 
Limner in Scotland, and, according to precedent, received 
from Her Majesty the honour of knighthood. 

Thomas Creswick, E.A., was bom at Sheffield in 1811, 
and was educated at Hazelwood, near Birmingham, where 
he made considerable progress also in drawing landscapes. 
He came to London in 1828 to pursue his artistic studies 
with greater advantage, and to exhibit some of his pic- 
tures of scenery in North Wales at the Koyal Academy. 
From that period for more than thirty years he has been 
a constant and abundant contributor to the exhibition at 
the Academy, formerly also at the Suffolk Street Gallery, 
and still occasionally at the British Listitution. In all his 
works there is a thoroughly English character in the 
scenery, and a natural truthfidness, derived from his prac- 
tice of painting the scenes he depicts in the open air as he 
sees them before him. His subjects are always pleasing, 
and tastefully chosen. His paintings of the Welsh streams 
— rocks and water, bold and wild, amidst luxuriant 
foliage — his river scenes in the valley of the Wharfe — 
his Cornish views, and some pictures painted during a 
tour in teland — aU exhibit the same appreciation of the 
beautifiil in nature, and his power to realise the expression 
of its varied forms by his facile art. For many years his 
pictures were small in size, and generally of river scenery, 
as their titles indicate, — * A Eocky Stream,' ' Windings of 
a Eiver,' * A Shady Glen,' ' A Cool Spot,' &c. ; or in the 
forest glades, as *The Chequered Shade,' 'The Beech 
Trees,' 'The Pleasant Way Home,' &c. In 1836 he re- 
moved to Bayswater, where he still resides, after having 
paid a visit to Ireland, the picturesque scenery of the 
county Cork affording him many subjects for pictures 
exhibited shortly afterwards. 

VOL. II. u 



290 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVIII 

In 1842 he was elected an Associate, and in 1851 a Koyal 
Academician. Thus estabUshed in reputation as an artist, 
he pursued his labours with greater confidence. In 1847 
he painted two large and singularly beautiful pictures — 

* England,' and * The London Eoad a Hundred Years 
Ago,' — ^both affording signs of bolder conception and more 
able execution, and which must be classed among the 
best works he has produced. In the following year he 
began to work in another style, painting sea-side views, 

* Home by the Sands,' and ' A SquallyJ Day,' which he 
continued to follow for a few years, and then aU but laid 
aside to resume that which was evidently more congenial 
to him. Latterly he has painted in conjunction with Ans- 
dell, who has inserted some fine groups of cows and other 
animals in his truthful landscapes with great effect. His 
colouring is dehcate and low-toned — his drawing admir- 
able ; he is fond of studying atmospheric effects, and gives 
to the periods of the day, the seasons of the year, and 
each class of scenery he depicts its distinct character, and 
thus his landscapes form some of the most pleasing speci- 
mens of those painted by our modem English school. 

He has made numerous sketches for book illustrations, 
which engrave well, and make pleasing pictures even when 
divested of the charm of colour. He also etches with 
great skill. Very fair specimens of the style of his smaller 
pictures are * The Pathway to the Village Church,' painted 
in 1839, in the Vernon Collection, and two others in the 
Sheepshanks Gallery, painted in 1844, * A Mountain Stream 
on the Tummel, Perthshire,' and *A Summer's After- 
noon.' 

EiCHAKD Eedgrave, E.A., was bom at Pimlico on 
the 30th April, 1804. His youth was spent (as he has. 
told us in an autobiographical letter he addressed some 
years since to the editor of the " Art Journal ") in the 
counting-house of his father, who was a manufacturer 
employing a large number of workmen, and who entrusted 



Ch. XVIII] RICHARD REDGRAVE 291 

his son with " making the designs and working drawings 
for the men, and journeying into the country to measure 
and direct the works in progress." The latter was a 
pleasant occupation, for it led him among those scenes of 
nature in which he took an early dehght His father's 
business, however, did not prosper, and as he was one of 
a large family, the young man was allowed to leave it 
and to follow his own bent for a more decidedly artistic 
employment. When about twenty years of age he joined 
a schoolfellow, of like tastes with himself, in going to 
draw fix)m the Elgin and Townley marbles in the British 
Musemn. In 1825 he exhibited a view of the River 

« 

Brent, near Hanwell, at the Eoyal Academy, and in the 
next year became a student there. 

Shortly afterwards, that he might not become a burden 
to his father, he determined to maintain himself by his 
art, and this at a time, as he teUs us, " when there was 
httle to help the young beginner : wood engraving, com- 
pared with its present extension, was in its infancy ; litho- 
graphy was unknown ; art-imions, to assist the young 
artist, were yet imthought of ; exhibitions were few and 
very exclusive ; and all the means and appUances required 
by the artist were fewer and more difficult to obtain." 
He became a teacher of drawing during the day, and a 
student at the Academy Schools at night, working fourteen 
hours a day amidst many discouragements, and giving 
himself no rest except on Simday, which was, " as I trust 
it ever will be," he says, " a sacred day to me." In addition 
he painted and exhibited several small pictures, the sub- 
jects of many of them being taken from the " Pilgrim's 
Progress." Amidst these eflforts, he also competed for 
the Academy Gold Medal, but failed, as he thinks, because 
he could not devote more time to his work, and make 
more use of nature in it. In 1831 he exhibited a 
historical work, * The Commencement of the Massacre of 
the Innocents ;' in 1833 'Cymbeline,' and two landscapes ;. 
and he has been a constant exhibitor ever since. 

u 2 



292 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVni. 

His first success, as he deemed it, was in 1837, when he 
sold * Gulliver on the Farmer's Table,' exhibited at the 
British Institution. It was purchased for engraving, and 
afterwards became the property of Mr. Sheepshanks, who 
presented it with his collection to the nation. In 1838 
he sent to the British Institution a subject from Crabbe, 
* Ellen Orford,' which was rejected there, but afterwards, 
to his dehght, exhibited " on the hne " at the Academy. 
The next year he exhibited there * Olivia's Eeturn to her 
Parents,' and ' Quintin Matsys showing his First Picture to 
the Father of his Lady-love.' These found purchasers ; and 
now the way out of difficulty and struggles, and towards 
fame and success, seemed to be opening upon him. In 
1840 he exhibited *The wonderful Cure of Paracelsus;' 
the next year ' The Castle-builder,' * Sir E. de Coverley's 
Courtship,' and ' The Vicar of Wakefield finding his lost 
Daughter at the Inn ;' and for several years he continued 
to choose subjects of a simple domestic character, not 
intended merely to please the eye, but to reach the heart 
of the beholder. " It is one of my most gratifying feelings," 
he tells us, " that many of my best efibrts in art have 
aimed at calling attention to the trials and struggles of the 
poor and the oppressed. In the ' Eeduced Gentleman's 
Daughter' (1840), *The Poor Teacher' (1843), *The 
Sempstress ' (an illustration of Hood's * Song of the 
Shirt') 1844, 'Fashion's Slaves ' (1847), and other works, 
I have had in view the ' helping them to right that sufier 
wrong' at the hands of their fellow-men. If this has 
been done badly, it has at least been done with the heart, 
and I trust when I shall have finished my labours I shall 
never have occasion to regret that I have debased the art 
I love by making it subservient to any unworthy end." 

But he did not confine himself to these efforts, laudable 
and beneficial though they were. He was a lover of 
nature ; and the woods and streams of the country have 
found a dehcately true and natural copyist in him. Many 
of his pictures of this class bear titles which indicate their 



Cn. XVm.] RICHAKD REDGRAVE 293 

character ; such as ' Sun and Shadow,' 'The Sylvan Spring,' 
* The Lost Path/ * Love and Labour,' ' The Mid-wood 
Shade,' ' The Old English Homestead,' * The Skirts of a 
Wood,' 'The Cradle of the River,' &c. In 1847 he 
exhibited 'The Guardian Angel,' and in 1849 'The 
Awakened Conscience,' followed in 1850 by the ' Marquis 
and Griselda.' In that year he was elected a Eoyal 
Academician, having been an Associate since 1840. His 
chief picture in 1851 was ' The Flight into Egypt,' a very 
original conception of a subject frequently painted, and 
treated with great solemnity of feeUng. In 1854 he ex- 
hibited another picture of the Virgin and Child, entitled 
'Foreshadows of the Future;' in 1857 'The Well-known 
Footstep,' and 'The Moorland Child;' in 1860 'The 
Strayed Flock,' ' Seeking the Bridle-road,' and two pictures 
of 'The ChHdren in the Wood;' in 1861 'Young Lady 
Bountifiil,' 'Geneveva,' 'A Surrey Coombe,' and 'The 
Golden Harvest.' 

In his subject pictures there is always a purpose, and 
that a good one, and thus he has fulfilled one of the 
highest missions of the artist, who, while delighting our 
eyes, ought at the same time, unconsciously to ourselves, 
to be improving our hearts. His descriptive scenes are 
well worked out, and display both a true judgment and a 
fertile imagination ; they are full of carefiil details, and 
indicate close observation of human nature and study of 
character. His landscapes are choice transcripts of nature 
as he sees it in its varied guise, at different seasons, with 
aU the little wild flowers which he admires so much in- 
troduced to heighten the effect of the scene. Every year 
there are some contributions from his pencil to the 
Academy exhibition ; yet, considering the constant atten- 
tion he gives to the many important public duties devolv- 
ing upon him in the position he occupies, it is wonderful 
how he can find time to paint anything. 

From 1847 to 1851 he held successively the appoint- 
ments of botanical teacher and lecturer, and head master 



294 HISTORY OF THE JROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVIII. 

Government School of Design. In 1852 he became Art- 
Superintendent in the Department of Practical Art, and 
in 1857 was appointed Inspector-General for Art in the 
Department of Science and Art then established. He 
has ever since continued laboriously to watch over the 
schools, the Museum, and the Art Collections at South 
Kensington. Several of his lectures and addresses to the 
students in the schools of the Science and Art Department 
have been printed, and he published, in 1853, an element- 
ary "Manual of Colour," for their use. In 1857 he 
succeeded Thomas Uwins, RA., as surveyor of the Koyal 
collections of pictures, a post not altogether a honorary 
one, but properly bestowed on an artist who has attained 
a high position in his profession, and who has done so 
much to promote the right cultivation of a taste for art 
in the public. To him, also, jointly with Mr. Creswick, 
the arrangement of the collection of pictures for the 
International Exhibition of 1862 has been entrusted. 

The Vernon Gallery contains a picture painted by him 
in 1848 full of talent in conception, drawing, and colour, 
entitled ' Country Cousins,' humorously representing the 
curiosity with which the town relatives examine their 
visitors from the country, rather than welcome their 
arrival. The Sheepshanks Collection contains some of 
the artist's works which have been already referred to : 
* Gulliver,' 1836 ; 'The School Teacher,' 1845 ; * Cinder- 
ella about to try on the Glass Slipper,' 1842 ; * Throwing 
off the Weeds,' 1846; * Bolton Abbey,' 1848; and a 
picture of * OpheUa weaving her Garlands,' 1842, which 
represents the subject with great simplicity and touching 
effect, and is a work of art carefully studied in all its 
details, and as nearly as possible embodying the poet's 
idea of the character and the scene. 

Francis Grant, RA., is a younger son of Francis Grant, 
the laird of Kilgraston, in Perthshire, and the brother of 
Lieut.-General Sir J. Hope Grant, G.C.B., the late com- 



Ch. XVm.] FRANCIS GRANT 295 

mander of the forces in China, who accomplished the 
capture of Pekin, and now holds the chief command in 
the Madras presidency. 

Francis Grant was bom in 1804, and was educated for 
the bar ; but taking a strong dislike to the study of the 
law, and having an equally strong desire for art, at the 
age of twenty-four he determined to change his profession, 
and become a painter. Twelve lessons when a boy, in 
drawing the human figure, subsequent patient study of 
the old masters, and making carefiil copies of the works 
of Velasquez and others, besides study from nature, con- 
stituted the art^education which fitted him to enter upon 
his new career. 

He was fortimate enough to secure the interest of Sir 
Walter Scott, who has left an interesting notice of him in 
his diary (dated 26th March, 1831), in which he states 
his motives in adopting the profession of a painter. He 
says : " In youth he was passionately fond of fox-hunting 
and other sports : he had also a strong passion for paint- 
ing, and made a little collection. As he had sense enough 
to feel that a younger brother's fortune would not last 
long under the expenses of a good stud and a rare collec- 
tion of chefs'd^ceuvre he used to avow his intention to 
spend his patrimony, about £10,000, and then again to 
make his fortune by the law. The first he soon accom- 
plished. But the law is not a profession so easily ac- 
quired, nor did Frank's talent he in that direction. His 
passion for painting turned out better. . . . I am no 
judge of painting, but I am conscious that Francis Grant 
possesses, with much cleverness, a sense of beauty derived 
from the best source — that is, the observation of really 
good society. . . . His former acquaintances render 
his immediate entrance into business completely secure. 
He has, I think, that degree of force of character which 
will make him keep and enlarge any reputation which 
he may acquire. He has confidence, too, in his own 
powers — always requisite for a young gentleman trying 



296 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVIH 

things of this sort, whose aristocratic pretensions must be 
envied." 

In the early part of his career as an artist, he followed 
his own sporting tastes in the choice of his subjects, which 
were very popular among a certain class, and were mostly 
engraved. Among the first of these exhibited was ' The 
Breakfast at Melton,' in 1834, followed by ' Sir R Sutton's 
Hounds,' 'The Meet of the Queen's Staghounds,' in 1837, 
' The Melton Hunt ' (containing some thirty-six portraits), 
in 1839, ' The Shooting Party at Eanton Abbey,' &c. In 
1841 he exhibited an equestrian portrait of Her Majesty, 
attended by Lord Melbourne and the Lords-in-Waiting 
(which was also engraved), and the next year he was 
elected an Associate of the Eoyal Academy, when he 
exhibited a portrait of Lady Glenlyon, which established 
his reputation as an excellent portrait painter, and led 
him to decide on abandoning his previous style for that 
more fashionable and lucrative pursuit. 

For this change he was eminently quahfied by his social 
position, and his personal acquaintance with the style and 
character of the persons whom he undertook to represent. 
His marriage with a niece of the Duke of Rutland in- 
troduced him at once to the highest aristocratic con- 
nection, and in that sphere he has since continued to 
monopolise a large share of patronage as an artist, having 
painted a greater number of distinguished personages 
than perhaps any other living artist. He gives to all his 
portraits the elegance and grace which belong to the 
liigh-born lady, and the ease and dignity of the well-bred 
gentleman ; his female portraits are especially charming, 
for, while the face is painted with delicacy, the drapery 
and background are also tasteful and efiective, and there 
is a sweet expression given to the countenance, and an 
unconstrained action imparted to the figure. Sometimes 
there is a degree of ideahty thrown into his pictures, 
which renders them still more pleasing by the happy 
combination of portraiture with poetry. He became a 



Ch. XVin.] GR^VNT — FRITH S97 

Eoyal Academician in 1851. A recent specimen of his 
skill will be fresh in the memory of all who visited the 
last Academy exhibition — the life-Uke portrait of General 
Lord Clyde, G.C.B. (Sir Colin Campbell), painted for the 
late Governor-General of India. 

William Powell Frith, R. A., was bom at Studley, near 
Eipon, in Yorkshire, in 1819. His early bias for art was 
encouraged by his father, who, being a man of taste, and 
passionately fond of the arts, desired that his son should 
grow up a painter ; but he died in 1830, and therefore 
did not live long enough to see his wish realised. His 
son was placed at Sass's drawing academy in 1835, and 
remained there three years ; he also became a student at 
the Eoyal Academy in 1837. Two years afterwards he 
sent his first work for exhibition to the British Institution 
— it was the head of one of Mr. Sass's children. The 
next year he sent there .'Othello and Desdemona,' and 
* Jenny Deans and Madge Wildfire,' and to the Eoyal 
Academy 'Malvolio before the Countess Olivia.' Among 
his subsequent works at this period were * The Parting 
Interview of the Earl of Leicester and the Countess Amy ;' 
a scene from the " Vicar of Wakefield " (' My wife would 
bid both stand up to see which was tallest ') ; a scene from 
" The Merry Wives of Windsor " (' The Dinner to Fal- 
staff ') ; ' DoUy Varden ' (engraved) ; and a picture of 'John 
Knox and Mary Queen of Scots.' All these gave signs 
of careful study and patient industry in the exactness of 
detail and neat finish by which they were characterised. 

In 1845 he exhibited a picture of 'The Village Pastor,' 
suggested by Goldsmith's lines, afterwards engraved by 
HoU. This was a work of a higher class than any of its 
predecessors, and of a more serious character. It at once 
established his reputation, and deservedly led to his 
attaining the rank of Associate of the Eoyal Academy in 
that year. In 1846 he exhibited 'The Eetum from 
Labour,' and a scene from the " Bourgeois Gentilhomme ;" 



293 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. X\7n. 

in 1847 ' English Merry-making a Hundred Years Ago,' 
a picture fiill of lively cheerfulness, and picturesque group- 
ing of pretty girls and jovial smiling rustics ; in 1848 
*The Peasant Girl accused of Witchcraft,' an effective 
scene, which took the beholder back to the times of 
James I. ; in 1849 'A Coach Adventure of 1750,' 'Coming 
of Age,' a good old EngUsh scene, engraved by Holl ; in 
1850 'Honeywood introducing the Bailiffs as his Friends 
to Miss Eichland' (in the Sheepshanks Collection), and 

* Sancho and the Duchess ;' in 1851 * Hogarth at Calais,' 
and ' Sir Eoger de Coverley and the Spectator ;' and in 
1852 * Pope making Love to Lady M. W. Montagu.' 

The next year he attained the rank of Eoyal Acade- 
mician, and in 1854 exhibited a humorous scene on 
Margate sands, entitled 'Life at the Sea-side.' It was 
purchased by the Queen, and has since been engraved on 
a large scale for the Art Union of London. In 1855 
appeared * Maria tricks Malvolio ;' the next year ' Many 
Happy Eetums of the Day,' a pretty home scene, and 

* A Dream of the Future,' the landscape part of which 
was painted by Creswick. Li 1857 he exhibite4 * Kate 
Nickleby,' and * A London Flower Girl.' In 1858 ap- 
peared another remarkable scene, full of hfe and charac- 
ter, fashion, fun, and frolic, entitled * The Derby Day,' 
elaborately worked out in all its details, which at- 
tained equal popularity with his preceding work of the 
same class. In 1859 he exhibited * Charles Dickens in 
his Study,' and in 1860 * Claude Duval, the highwayman, 
compelling a lady to dance with him.' He has recently 
completed a picture of * Life at a Eailway Station,* a sub- 
ject in which he has displayed all his versatile powers, 
humorous and pathetic, and for which Mr. L. V. Flatou 
has agreed to give him the unparalleled price of 8750 
guineas, in order to secure the ownership of the picture, 
the right of engraving it, and the exclusive privilege of 
exhibiting it to the public. 

From his first appearance before the pubUc, the works 



Ch. XVIIL] frith— ward 299 

of this talented artist have shown progressively increasing 
power, and his rise to fame has been in proportion to his 
merit. While he is at home in the subjects which LesUe 
chose for his especial study — scenes of courtly gallantry, 
stately manners, stiff costumes, and mediaeval scenes and 
occupations — he possesses a keen eye for all that is 
around him, catching the folly and vanity, the humour 
and the pathos, the moral and the philosophy of every- 
day life, with perhaps less of point., but not with less of 
skill, than Hogarth of old — crowding together a variety 
of different objects in the bustle and confusion of a hfe- 
like scene, but preserving the identity of each character, 
and keeping each episode of the well-told story in its 
place, that the general effect of the whole may not be 
marred. Whether his subject be from the olden times of 
Elizabethan formalities, of the days of our grandfathers, 
or the ordinary scenes we witness around ns now, there 
is a picturesque beauty in his pictures which charms us, 
a pathos and a sentiment, as well as a feeUng of the 
humorous, which touch our hearts, and which make us 
feel that we owe to him a debt of gratitude for what he 
has done to contribute to the intellectual gratification 
of the present generation. Mr, Frith is a married man, 
the father of a youthful family, and occupies in society as 
high a position as a gentleman as he has gained in his 
profession as a talented, wealthy, and successful artist. 

Edward Matthew Ward, E.A., was bom in Belgrave 
Place, Pimlico, in 1816. His parents, and especially his 
mother, early discovered and cherished his love for art, 
and in his fourteenth year he gained a silver palette from 
the Society of Arts for a pen-and-ink drawing. He sub- 
sequently designed several illustrations to the works of 
Washington Irving, and those of his uncle, Horace Smith, 
the author of "The Eejected Addresses." Under the 
auspices of Sir R Chantrey and Wilkie, he entered the 
schools of the Eoyal Academy in 1835, and in the same 




800 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch, XVIIL 

year exhibited at the Gallery of the Society of British 
Artists a portrait of Mr. 0. Smith as " Don Quixote." In 
1836 he went to Eome, where he remained three years. 
In 1838 the Academy of St. Luke awarded him a silver 
medal for a picture of Cimabue and Giotto, which was 
exhibited at the Eoyal Academy on his return to England 
the following year. He afterwards went to Munich to 
study fresco painting under CorneUus. In 1840 he ex- 
hibited at the Eoyal Academy ' A Scene from King Lear;' 
in 1841 ' Thorwaldsen in his Study,' and * Comet Joyce 
seizing the King at Holmby, 3rd June, 1647 ;' in 1842 
' The Widow of Edward IV. delivering the young Duke 
of York to the Archbishops of York and Canterbury ;' in 
1843 'Lafleur's departure from Montreuil;' and at the 
British Institution a picture of ' Napoleon in the Prison of 
Nice,' purchased by the Duke of Wellington. In the 
same year he entered the cartoon competition in West- 
minster Hall, with * Boadicea ' for his subject, but it did 
not gain a prize, or eUcit great admiration. He also 
painted a picture of ' Dr. Johnson reading the Manuscript of 
Goldsmith's " Vicar of Wakefield," ' which attracted great 
attention at the Academy exhibition, and opened a new 
field for his skilful pencil. It has since been engraved, 
and is deservedly admired for the skilful way in which a 
story of almost national interest is told. * A Scene from 
the Early life of Oliver Goldsmith,' representing him as 
a wandering musician in France, followed ; and in 1845 
a still more decided success, * A Scene in Lord Chester- 
field's Ante-room in 1748 ' (now in the Vernon Collection), 
in which Dr. Johnson is seen among a group of persons 
waiting to see the Earl, and a lady of fashion, with her 
black page, is leaving the chamber — the whole scene 
grouped with great skill and efiect. 

A series of excellent and important works followed. In 
1846 'The disgrace of Lord Clarendon;' and in 1847 *The 
South Sea Bubble,' an elaborate picture fidl of life and 
excitement, hmnour and passion, character and feeling — 



Ch. XVni.] E. M. WAED 801 

a masterpiece of that kind of subject of which Hogarth 
would have been proud. Both these pictures are in the 
Vernon Collection. In 1848 * London during the Great 
Fire,as seen from Highgate Fields in 1666/ and 'Charles 11. 
and NeU Gwynne.' In 1849 'West's First Effort in 
Art,' and ' Daniel Defoe with the Manuscript of Eobinson 
Crusoe.' In 1850 'Izaak Walton angling,' and 'James 11. 
receiving Tidings of the Landing of Prince WiUiam of 
Orange,' bought by Mr. Jacob Bell, and presented by him 
to the nation. In the next year (besides two other works) 
' The Eoyal Family of France in the Prison of the Temple,' 
the first of a series of pictures, full of deep and tender 
feeling, depicting the sorrows of the Eoyal sufierers during 
the French revolution. In 1852 ' Charlotte Corday going 
to Execution.' In 1853 'The Execution of Montrose,' 
and ' Josephine signing the Act of her Divorce.' In 1854 
'The Last Sleep of Argyll.' In 1856 'Marie Antoinette 
parting with her Son,' and ' Byron's Early Love.' In 1858 
two pictures, each containing many portraits, painted 
by command of the Queen, representing ' The Emperor 
of the French receiving the Order of the Garter from Her 
Majesty,' and ' The Queen visiting the Tombof Napoleon I.,' 
and also a subject for the Houses of Parliament — 'Alice 
lisle concealing Fugitives after the Battle of Sedgmoor.' 
Li 1859 'Marie Antoinette hstening to the Act of Accu- 
sation;' and in 1861 ' The Ante-chamber at Whitehall 
during the dying moments of Charles H.' 

The Fine Arts Commissioners gave him instructions 
in 1853 to paint a series of eight pictures for the Houses 
of Parhament. Four of these are finished, and are placed 
in the Commons' Corridor — 'The Execution of Montrose,' 
' The Last Sleep of Argyll,' ' Alice Lisle conceaUng the 
Fugitives,' and ' The Fhght of Charles EL with Jane Lane 
after the Battle of Worcester.' They were originally 
painted in oil, but the Commissioners afterwards deter- 
mined not to have any more works in that style, as they 
were found to be unsuited to the lighting of the building. 



802 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVHI. 

and they were therefore repeated in fresco. Four others, 
' Monk declaring for a Free Parliament,' ' The Landing 
of Charles 11. at Dover,' ' The Acquittal of the Seven 
Bishops,' and ' The Lords and Commons presenting the 
Crown to William and Mary,' have yet to be added to the 
series. 

Several of Ward's best pictures are in the Vernon Gal- 
lery : ' Dr. Johnson in Lord Chesterfield's Ante-room ' 
(1845), the sketch for Lord Northwick's large picture of 
'The Disgrace of Lord Clarendon' (1846), and *The 
South Sea Bubble ' (1847). Li all his works he displays 
great power of mind, originality of thought, and rich 
conception ; a happy and natural disposition of all the 
figures, a clear mode of telling the story, rich and lucid 
colouring, truthful and earnest expression, and a care- 
ful study of all the details and costumes of the period. 
These quaUties combine to form pictures fiill of harmo- 
nious effects of colour and grouping, and, from the subjects 
selected, works of great historical interest. He has often 
chosen the social life of our ancestors, and personal 
episodes in the lives of great men, for his themes, and 
has thus opened a new and interesting field for historical 
painting, much more instructive and attractive than re- 
presentations of the mere poUtical events of the past 

Mr. Ward was elected an Associate of the Koyal Aca- 
demy in 1846, and E.A. in 1855. His wife, Henrietta, 
is the daughter of James Ward, E. A., and is a painter, 
in style and subject not unlike her husband, except that 
she chooses scenes of a more social and homely character, 
as more congenial to a lady's taste. 

Alfbed Elmore, RA., was bom at Clonakilty, Cork, 
on June 18, 1815, the decisive day of victory at Water- 
loo. He was the son of Dr. Elmore, a surgeon in the 5th 
Dragoon Guards, who retired from active service towards 
the dose of the Peninsular War. It is said that admira- 
tion for a picture which his father brought from abroad. 



CH.XVin.] ALFRED ELMORE 803 

* A dead Christ/ attributed to Vandyke, determined his 
son's choice of his profession. When in his twelfth year 
the family removed to London, and, after some practice 
in drawing in*the British Museum, he became a student 
at the Koyal Academy in 1832. In 1834 he exhibited at 
the Academy 'A Subject from an old Play,' and during 
the next two or three years he visited Paris to study in the 
Louvre, and in the Life Schools of the French capital. 
In 1837 he sent to the British Institution a picture of 
'Christ crowned with Thorns,' and in 1839 'The Cruci- 
fixion.' At the Koyal Academy in 1840 he exhibited 'The 
Martyrdom of Thomas kBecket,' which was painted for 
Daniel O'Connell, and is now in a Roman Catholic Church 
in Dubhn. In the same year he went to Munich, where 
he stayed three months ; thence he journeyed to Venice, 
and on by Bologna and Florence to Home, studying the 
works of the great masters in aU those places. He re- 
mained in Home two years, and painted there several 
pictures, exhibited in London after his return. In 1843 
he sent to the British Institution 'A Window in Eome 
during the Carnival,' and to the Academy ' The Novice.' 
The next year he exhibited his only landscape, 'An 
Italian Corn-field,' and ' Eienzi in the Forum.' 

In 1845 he obtained the rank of Associate at the Eoyal 
Academy, and exhibited ' The origin of the Guelph and 
Ghibelline Factions at Florence.* The next year a scene 
from " Much ado about Nothing," ' The fainting of Hero.' 
In 1847 he exhibited at the British Institution ' Bianca 
Capelle,' and at the Eoyal Academy ' Beppo ' and ' The 
Inventor of the Stocking-loom,' a poor student watch- 
ing his wife knitting by his side, which has been en- 
graved, being a well-told and touching incident, for the 
clever representation of which the artist gained great praise. 
In 1848 he exhibited ' The Death-bed of King Eobert of 
Naples ; ' in 1849 a scene from ' Tristam Shandy,' ' EeU- 
gious Controversy in the time of Louis XIV.,' and ' Lady 
Macbeth.' In 1850 ' Griselda,' ' The Queen of the Day,' 



804 inSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVni. 

and a subject from the Decameron; in 1851 * Hotspur 
and the Fop ; ' in 1852 a scene from Pepys' diary, and 
' The Novice ;' in 1853 * Queen Blanche separating Louis 
IX. from his wife;' in 1856 'The Emperor Charles V. 
at Yuste ; ' in 1858 ' Dante/ and a scene from " The Two 
Gentlemen of Verona," his diploma work, which was 
presented to the Academy on his election as a Royal 
Academician in 1856. In 1860 he exhibited * Marie 
Antoinette facing the Mob at the Tuileries, 20th June, 
1792;' and in 1861 ' Marie Antomette in the Temple,' 
' Peace, 1651,' and ' Men were deceivers ever.' 

There is an originality in the subjects he selects, and 
in his mode of dealing with them, which show that 
Mr. Elmore thinks for himself, and follows no established 
precedents ; he groups his figures with ease and grace, 
draws with great correctness and force, and colours richly ; 
and with these excellences, combined with the novel 
sources from whence he derives his materials, his pic- 
tures deservedly rank high among the works of modem 
painters. 

Frederick Richard Pickersgill, RA., was bom in 
London in 1820. His father was a painter, and he is a 
nephew of H. W. Pickersgill, R.A. His mother was a 
sister of Mr. Witherington, RA., who undertook to 
direct his early studies in art, and taught him to draw 
figures from plaster casts. In 1839 he exhibited a water- 
colour drawing at the Royal Academy, — 'The Brazen Age,' 
from Hesiod, and the next year he became a student at 
the Royal Academy, where, in 1841, he exhibited his first 
oil pictures, 'The Combat between Hercules and Ache- 
lous,' and 'Amoret delivered by Britomart.' In 1842 
appeared ' (Edipus ;' in 1843 * Dante's Dream,' and 
' Florimel in the Cottage of the Witch ' (engraved for the 
Art Union of London) ; in 1844 ' The Lady in the En- 
chanted Chair,' from "Comus;" in 1845 'The Four Ages,' 
belonging to Mr. Longman, the publisher, and 'Amoret, 



Ch. XVm.] F. R. PICKERSGILL 806 

-ZEmilia, and Prince Arthur in the Cottage of Sclaunder ' 
(now in the Vernon Gallery) ; in 1846, ' The FUght of 
Stephano Colloprino/ The next year he changed the 
style of his subjects, exhibiting a picture of ' The Christian 
Church during the Pagan Persecutions,' and he then 
attained the rank of Associate of the Academy. He had 
previously (in 1843) gained a prize of £100 from the 
Fine Arts Commissioners for his cartoon of ' The Death 
of King Lear,' exhibited at Westminster Hall. In 1845 
he exhibited a fresco of * Sir Calepine rescuing Serena,' 
and in 1847 he succeeded in gaining one of the three 
prizes of £500 for his fine efiective painting of the ' Burial 
of Harold,' which the Eoyal Commissioners afterwards 
purchased for another £500 for the decoration of the 
Houses of Parliament 

He has since exhibited a variety of works illustrating 
oiu' classic poets, Spenser, Shakspeare, &c., Italian history, 
and sacred story. In 1848 he exhibited 'Britomartis 
unveiling Amoret,' and * Idleness ;' in 1849 ' Circe ' and 
* The Maids of Alcyna tempting Eogero ;' in 1850 * Sam- 
son betrayed,' * Pluto carrying away Proserpine,* and ' A 
Scene during the Invasion of Italy by Charles VILL ;' in 
1851 * Rinaldo ;' in 1852 ^The Adoration of the Magi,' 
and ' Pan and Syrinx ;' in 1853 * The Arrest of Francesco 
Novello da Carrara ' and * Angelo Participazio ; ' in 
1854 *The Death of Francesco Foscari,' purchased by 
H.RH. the late Prince Consort; in 1855 * John sends 
his Disciples to Christ,' ' Christian in the Valley of 
Humihation,' and ' Britomart unarming ;' in 1856 * Christ 
blessing Uttle Children,' and * Love's Labour Lost ;' in 
1857 'The Duke Orsino and Viola;' in 1858 'The Bribe,' 
his diploma work, having been elected a Eoyal Acade- 
mician in the preceding year ; in 1859 ' Dalilah asking 
forgiveness of Samson,' and ' Warrior Poets of the South 
of France contending in Song;' in 1861 'Duke Frede- 
rick banishing Eosalind,' from " As You like It ; " 
' Miranda, Ferdinand, and Prospero,' from " The Tempest ;" 

VOL. II. X 



306 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVUl. 

and 'Pirates of the Mediterranean playing at Dice for 
Prisoners/ 

In general the choice of his subjects is varied and judi- 
cious ; his colouring is sparkling and brilliant, without 
being gaudy ; his drawing is true and accurate, and the 
arrangement of his figures skilful. Although many of his 
subjects might have led him into coarseness, he has never 
fallen into it, or deviated from the deUcacy of feeling and 
the refined thought with which his subjects are conceived. 
He is careful in the study of costume and chiar'oscuro, 
and when dealing with sacred subjects he depicts them 
with unaffected solemnity and simphcity. These quaUties 
place him among the best artists in the modem school of 
legitimate painting. 

John Phillip, R.A. was bom at Aberdeen, on April 19, 
1817. At fifteen years of age he commenced his career 
as an artist in his native city, and two years afterwards 
he determined on visiting the Royal Academy exhibition. 
To accomplish this journey he worked his passage on a 
coasting steamer from Scotland to London, as his re- 
sources were then very limited. On his return to Scot- 
land, improved by what he had seen, he painted a picture 
of a Scottish interior, which attracted the attention of the 
then Lord Panmure, who purchased it, and supplied the 
artist with the means of returning to London for study. 
He became a student at the Eoyal Academy in 1837, re- 
turned to Aberdeen in 1839, and painted portraits there 
till 1841, when he came back to London, and has since 
settled here. His pictures of * A Scottish Minister examin- 
ing the Children of his Flock ' (1847) ; * A Scotch Fair * 
(a humorous and animated scene) in 1848 ; * Baptism in 
Scotland,' replete with delicate and reverent feeling 
(1850) ; * Heather Belles,' 'A Scotch Washing,' * Drawing 
for the Militia,' and * The Free Kirk,' soon attained cele- 
brity for the artist. 

A severe illness overtook him in 1850, and the next 



Ch. XVIIL] JOHN PHILLIP 307 

year he decided on visiting the south of Spain to benefit 
his health. It did more than this ; it also changed the 
whole current of his thoughts and tastes in art, and long 
before his return to England in 1856-57, he had become 
the acknowledged painter of the every-day life of the 
Peninsula, with all the warm glowing picturesque accom- 
paniments of Spanish scenes and peasantry, and all the 
varieties of the costumes, habits, and manners of the 
people pictured before us. In 1853 he exhibited *Life 
among the Gipsies at Seville,' at the Royal Academy, and 

* A Spanish Gipsy Mother,' at the British Institution. In 
1854, *A Letter-writer of Seville,' purchased by Her 
Majesty, which has been engraved, and is a most skilful 
work. The next year, * H Pasco ' (portraits of two 
Spanish sisters), also the property of the Queen ; and 

* Collecting the Offertory in a Scotch Kirk.' In 1856, 

* Gipsy Water-carriers of Seville,' and other subjects. 

In 1857 he was elected an Associate of the Eoyal Aca- 
demy, and in 1858 he exhibited, besides a portrait of the 
late lamented 'Prince Consort,' painted for the city of 
Aberdeen, * Spanish Contrabandistas,' 'Youth in Se\^e,' 
' Daughter of the Alhambra,' and other Spanish subjects. 
Li 1859 he became a Eoyal Academician, and exhibited 
' A Huff,' and a portrait of Mr. Egg, E.A. In 1860 his 
diploma work, ' Prayer,' was exhibited, and a picture of 
' The Marriage of H.RH. the Princess Eoyal,' remarkable 
for the biilUant colouring and effective grouping of a 
subject confessedly difficult to render otherwise than 
formal. This picture is now being engraved by Auguste 
Blanchard. In 1861 he exhibited ' Gossips at a Well,' and 
still occasionally paints a few portraits. 

He is a dose observer of human nature, and an accurate 
delineator of its varied types and characters. As a draughts- 
man he is facile and accomplished, original in conception, 
and vigorous in treatment ; his arrangement of draperies 
is effective ; his lights and shades are strongly marked ; his 
colouring is rich, deep, fiill, and mellow, sometimes even 

X 2 



308 inSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVm. 

dark in parts, and the expression given to his Spanish wo- 
men and his groups of figures (the costumes of which are all 
carefully studied) is always appropriate and characteristic. 

James Clarke Hook was bom in London on November 
21, 1819, being the son of James Hook, one of the Judges 
of the mixed commission Courts of Sierra Leone. His 
mother was the second daughter of Dr. Adam Clarke, the 
Bible commentator. He became a student at the Eoyal 
Academy in 1836, and in 1842 gained the first medals in 
the Ufe and painting schools. In 1845 he gained the 
gold medal, for his historical painting of * The Finding of 
the Body of Harold,' and became in 1846 a travelling 
student of the Academy. The next year he married the 
third daughter of Mr. James Burton, the solicitor, and 
went to Italy, but gave up the Academy allowance for 
the latter half of the three years for which it was granted, 
and obtained permission to return to this country. 

From his first admission to the Academy to the period 
of his leaving England he painted, in the strictly conven- 
tional style of academic rules, scenes from Scripture, 
English history, and occasionally portraits. After his 
return fi:om abroad, he chose more fiinciful and romantic 
subjects from Italian history and tradition. Of his earlier 
works, the principal were 'The Hard Task * in 1839 ; a 
portrait in 1842 ; * Pamphilus relating his Story ' (fi:om 
Boccaccio) in 1844. The next year he sent to the British 
Institution four subjects in illustration of Rogers's poem of 
*' The Wish," and to the Eoyal Academy * A Portrait of a 
Gentleman' and *A Song of the Olden Time.' In 1846 
' The Controversy between Lady Jane Grey and Father 
Fakenham ; ' in 1847, to the British Institution, * Eispah 
watcliing over the dead Sons of Saul,' a bold conception 
of a difficult subject ; and to the Royal Academy 'Bassanio 
and the Caskets ; ' in 1848 ' Otho IV. of Florence ; ' in 
1849, to the British Institution, 'Venice in 1550 ; ' and to 
the Academy ' Bianco Capello,' * Othello's first Suspicion,' 



Ch. XVm.] J. C. HOOK 309 

and * The Chevalier Bayard wounded ; ' in 1850 * A Dream 
of Venice,' and ' The Escape of Francesco da Carrara ; ' in 
1851 * The Eescue of the Brides of Venice ; ' the next 
year ' The Return of Torello ' and ' Othello's description 
of Desdemona ; ' in 1853 another * Scene in the life of the 
Chevalier Bayard,' and * Queen Isabella and her Daughter 
in the Nunnery;' in 1854 * Persecution of the Christian 
Beformers in Paris ;' and in 1855 ' The Defeat of Shylock,' 
and * The Gratitude of Moses' Mother for his safety.' In 
all these he displayed true Venetian splendour of colour, 
much artistic feehng, a large extent of mental culture, a 
wide range of reading, and in his treatment of religious 
subjects, much reverence and chastened solemnity of style. 

Of late years he has turned his thoughts into a new 
channel, and has devoted himself chiefly to pastoral and 
nautical subjects, especially hfe on the sea-shore, and has 
attained in these works an excellence which has rarely 
been acquired by one whose early tastes were so evidently 
for historical rather than for landscape painting. These 
pictures consist of figures of large size introduced either 
in rural scenery on the shore, or on the water, teUing a 
story in connection with the scene as graphically as he 
before narrated the histories of Venice and Italy. He 
began with * A Best by the Way-side,' a group of trees 
deUcately pencilled, and * A Corn-field at Noon-day.' In 
1855 appeared * Market Morning ' and ' The Shepherd 
Boy ; ' in 1856 * Brambles in the Way,' * The Fisherman's 
Good Night,' and others ; in 1857 'A Widow's Son going 
to Sea,' and *The Ship-boy's Letter;' in 1858 'A Pas- 
toral' and *The Coast-boy gathering Eggs;' in 1859 
' The Brook,' ' Lufi*, boy ' (a charming boat scene), ' A 
Cornish Gift,' and others ; in 1860 ' Whose bread is on 
the Waters,' * Stand Clear,' * The Valley on the Moor,' 
'The Sailor Boy;' and in 1861 * Compassed by the 
inviolate Sea,' * Sea Urchins,' &c. 

Although not belonging to the * pre-Eafiaellite ' school, 
he agrees with them in aiming at strong and marked 



310 raSTORY OF THE ROYAL AC.VDEMY [Ch. XVm. 

expression, powerful colouring, scrupulous detail, and, 
above all, in the subjective mode of treatment in the 
commonest objects of landscape or domestic life, which, 
whilst it embues every work with the tone of his own 
thought, elevates his art to a creative power. In both his 
early and later styles he has proved himself to be a highly 
intellectual painter, and is also distinguished among his 
compeers in art as an accomplished gentleman. He was 
elected an Associate in 1850, and R.A. in 1860. 

Augustus Leopold Egg, RA., was born in Piccadilly 
in 1816, and is a member of the celebrated family of 
gunmakers of the same name, which years ago (before 
the days of Minie rifles) acquired a wide celebrity in 
Europe. In his boyhood, when at school in the country, 
he made his first essays with the pencil and brush, but did 
not determine to become an artist by profession till just 
before he entered the schools of the Academy, in 1836. 
In the same year he began to exhibit at the Society of 
British Artists, and afterwards at the British Institution, 
his pictures being taken from Itahan subjects, although 
he had not visited that country. In 1838 he began to 
contribute to the Eoyal Academy exhibition, following 
for some years the themes which had been so successfully 
treated by Leshe, Newton, and Smirke, scenes trom. 
" Gil Bias," « Don Quixote," and the works of Shak- 
speare, Scott, &c. 

In his early works the colour was low in tone, but the 
drawing careful, and the expression admirable. Among 
the best of these are ' The Victim,' a scene from Le Sage's 
" Le Diable Boiteux," in which a gallant has treated two 
female acquaintances to a supper much too expensive for 
his purse. It is now in the Vernon Gallery. In 1844 he 
painted *Gil Bias exchanging rings with Camilla;' in 
1847 ' The Wooing of Katherine ;' and in 1848 ' Queen 
Elizabeth discovers she is no longer young.' In this 
year he was elected an Associate. In 1849 he exhibited 



Ch. XVm.] EGG —POOLE 311 

* Henrietta Maria released by Cardinal de Eetz ; ' in 1850 
'Peter sees Catherine, the future Empress, for the first 
time,' a very pretty and effective pictm-e, telling the whole 
story mimistakably ; in 1855 'The Life and Death of 
Buckingham,' two contrasted pictures in one frame, a 
moral lesson effectively told, although not strictly correct 
as to the fact. In the same year he contributed ' Emmett 
in Prison, parting from his Mistress,' and a costume 
picture, with the title of 'Through the green Shades 
wandering.' In 1857 he illustrated Thackeray's novel in 
' Esmond returning after the Battle of Wynendael ; ' and 
in 1858 he painted a picture without a name, in three 
compartments, depicting the stages of a domestic tragedy, 
so sternly painful that, however excellent the intention 
of the painter, it was felt to be scarcely a subject suitable 
for pictorial representation. In 1859 he exhibited ' The 
Night before Naseby,' an effective lamp-light scene, and 
' Madame de Maintenon and Scarron ; ' and in 1860, the 
year in which he was elected E.A., a scene from the 
" Taming of the Shrew." 

Mr. Egg has not painted a large number of pictures, 
and it is a cause of much regret that he is prevented from 
doing more in his art, in consequence of delicate health, 
from wliich cause he was long compelled to resort to the 
mild cKmate of the south of France, and latterly to winter 
in Algeria. He has strong inventive faculties, paints in a 
vigorous and elaborate style, carefully studies the group- 
ing of his figures, displays both strength and harmony in 
his colouring, and, while he can be humorous when his 
subject requires it, he shows, too, that he never paints 
without a moral purpose in view. 

Paul Falconer Poole, RA., was born at Bristol in 
1810, and was entirely s^f-taught as an artist, which, 
while it gave full scope for original thought and treatment, 
had also the disadvantage of leaving uncorrected some 
defects in drawing, and the neglect of certain recognised 



312 inSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVUL 

principles of art, which are very palpable in some of his 
early works. In 1830 he exhibited at the Eoyal Aca- 
demy ' The Well — a Scene at Naples/ but for some years 
afterwards he did not appear before the public, although 
he continued to pursue his studies with great dihgence. 
In 1837 he exhibited ' The Farewell/ and in 1838 'The 
Emigrant's Departure/ and 'A Market Girl/ At this 
period, also, he executed a number of water-colom* draw- 
ings of rustic figures with much grace and expression. 
His single figures of simple country girls and children are 
full of character, and are excellent in drawing, as well as 
effective in colouring. In 1840 he sent to the British 
Institution * The Gipsy's Toilet,' and to the Eoyal Aca- 
demy ' Hermon and Dorothea,' and ' The Eecruit.' These 
were compositions of great merit, but were timid in execu- 
tion, and weak in colour. In 1841 he exhibited a scrip- 
tural subject, * By the Waters of Babylon,' treated with 
considerable success ; the next year * A Mountain Rivulet * 
at the British Institution, and * Tired Pilgrims,' * A Market 
Girl,' and ' Margaret alone at the Spinning- Wheel,' at the 
Eoyal Academy. 

In 1843 appeared * Solomon Eagle's Exhortation to 
Eepentance during the great Plague of London.' This 
made a deep impression upon the public, and it was so 
original and effective, so terrible and truthftd, that it 
riveted attention, and brought the artist at once into 
favourable notoriety. He followed this success in the 
next year by ' The Moors beleaguered by the Spaniards 
in the city of Valentia,' a scene of the horrors of war 
most effectively painted. In 1846 he sent to the Academy 
'The Visitation and Surrender of Syon House to the 
Commissioners appointed by Thomas Cromwell, in the 
reign of Henry VIH.,' and in the same year was elected 
an Associate. In 1847 he gained the £300 premium for 
his picture of * Edward's generosity to the Burgesses of 
Calais,' in the Westminster Hall competition. The next 
year he sent to the Academy, * Arlete, a peasant Girl of 



Ch. XVm.] p. F. POOLE 313 

Falaise, first discovered by Duke Eobert of Normandy.' 
In 1849, * Blackberry Gatherers,' and three pictures in 
one frame, of subjects from " The Tempest." 

One of his best works was exhibited in 1850, ' The 
Messengers announcing to Job the Irruption of the Sa- 
baeans, and the Slaughter of his Servants.' It was an 
admirable composition, carefully studied in all its details, 
full of emotion, and effectively grouped and coloured. 
In 1851 he exhibited *The Goths in Italy;' in 1852 

* Marina singing to her Father, Pericles,' and * The May 
Queen preparing for the Dance.' In 1854 appeared 

* The Song of the Troubadours,' a moonlight scene, with a 
peculiar cast of yellow-green light upon the figures sitting 
on the rampart of a castle by the sea-side, listening to the 
minstrel's lay. The next year his subject was *Philo- 
mena's Song ' (from the " Decameron "), painted with the 
same effects of green and yeUow haze as the preceding. 
His works subsequently exhibited were 'The Conspira- 
tors,' in 1856 ; 'A Field Conventicle,' 1857 ; *The Last 
Scene in King Lear,' 1858 ; and * The Escape of Glaucus 
and lona,' 1860. He became a Eoyal Academician in 1861. 

All his early productions are of great excellence, true 
to nature, and carefully studied. These alone would have 
established his reputation, but in his later productions he 
has broken up untrodden ground in the subjects he has 
selected. His compositions show considerable imagina- 
tion, invention, poetic feeling, and technical skill, and 
display the real genius he possesses, although his taste has 
been sometimes called in question by the lurid tone of 
colouring introduced in his later pictures. He has great 
command of light and shade, is a rich colourist, clever 
in grouping, and correct in drawing, all his costumes and 
accessories being carefully studied and arranged. 

We have next to speak of the two Sculptors, elected 
since Sir Charles Eastlake became president. These are 
W. C. Marshall and J. H. Foley. 



314 IIISTOEY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVIIL 

William Calder Maeshall, E.A., was bom at Edin- 
burgh, in 1813, and after some preKminary instruction 
in the art of sculpture, he came to London, and was 
admitted as a student at the Eoyal Academy in 1834. 
Subsequently he studied under Chantrey and Baily succes- 
sively. He obtained the gold medal at the Academy in 
1841 for ' Venus rescuing jEneas from Diomed,' and con- 
sequently the travelling student's allowance, with which 
he proceeded to Rome, and remained there, pursuing the 
study of his art, for three years. On his return to 
London he commenced the earnest practice of his pro- 
fession, and has ever since been an annual contributor to 
the Academy exhibition. His works are chiefly of the 
poetic form, simple, refined, and graceful. In 1840 he 
exhibited ' The Creation of Adam,' * Una and the lion,' 

* Ophelia,' and * Cupid and Psyche ;' the next year, ' Puck ' 
and ' Atalanta and Hippomanes;' in 1842 *Eve and her 
First-born' and ' The Broken Pitcher ;' in 1843 ' David 
with the Head of Goliath ' and ' May Morning ;' in 1844 

* Little Eed Riding Hood,' ' Caractacus before Claudius,' 
and ' Christ blessing httle Children.' In this year he 
obtained the rank of Associate. 

Subsequently, in 1845, appeared ' Paul and Virginia ' 
and 'The First Whisper of Love;' in 1846 * Hero guid- 
ing Leander ' and * Sabrina,' from Milton, a work de- 
servedly popularised by an excellent Parian statuette 
executed from it; in 1847 'Eurydice' and *The First 
Step ;' in 1848 ' Cupid Captive,' * A young Satyr drink- 
ing,' and * A Dancing Girl reposing,' a statuette which 
gained the £500 prize from the Art Union of London ; 
in 1849 * The Grecian Maid,' * Zephyr and Aurora,' and 
specimens of portrait sculpture — statues of Thomas Camp- 
bell and William Cowper, the former in marble, afterwards 
erected in Westminster Abbey. In 1850 * A Nymph ' 
and 'A Mermaid on a Dolphin;' and in 1851 'Hebe 
rejected.' In 1852 he attained the full honours of a Eoyal 
Academician, and exhibited 'A Hindoo Girl;' in 1853 



Ch. XVm.] MARSHALL — FOLEY 815 

* Pandora ;' in 1854 * Godiva;' the next year ' A Mother's 
Prayer,' * Ariel' and *Ajax;' in 1856 'Imogen,' 'Her- 
mione and Helena,' and * Patience ; ' in 1857 ' The 
Bather;' the next year, 'Ruth' and 'Ophelia;' in 1859 
' FroUc ' and ' The Expulsion ;' and in 1860, ' Fresh from 
the Bath.' He also occasionally exhibits busts executed 
with great skill. 

For the Houses of Parliament he has produced statues 
of the poet ' Chaucer,' and the Chancellors ' Lord Claren- 
don ' and ' Lord Somers.' Also the colossal * Peel Statue,' 
for Manchester, with emblematical figures of Manchester, 
and the arts and sciences at the base of the pedestal ; the 
statue of Dr. Jenner, now in Kensington Gardens, and 
that of Captain Coram, erected over the entrance gates 
of the Foundling Hospital in 1856. For the Egyptian 
Hall of the Mansion House he has also modelled a beau- 
tiful figure of ' Griselda.' The originaUty of his concep- 
tions, his elegant taste, his power of rendering expression 
with truth and sweetness, and of modelling the human 
figure, arranging drapery, and working his materials, 
combine to render his productions beautiful in themselves 
and excellent as specimens of works of art. 

John Henby Foley, RA., was bom in Dublin, on 
24th May, 1818, and was led by his step-grandfather, a 
sculptor in that city, to follow the same profession. At 
the age of thirteen he began to draw and model at the 
School of the Eoyal DubHn Society, where he studied not 
only the human form, but animals, architecture, orna- 
mental designs, and landscapes, and gained the first prize 
in all these classes except the last. In 1834 he came to 
London, and in the next year entered the Eoyal Academy 
as a student of sculpture. In 1839 he exhibited *The 
Death of Abel ' and ' Innocence ;' the latter was after- 
wards executed in marble. The next year his work was 
of a very high order, being the model of a group full of 
true poetry and playful fency, representing 'Ino and 



310 inSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVHL 

Bacchus,' which was purchased by the late Earl of EUes- 
mere, and has since been repeated as a statuette. When 
considered as the work of a young man of twenty-two, 
who had never had the advantage of foreign study, it is 
a striking proof of early matured powers, and at once 
established the reputation of the young sculptor. In 
1841 appeared 'Lear and Cordelia' and 'The Death of 
Lear ;' in 1842, 'Venus rescuing iEneas ' and ' The House- 
less Wanderer,' a figure of a half-clad Irish girl ; and in 
1843, ' Prospero and Miranda.' 

In 1844 he entered the competition at Westminster 
Hall for the selection of sculptors to decorate the Houses 
of ParUament, and exhibited ' The Youth at the Stream;' 
he obtained in consequence, a commission to execute a 
statue of ' John Hampden,' which now stands in St. Ste- 
phen's Hall, and subsequently another of ' John Selden,' 
both expressive and dignified portraits of the great origi- 
nals. In 1845 he exhibited at the Academy * Contempla- 
tion,' and in 1848 ' Innocence.' The next year he was 
elected an Associate, and exhibited ' The Mourner ; ' in 
1850 ' The Mother.' In 1856 he received a commission 
from the civic authorities for a statue of 'Egeria,' for ' 
the Egyptian Hall at the Mansion House, and he has 
lately executed another work for the same building, a 
figure of 'Caractacus.' In 1858 he became a Eoyal 
Academician, and in 1860 exhibited his diploma work, 
' The Elder Brother,' from " Comus," and a bust of Lord 
Hardinge, executed by command of the Queen for the 
corridor of Windsor Castle. In 1861 he produced a statue 
of ' OHver Goldsmith,' to be erected in front of Trinity 
CoUege, Dublin, and a bas-rehef of the attack on Delhi, in 
memory of Brigadier-General Nicholson. He has received 
the commission for the statue of Sir C. Barry, RA., to 
be erected in the Houses of Parliament ; of Father Mathew, 
for Cork, and of Sir H. Marsh, the physician, for Dublin. 

His greatest work is the equestrian statue of Viscount 
Hardinge on his favourite charger, executed in bronze, 



Ch. XVin.] J. H. FOLEY 817 

and erected at Calcutta ; it elicited great admiration when 
exhibited in London, and many were the regrets that a 
copy of it was not secured for this country, both as a me- 
morial of a great commander, and as a specimen of the 
sculptor's genius. In these his portrait works, Foley ex- 
tends the character of the subject beyond the face to the 
costume and attitude of the figures, giving all the details 
in correct plastic style. The works we have mentioned 
above are only, with a few exceptions, the specimens of 
his imaginative productions ; his chief practice since he 
attained to fame as a sculptor has been in commissions 
for busts and monumental memorials. These he has pro- 
duced in large numbers, and many of them are of great 
beauty. Especially excellent are tiiose to the memory of 
* Admiral Comwallis,' and * Capt. Wheatley,* in Milford 
Church ; to ' The Hon. J. Stuart,' at Ceylon, the * Wel- 
lington Memorial,' and a bas-rehef erected in Guilsfield 
Church near Welshpool, representing *The three Daughters 
of the late J. Jones, Esq., of Crosswood, at the Tomb of 
their Father,' whose portrait is inserted as a medaUion on 
the sarcophagus. 

Extreme care and deep study, deUcate finish of all the 
details and accessories, a varied and distinctive expression, 
combined with refined feeUng and a strong appreciation 
of beauty of form, render the works of this sculptor 
worthy of all praise ; while it should not be forgotten 
that his art-education has been confined to this country. 
Although he has not made the sculptured treasures of 
Greece and Kome his study, he has amply compensated 
for the absence of these classic precedents by his own 
true artistic spirit ; and (when exercised on ideal subjects) 
by his fertile invention and expression of all the gentle 
graces and delicacies of the art. 

The Architects added to the number of Academicians, 
during the period at which we have now arrived, were 
Sydney Smirke, and George Gilbert Scott. 



318 mSTORY OF THE ROYAt ACADEMY [Ch. XVUI. 

Sydney Smirke, E.A., born in 1798, is a younger bro- 
ther of Sir Eobert Smirke, also an architect, and a*son of 
the genre painter, Eobert Smirke, RA. He became a 
student at the Eoyal Academy in 1817, and at the same 
time began the practice of his profession in his brother's 
office. In 1819 he gained the gold medal for his design 
of ' Pliny's Villa,' and in 1825-27 was the recipient of 
the allowance made to the Academy's travelling students, 
during which time he made a tour through Italy and the 
Continent, and thus improved his knowledge and taste as 
an architect. On his return he was appointed Clerk of the 
Works to the Government Board of Works, an office 
which he held from 1829 to 1831; subsequently he became 
Surveyor to the Hospitals of Bridewell and Bethlehem, 
to the Duchy of Lancaster, and to the Society of the 
Inner Temple. 

He first appeared before the public in conjunction 
with his brother, as the architect of the Oxford and 
Cambridge University Club, in 1835-37, in which his part 
is understood to have been the florid Corinthian front in 
Pall Mall. He had previously, in 1834, published " Sug- 
gestions for the Architectural Improvements of the West 
of London." He afterwards erected a church at Leicester, 
and made several alterations and additions to the build- 
ings at Bethlehem Hospital, and the House of Occupation 
at Lambeth. In 1842 he was employed in conducting 
the restoration of the Temple Church, of which he pub- 
lished an account, entitled " Architecture of the Temple 
Church," in 4to. By the Earl^of Derby he was selected 
as the architect of a church erected by his Lordship at 
Bickerstaffe in Lancashire. He then designed the Exeter 
Change, and the " Morning Post " newspaper office, in 
Wellington Street, Strand. His next work was the Con- 
servative Club in St. James's Street, erected on the site of 
the Thatched House Tavern in 1844-45, and undertaken 
in conjunction with Mr. Basevi, the architect of the Fitz- 
wiUiam Museum, Cambridge. In 1845 Sir Eobert Peel 



CH.XVm.] SYDNEY SMIRKE 319 

employed him to erect a new picture gallery at Drayton 
Manor ; and in 1847 he commenced the Carlton Club in 
Pall Mall, following in his design (although slightly 
altered), that by Sansovino of the Library of St. Mark at 
Venice. It forms one of the most elegant and ornamental 
of our London club houses ; at first, only half of the 
design was carried out, the other half, in the Grecian style, 
being the work of his brother, but in 1855 the whole 
was completed. The splendid Aberdeen granite pillars 
give the building from the exterior a rich and novel 
effect. 

Subsequently he designed Paper Buildings in the 
Temple, in the Tudor style, as an extension of the works 
undertaken by his brother in the Grecian, with which, 
however, they do not harmonize successfully. Among 
other works in which he has been engaged, are the erection 
of Parkhurst reformatory ; the custom houses at Bristol, 
Newcastle, and Shoreham ; the restoration of York Min- 
ster after the second fire, and of the nave and transepts 
of Lichfield Cathedral ; the erection of the Athenaeum 
and Assembly Eooms at Bury ; the rebuilding of Luton 
Hoo; and additions to Gunnersbury Park, Clumber, 
and Oakley Park, Suffolk. Li 1846 he succeeded his 
brother as architect to the British Museum, and has ever 
since been frequently employed in carrying out modifica- 
tions and alterations of the original design for that build- 
ing. The New Eeading Eoom in the inner quadrangle is 
erected from his design, at the suggestion of the librarian, 
Mr. Panizzi ; the dome, 140 feet in diameter, was erected 
between January 1855 and the following September. 
The building is principally of iron, the internal arrange- 
ments having been planned by Mr. Panizzi. The whole 
work is a complete success, and has given general satis- 
faction ; it is worthy of the artistic skill and abilities both 
of the architect and the librarian. 

Mr. Smirke was elected an Associate at the Eoyal 
Academy in 1847, and created E.A. in 1859. In 1860 



320 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVHI. 

he was appointed Professor of Architecture in succession 
to Mr. Cockerell. As an architect he justly holds a high 
rank, displaying in all his designs great simpUcity and 
good taste. 

George Gilbert Scott, E.A., was bom in 1811, at 
Gawcott, near Buckingham, of which place his father was 
the incumbent, as also his grandfather, the author of the 
well-known " Conunentary on the Bible," and other theo- 
logical works. Very early in his boyhood he took an 
interest in the ancient churches of the neighbourhood, 
and made many sketches and studies from them. In 
1827 he was placed with an architect in London, and 
earnestly devoted himself to the study of Gothic archi- 
tecture, of which style he is now recognised as one of the 
most distinguished English practitioners. In 1835 he 
entered into partnership with a fellow-pupil, Mr. W. B. 
Moffatt, and obtained a large measure of pubhc patronage 
by the taste and elegance of his designs. At first, lunatic 
asylimis, poor-law unions, and such Uke buildings, chiefly 
in the Elizabethan style, were the principal works exe- 
cuted by him and his partner. In 1841, however, they 
constructed ' The Martyrs' Memorial ' at Oxford, so ele- 
gant in design, and so admirable in the execution of. all 
its details, as to be pronounced superior to any modem 
work of the kind. The next undertaking was the new 
Gothic parish church of St. Giles, Camberwell, in 1843-44. 
The Infant Orphan Asylum and other buildings followed. 

Mr. Scott dissolved partnership with Mr. Moffatt in 
1845, and the next year, after a severe competition, he 
was selected to erect the church of St. Nicholas at Ham- 
burg, in place of that destroyed in the great fire there, 
his design for which has gained golden opinions for 
Enghsh architects in Germany. It is the largest church 
and finest Gothic sacred edifice of modem times, higher 
internally than any English cathedrals except York and 
Westminster, and will cost, when completed, 150,000Z. 



ch. xvm.] a. G. SCOTT 321 

This work will be rivalled by the Hotel de Ville in 
the same city, for which, in 1855, Mr. Scott obtained 
the first prize in the European competition, which was 
opened before an architect was selected. The erection of 
the building has been delayed for want of the necessary 
fiinds, but when completed it will present a splendid 
appearance. 

After the death of Mr. Basevi, Mr. Scott was appointed 
architect for the restoration of Ely Cathedral, where the 
elaborate stone reredos, finished with mosaic and other 
figures, and the open screen of wood, designed by him, have 
been greatly admired. He is now also engaged on the 
restoration of Hereford Cathedral In 1847 he designed 
the Cathedral of St. John, Newfoundland, and in 1848 
the College at Brighton. Among a large number of 
churches erected by him may be mentioned St. John's, 
Holbeck, Leeds ; West Derby, Liverpool ; Croydon ; 
Holy Trinity, Eugby ; St. Ancirew's, Ashley Place ; and 
others at Harrogate, Trefhant, Haley Hill, &c. ; the re- 
building of St. George's, Doncaster ; and the restoration of 
Newark Church, St. Mary*s, Stafibrd, &c. Mr. Scott has 
nearly completed the works at Exeter College, Oxford, 
consisting of the new chapel, hbrary, rector's residence, 
&c. He has also designed mansions for Mr. Forman at 
Eipbrook House, Dorking; for Sir Charles Mordaunt, 
Walton House, Warwick ; and for S. H. Manners-Sutton, 
Esq., Kelham Hall, near Newark 

Li 1849 he was appointed architect to the Dean and 
Chapter of Westminster in succession to Mr. Blore, and 
in that capacity designed the new Abbey gateway and 
the buildings on the west of the Abbey, in which he has 
applied the Gothic style to domestic purposes. He has 
also made various restorations in the Abbey itself, and in 
1850 exhibited at the Eoyal Academy a design for the 
restoration of the Chapter House, executed firom very 
careful examination and measurement. In 1857 he was 
awarded the gold medal by the Eoyal Institute of British 

VOL. II. Y 



322 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XVm. 

Architects, and obtained the third premium of £300 in 
the public competition for designs for the new Foreign 
Office. Subsequently the late Government (under the 
Earl of Derby) selected him as the architect for the 
building, and his design was a most masterly and appro- 
priate one, adapting the Gothic style to the requirements 
and purposes of the edifice, as to hght, accommodation, 
&c. The present Government (under Viscount Palmer- 
ston) have, however, decided in the last Session that the 
building shall be erected in the classic style, and that Mr. 
Scott shall still be retained for its architect. He has also 
been appointed, jointly with Mr. Digby Wyatt, as archi- 
tect of the new Lidia Office. 

In 1851-52 Mr. Scott devoted much time and labour to 
the formation of the Architectural Museum for the benefit 
of art-workmen, now at the South Kensington Museum. 
In 1855 he was elected an Associate at the Eoyal Aca- 
demy, and after the retirement of Professor Cockerell, 
he gave lectures on architecture to the students jointly 
with Mr. Sydney Smirke, imtil the latter succeeded to 
the Professorship. In 1860 he became a Eoyal Acade- 
mician, being elected to fill the vacancy caused by the 
death of Sir Charles Barry. Besides his active and im- 
portant professional works, he is also the author of several 
treatises on his art, as "A Plea for the faithful Eesto- 
tion of our Ancient Cathedrals," 1850; "Additional 
Churches," 1854 ; and " Some Eemarks on Gothic Archi- 
tecture, Secular and Domestic, Present and Future," 1857. 

The first two Engravers who have attained the rank of 
K.A. since the foundation of the Institution, under the 
recent modification in the constitution of the Academy, 
are Samuel Cousins and George Thomas Doo. 

Samuel Cousins, E.A., was bom at Exeter on the 9th 
May, 1801, and at an early age made. pencil drawings 
from any engravings he could obtain. For two of these 



Ch. XVIII.] SAMUEL COUSINS 323 

the Society of Arts awarded him, in 1813-14, two silver 
medals and a silver palette. In September 1814 he came 
to London to be articled for seven years as a pupil to 
S. W. Eeynolds, the mezzotinto engraver, and after com- 
pleting his time, he remained four years with him as an 
assistant. He was elected an Associate-Engraver as long 
ago as 1835, transferred to the new class of Associate- 
Engravers in 1854, and was the first to receive, in 1855, 
the rank of Academician-Engraver, in the new class of 
members, so called, then formed. In 1825 a picture by 
Lawrence was given to him to engrave for Sir Thomas 
Acland — 'Lady Acland and her Children.' Sir T. Law- 
rence was so much pleased with this his first work, that 
he intrusted to him his fine picture of ' Master Lambton,' 
and subsequently requested that he would devote aU his 
time to engraving from his works. He thus established 
his reputation as one of the most admired of mezzotinto 
engravers, and his talent is of the highest order in the 
branch of the art to which he has devoted himself 
Among his principal works are copies from the portraits 
by Sir Thomas Lawrence, of the Duke of Wellington, 
Prince Mettemich, Pope Pius Vii., Lady Dover and 
Child, Sir Eobert Peel, the Countess Gower and Child, &c. 
From the works of Landseer he has executed engravings 
of ' Bolton Abbey in the Olden Time,* ' The Eetum from 
Hawking,' 'Saved,' 'Midsummer Night's Dream,' 'Befresh- 
ment,' ' Lady Evelyn Gower and the Marquis of Stafford,' 
* The Abercom Children,' ' The Queen,' ' Miss Peel,' &c. ; 
after Eastlake, * Christ Weeping over Jerusalem ; ' after 
Wilkie, ' The Defence of Saragossa ; ' Sant's ' Infant 
Samuel,' Millais's ' Order of Eelease ; ' ' The Mitherless 
Bairn,' after Faed ; the pictures, by Winterhalter, of the 
Queen, the Prince Consort, the Eoyal Family, the Princess 
Frederick William of Prussia, and the Emperor and 
Empress of the French ; besides a large number of 
portraits after BoxaU and others. At the present time he 
is engaged in engraving * Marie Antoinette in the Temple,' 

T 2 



824 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. X\^n. 

in mezzotint, which promises to be one of the finest plates 
he has yet produced. 

George Thomas Doo, RA., was bom on the 6th of 
January, 1800, at Christ Church, Surrey, and has long 
been famous in his profession as one of the most accom- 
phshed hne engravers which the present century has pro- 
duced. In this style years of patient labour are consumed 
upon one large plate, and but few can follow it with hopes 
of attaining eminence. Many of his works are among 
the best specimens of the art ; while they are true to 
the originals from which he copied, there is a display 
of refined and artistic feeUng in them peculiarly his own. 
His tones and tints are harmonious, his handUng firm, 
and his Hues masterly and spirited. The works by which 
he is best known are his large plates after Sir C. Eastlake's 
' Pilgrims coming in sight of Eome ;' Wilkie's ' Knox 
preaching before the Lords of the Covenant;* Etty's 
* Mercy appealing for the Vanquished ; ' and his small 
plates of 'Portia and Bassanio,' and 'Sterne and the 
Grisette,' after Newton; 'LordEldon' after Lawrence; 
his female and children's heads, as 'Nature,' ' Miss Murray,' 
&c., after Lawrence; and some choice renderings fix)m 
Kaffaelle's ' Messiah ' and ' Lifant Christ,' Correggio's 'Ecce 
Homo,' Vandyke's ' Gevartius,' and other works of the 
ancient masters. 

For some years past Mr. Doo has resided at Stanmore, 
where he bears as high a character in private hfe as he 
obtained in the profession which he formerly pursued with 
so much abihty, but which he has latterly in some degree 
abandoned for painting in oil — a large number of portraits 
of eminent naturahsts and others having been exhibited by 
him at the Academy since the year 1853. Happily, how- 
ever, he has not altogether rehnquished the graver, for 
he has recently completed another Une engraving on a 
large scale — an admirable specimen of a style which has 
almost fallen into disuse amongst us — the subject being 



Ch. XVIII.] a. T. DOO 326 

' The Eesurrection of Lazarus,' after Sebastian del Piombo, 
in the National Gallery. This work is issued under the 
auspices of several gentlemen, who have associated to- 
gether for the purpose of encouraging the art of historical 
line engraving in England — a style which, in this work, 
is considered to have reached the highest degree of 
excellence yet attained in this country. 

Mr. Doo was elected an Associate Engraver in 1856, 
and an Academician-Engraver in 1857. He also holds 
the honorary appointment of Historical Engraver to the 
Queen. He is a Fellow of the Eoyal Society, an honorary 
member of the Society of Arts at Amsterdam, and of the 
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and a corre- 
sponding member of the Academy of the Fine Arts at 
Parma. 



320 



CHAPTEK XIX. 

ASSOCIATES, WHO HAVE NOT SINCE BECOME ACADEMICIANS, 
ELECTED DURING THE PRESIDENTSHIP OP SIR CHARLES L. 
EASTLAKE. 

Painters: W. Boxall, E. W. Cooke, F. Stone, F. Goodall, J. E. 
MiLLAis, J. C. HoKSLET, G. RicHMOiTD, J. F. Lewis, HL N. O'Neil, 
W. C. T. DoBSON, R. Ansdell, T. Faed, James Sant. 

Sculptors : Henry Weekes and Baron Marochetti. 

ArcJUtect : E. M. Barry. 

Engravers : L. Stocks and J. H. Kobinson. 

ALAEGE addition to the associated members of the 
Eoyal Academy has been made since Sir Charles 
Eastlake became its President. Thirteen painters, two 
sculptors, one architect, and two associate-engravers have 
been added to the roll of artists, thus on the way to attain 
the highest dignity of the profession — the worthy living 
representatives of the English school of art in its growing 
excellence and increasing power. 

The Painters elected in this period were Wm. Boxall, 
K W. Cooke, and F. Stone in 1851 ; F. Goodall in 1852 ; 
J. E. Millais in 1853 ; J. C. Horsley in 1855 ; G. Eichmond 
in 1857 ; J. F. Lewis in 1859 ; H. K O'Neil and W. C. T. 
Dobson in 1860 ; and E. Ansdell, Thos. Faed, and James 
Sant in 1861. The Sculptors are Henry Weekes, elected 
in 1851, imd Baron Marochetti in 1861 ; E. M. Barry, 
the Architect, was elected in 1861 ; aild L. Stocks and 
J. H. Eobinson were chosen Associate-Engravers of the 
new class in 1855 and 1856 respectively. 

WiLLLVM BoxALL, A.E.A., was born in 1801, and 



Ch. XIX.] BOXALL— COOKE 327 

became a student at the Eoyal Academy in 1819. 
Several years ago he painted some few allegorical works, 
of which the best was a beautiful picture of 'Hope;' 
another was * Geraldine ; ' in both of which the drawing 
and painting were very skilful, and the heads carefully 
studied. Subsequently he painted several portraits of 
our modem poets, artists, and literary men — ^Wordsworth, 
Landor, Allan Cunningham, and others, and a very good 
one of John Gibson, the sculptor. He has continued to 
receive extensive and varied patronage, if we may judge 
by the large number of portraits of all ranks and classes of 
society which he has exhibited year by year at the 
Academy. Among these, in 1859, was one of the late 
Prince Consort, painted for the brethren of the Trinity 
House, His Eoyal Highness being represented wearing the 
robes of the Master of the Corporation. 

The colour and texture of Mr. Boxall's paintings are 
good ; he deals with his subjects in a simple and un- 
affected style, giving to his figures easy and graceful 
attitudes, to his portraits of ladies a charming expression, 
and to those of gentlemen much force and character. 
He thus shows himseK in all respects a skilful portrait 
painter. 

He was elected an Associate in 1851. 

Edwaed William Cooke, AII.A., was bom in London 
in 1811, and is the son of an eminent engraver. His 
first artistic occupation was to draw the plants illustrating 
the " Botanical Cabinet " and " Loudon's Encyclopsedia." 
Afterwards he etched and published a .large series of 
views of shipping and craft, the river scenery of the 
Thames, and similar subjects, which, fi:om their truth and 
accuracy, were deservedly popular. In 1832 he com- 
menced painting in oil, and has since at various times 
visited France, Germany, and Italy, in the search after 
subjects upon which to exercise his skill. The pic- 
turesque scenery of the Mediterranean, the Gulf of 



328 HISTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIX. 

Salerno, Dutch yachting on the Zuyder Zee, Amsterdam, 
ScheveUng, the Gulf of Genoa, Venice, Marseilles, and 
Calais, besides our own coast, Cornwall, the Goodwins, 
Weymouth, Bonchurch, &c., have in turn supplied 
material for his pictures. Two of his works are in the 
Vernon Gallery — 'the Boat-house,' a coast sketch, and 
' Dutch Boats in a Calm,' exhibited at the British Institu- 
tion in 1844. Eleven others are in the Sheepshanks' Col- 
lection, several of which were exhibited at the same place 
in 1832-38; 'Brighton Sands,' 'Portsmouth Harbour,' 
' The Hulks,' ' The Victory,' ' Mont St. Michael,' ' Hastings,' 
' Lobster-pots,' 'Mackerel,' * Carp,' and * Mending the Bait 
Nets ;' in another style, 'The Antiquary's Cell,' 'Windmills,' 
and ' Blackheath ; ' besides drawings and studies of these 
and other pictures. His sketches are fuU of spirit, and 
evince great dexterity of pencil ; in his varied scenes he 
combines, with great facility, views of the shore with the 
sea and its busy craft, and paints the various pic- 
turesque buildings which he introduces into his pictures 
with nicety of detail, especially in his Venetian views. 
His boats are carefully and correctly drawn, and the sea 
fresh and crisp ; and with these powers of representing 
and combining various objects, his pictures are always 
pleasing and attractive. In 1860 he exhibited a striking 
picture of H.M.S. "Terror," abandoned in the Arctic 
regions. He was elected an Associate in 1851. 

Frank Stone, A.RA., was born at Manchester on the 
26th August, 1800, and was the son of a cotton spinner. 
He was educatejl first in his native place, and afterwards 
at Prestbury in Cheshire ; he subsequently entered his 
father's factory, and continued to be engaged in busi- 
ness pursuits till his twenty-fourth year. He then turned 
his attention to art as a profession, although he had not 
up to that time received a lesson in drawing in any 
school, and knew nothing of painting. After long and 
patient study he came to London in 1831, and was in the 



Cn. XIX.] FRANK STONE 829 

next year elected a member of the Old Water-Colour 
Society, having chosen that branch of art for his early 
eflforts. He did not resign his connection with that society 
till 1847, when he had determined to follow the practice 
of oil painting. His earlier works in the former medium 
consisted of scenes from Shakspeare, and quiet graceful 
studies of a domestic character, as ' The Evening Walk,' 
' The Stolen Sketch,' &c. 

He began to exhibit at the Eoyal Academy in 1837, 
when he contributed two portraits, one of them being 
that of Lady Seymour ; in 1838 ' A Study ; ' in 1839 three 
portraits ; and in 1840 his first subject piece in oils, from 
" The Legend of Montrose." In the same year he exhibited 
at the British Institution 'Louise.' In 1841 he sent to 
the Academy ' The Interview between Charles I. and the 
Infanta of Spain,' which was selected by an Art Union 
prize-holder for £200, and * The Heart's Misgivings,' exhi- 
bited at the British Institution, where it obtained the award 
of a premium. In 1842 he sent to the same place ' The 
Bashftd Lover and the Maiden Coy,' and to the Academy 
'Admonition,' where, in 1843, appeared 'The Last Ap- 
peal,' and at the British Institution ' Helena ' and ' Nour- 
mahal.' Li 1844 ' The Course of True Love never did 
run Smooth,' and in 1845 ' The First Appeal,' were ex- 
hibited in continuation of the series of sentimental, gallant, 
and love-making scenes, by which he sought and gained 
a large degree of popularity from the attractiveness of 
the subjects, and by his manner of telhng the story. 
'The Impending Mate' and 'Mated' (1847), 'Cross 
Purposes,' ' The Duet,' and many others exhibited at the 
Academy and the British Institution, are well known by 
the engravings from them, and are of the same class. 

That he was able to take a far higher range than these 
pictures displayed is evident from some few works with 
which they were intermingled. ' Ophelia ' singing before 
the Queen as the King enters, exhibited in 1845 ; 'Miranda 
and Ferdinand ' and ' The Gardener's Daughter ' (1850) ; 



330 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ca XIX. 

scenes from the " Merchant of Venice " (Bassanio receiving 
the letter), 1851, and from "Cymbeline " in 1852, are of 
far greater artistic excellence. He also painted two 
scriptural pictures of great beauty, 'The Sisters of 
Bethany' (1848), and 'The Master is come' (1853); the 
latter especially a work of great power and deep feel- 
ing. In 1851 he was elected an Associate of the Eoyal 
Academy. In 1852 he exhibited there 'A Portrait of 
Dr. Hooker in the Himalaya,' and in 1853 'A Group of 
Girls engaged in a Plot.' • In 1854 he went to Boulogne, 
and there gathered materials for new subjects for his 
pencil, or at least treated the old one in a new way — 
Boulogne fish-wives, peasant girls, and boatmen taking 
the place of the ladies and gentlemen in his love scenes. 
In 1854 appeared 'The Old Story' and 'The Mussel 
Gatherers;' in 1856 'Doubts;' in 1857 'Faust and 
Marguerite,' ' Bonjour, Messieurs' (a group of French 
peasants in a cart); in 1858 'The Missing Boat;' in 
1859 'Friendship endangered,' 'The First Voyage,' 'A 
Little Too Late; ' and in 1860 a posthumous work was 
exhibited, ' The Merry and Sad Heart,' two French pea- 
sant women at work — the career of the talented painter 
of the picture having been suddenly terminated by an 
attack of disease of the heart on the 18th November, 
1859. 

He was a man of no ordinary endowments, which, if 
they had been trained in the higher provinces of art, 
would have raised him to the first rank in his profession. 
In his early works there was perhaps too much of senti- 
mentalism, an over-refinement of style, and a sameness in 
form and feature, beautiful though they undoubtedly were. 
As he proceeded, his touch, execution, and expansion of 
view led him to improve the class of subjects he chose, 
and his latest works were no less admirable as mental 
studies than for their technical qualities. He has left a 
son Marcus Stone, who is also pursuing the same profes- 
sion as his father. 



Ch. XIX.] FREDERICK GOODALL 331 

Frederick Goodall, A,E.A., was bom in London on 
17th September, 1822, and is the son of Mr. Edward 
Goodall, the eminent engraver, and one of a family of 
artists, his brothers and sisters being also professionally em- 
ployed. At the age of fourteen he gained the "Isis" medal 
of the Society of Arts for drawings of * Lambeth Palace ' 
he made for Mr. SoUy. He first studied engraving under 
his father, and never received any instruction except from 
him, for he was also a painter. He abandoned the graver, 
and intended to become a landscape painter, but his father 
kept him during the winter months drawing from casts, 
and studying the anatomy of the human figure. At the 
age of fifteen he began to paint in oil, and gained the 
large silver medal of the Society of Arts for a painting of 
' Finding the Dead Body of a Miner' — a subject probably 
suggested by the event depicted having occurred at the 
Thames Tunnel, where he had been employed by Sir B. 
Hawes to make a series of drawings of its working state. 
At the suggestion of Brunei (whose acquaintance he made 
while visiting the Thames Tunnel with his friend Mr. 
Page, the acting engineer of the works there), he pro- 
ceeded in 1838 to Normandy, and there filled his port- 
foho with sketches. In 1839 he painted from one of 
these and exhibited at the Academy — ^'The Card-players.' 
From this source, and the fruits of several visits to Brit- 
tany, he derived materials for many of his subsequent pic- 
tures— * The Tired Soldier,' 'The Soldier Defeated,' 

* Entering Church,' ' Leaving Church,' ' The Old Guard,' 
' Going to Vespers,' * Eustic Music,' &c. Many of these 
were purchased by distinguished patrons of art. 

A subsequent tour through Ireland produced a varia- 
tion in his subjects ; as for instance ' The Irish Piper,' ' The 
Fairy-struck Girl,' 'The Departure of the Emigrants,' 
' Connemara Market-girls,' &c. A very important work, 

* The Village Festival,' appeared in 1847, and has since 
been followed by many others, which have sustained 
the high opinion then formed of the artist's powers. 



332 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL AC^VDEMY [Ch. XIX 

' Hunt the Slipper' (1849) ; ' The Post Office,' ' The Wood- 
man's Home' (1850) ; *L'Allegro,' ' The Gipsy Encamp- 
ment,' 'The Angel's Whisper,' 'The Soldier's Dream,' 
' Eaising the Maypole ' (1851), engraved by C. W. Sharpe 
(1861) for the Art Union of London ; 'The Last Load' 
(1852) ; ' The Happy Days of Charles L and his Family ' 
(1853) ; ' The Swing ' (1854) ; ' The Arrest of a Boyalist 
Family in Brittany, 1793' (1855); ' Cranmer at the 
Traitor's Gate ' (1856) ; ' The Wedding Dance, Brittany ' 
(1857); 'Fehce Ballarin reciting Tasso to the People' 
(1859); 'Early Morning in the Wilderness of Shur' 
(I860); 'The First-bom,' and the 'School of Sultan 
Hassan, Cairo ' (1861), are among the principal works 
since exhibited. 

He was elected an Associate of the Eoyal Academy in 
1852. In the Vernon Gallery, besides one of his early 
works (' The Tired Soldier') there is ' The Village Holiday 
of the Olden Time ' — a picture of that class which he 
treats with great success, and one upon which he must 
have bestowed much study and labour, so well are aU the 
figures arranged and painted, so brilliant is the colour- 
ing, and so harmonious is the general effect of the group- 
ing of the whole. All his pictures are popular ; for he 
depicts the sunshine of life in its happy moments, the 
kindliness of the human heart, and the joyous scenes of 
social mirth, always with a graceful hand and with correct 
expression, and not without mingled sober thoughts and 
impressive suggestions. His works are picturesque in 
composition, charmingly natural, and rich in colour. He 
paints with solidity and with great care, and finishes with 
the utmost nicety. Hence he deservedly holds a high 
place among the younger members of the profession. 

John Everett Millais, A.E.A., was bom at Southamp- 
ton in 1828. Before he could read he showed a talent 
for drawing, and his parents, observing this, determined 
that he should become an artist. At nine years of age he 



Ch. XrX.] J. E. MILLAIS 833 

was sent to Mr. Sass's drawing academy in Bloomsbury 
and in 1840 he became a student at the Eoyal Academy. 
After passing through all the schools with great success, 
gaining the silver medals in each, he obtained in 1847 the 
gold medal for his historical painting of 'The Tribe of 
Benjamin seizing the Daughters of Shiloh,' which was 
exhibited at the British Institution the following year. 
In 1846 he exhibited at the Academy 'Pizarro seizing 
the Lica of Peru ;' in 1847 ' The Emissaries of Dunstan 
seizing Queen Elgiva;' and he also contributed a very 
large jpicture of ' The Widow's Mite ' to the Westminster 
Hall competition. A year or two afterwards, he, William 
Holman Hunt, D. Eosetti, M. Brown, and other young 
artists, who had been fellow-students at the Eoyal 
Academy, united together as " The Brotherhood of the 
Pre-EafiaeUtes," in the same manner as some artists of 
Germany had done several years before, to avoid the 
errors of the later masters of art, and to return to the 
purer models which those of an earUer date had given. 
In a small magazine of the day, entitled " The Germ," the 
new art school was explained, and the organisation of its 
members arranged. They professed not so much to 
desire to imitate the technical manner as the principles 
of Giotto, Angehco, and other masters of that period, and 
thus to attain more simpUcity and truth, even at the risk 
of occasional meanness and ugliness. 

In 1849 the new style was displayed by Millais in 
his picture of * IsabeUe,' and by Mr. Hunt in * Eienzi.' 
The next year the former exhibited ' Ferdinand lured by 
Ariel,' and ' The Child Jesus in the Workshop of Joseph 
the Carpenter.' The latter was a specimen of the religious 
symboUsm which was one of the principles of the school. 
While it astonished mediaeval archaeologists, however, it 
won little commendation from art-critics ; for, although it 
was beautiful in some of its details, it was fantastic and 
repulsive as a whole. The same symbohsm was illus- 
trated in the following year in ' The Eetum of the Dove 



334 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIX. 

to the Ark,' a thoughtful but eccentric representation. 
Since that time Mr. MiUais seems to have abandoned this 
portion of the theory of the new school. Other works of 
the same year were ' The Woodman's Daughter/ and 
Tennyson's ' Mariana.' The colouring of these works was 
crudely bright, but hard, and all the details minutely 
studied. In 1852 appeared ' The Huguenot,' a finely 
conceived work, which has been well engraved, and the 
colouring of which was a marvel of industry and skill. 
Another work of this year was ' Ophelia,' also remarkable 
for the same qualities when examined, but displeasing in 
its general efiect. It was in this year that Mr. Euskin 
appeared before the pubhc in defence of the new school 
of artists, the beauties of their style having ever since been 
held up to admiration by him. 

In 1853 appeared ' The Proscribed Royahst,' and * The 
Order of Eelease,' both engraved — the latter a picture 
full of pathos, and evidently the result of long and careful 
study. In this year Millais was elected an Associate of 
the Royal Academy. In 1855 appeared ' The Rescue,' a 
fireman saving some children from a burning house — a 
fine display of colour, but nothing more. In 1856 ' The 
Blind Girl,' * Peace concluded,' * L'Enfant du Regiment,' 
and ' Autumn Leaves' — the last-named his best picture 
of that year, being full of poetic feehng. In 1857 
he exhibited ' The Escape of a Heretic, 1559,' ' News 
fi-om Home,' and * Sir Isumbras at the Ford ' — a strange 
picture, having Uttle to attract attention in it except its 
faults. In 1859 appeared ' The Vale of Rest,' in which 
nuns were represented digging a grave for one of their 
fi-atemity, * Spring,' and ' The Love of James I. of Scot- 
land.' In 1860 he exhibited' The Black Brunswicker,' 
in which two most carefully finished figures were intro- 
duced with most expressive features, and with less of 
the hardness of outline by which his pictures are 
distinguished. 

Yet there are many things to make the works of this 



CH.XIX. MILLAIS— HORSLEY 335 

artist the especial objects of notice in the exhibitions. 
His extremely emphatic rendering of details, especially in 
the foreground — the absence of atmospheric influence — 
and a display of manipulation which, if not pleasing, is at 
least marvellous — all attract attention. The poetic con- 
ceptions of his pictures, the meanings and suggestions 
with which each object introduced abounds, prove that 
his genius is of no common order ; while he is so con- 
scious of his power, and so enthusiastic in his art, that 
nothing would deter him from making trial of yet un- 
trodden paths by which he might hope to attain to his 
own ideal of excellence. His later works are less exag- 
gerated in style than his earlier ones, and he seems also 
to have changed his style of subjects, so that he may 
eventually retain only so much of the method of the 
antique models he has chosen as to insure that carefiil 
elaboration of details for which he is so famous, com- 
bined with that grace, purity, and softness which are 
wanting in the representation, though not in the concep- 
tion, of his works. 

John Callcott Hobslet, A.E.A., was bom at Brompton 
on the 29th January, 1817, and is a member of a family 
distinguished for its talents. He is grand-nephew of Sir 
A. W. Callcott, E.A., the landscape painter ; and his 
grandfather Dr. Callcott, his father William Horsley, and 
his brother C. G. Horsley are all eminent as musicians. 
He was trained to art from his childhood, having at 
eight or nine years of age made some very creditable 
sketches, which are still preserved in his family. He was 
sent first to Mr. Sass*s drawing academy, and became a 
student at the Eoyal Academy in 1831. While quite a 
youth, he was a contributor to the exhibition, occasion- 
ally painting portraits and historical designs. A visit to 
some friends at Derby in his sixteenth year led to his 
taking a number of sketches of Haddon Hall and other 
old mansions in that interesting county, and on his 



y 



336 inSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIX. 

return to London he painted and exhibited at the British 
Institution 'Eent Day at Haddon Hall in the Time of 
Queen Elizabeth,' which was purchased by Mr. Samuel 
Cartwright, the dentist. ' Winning the Game/ his next 
picture, was also a scene at Haddon. This was followed 
by ' Love's Messenger,' ' The Grandmother,' * The Con- 
trast,' 'Waiting for an Answer,' and 'The Eival Per- 
formers ; ' the three last-named purchased by Mr. Sheep- 
shanks from the British Institution, and now the property 
of the nation. In all these early pictures the conception 
was good and well executed, the arrangement picturesque, 
the colour rich, the expression natural, and the effect of 
light and shade weU studied. 

The works by him which first attracted general atten- 
tion were 'The Pride of the Village,' exhibited at the 
Eoyal Academy in 1839, and now in the Vernon Collec- 
tion, and ' Leaving the Ball,' exhibited in 1840 ; both 
painted in the sentimental style then in vogue, which he 
continued to pursue for a few years. Subsequently he 
ceased for a time to exhibit at the Eoyal Academy, being 
engaged during two years as one of the head masters of 
the School of Design at Somerset House, in succession to 
Mr. Herbert. He returned to the practice of his art 
when the Westminster Hall competition was opened, 
contributing a cartoon of ' St. Augustine Preaching,' a 
very effective composition, to which the second-class 
prize of £200 was awarded. In the subsequent fi-esco 
exhibition he contributed two single figures aUegorically 
personifying ' Peace ' and ' Prayer,' and received a com- 
mission to paint in that style for the Houses of Parlia- 
ment. For the House of Lords he executed ' The Spirit 
of Eehgion,' in one of the three archways at the back of 
the Strangers' Gallery. Afterwards he entered the oil 
painting competition, with a picture of ' Henry V. when 
Prince of Wales at his father's dying bed trying on the 
Crown,' to which also a £200 prize was awarded ; and 
he received another commission to paint in the Poets' 



Ch. XEL] J. C. HORSLEY 337 

Hall in the Palace of Westminster ' Satan touched by 
Ithuriel's Spear.' 

About this time a gentleman employed him to decorate 
a parish church in Devonshire with frescoes from sacred 
history ; but afiter he had spent much time in designs and 
preparations his patron became a convert to the Eomish 
faith, and the work was abandoned. Subsequently he 
painted two pictures in this style for Sir S. M. Peto, 
illustrating the life of Alfred the Great. After his ap- 
pearance in the Westminster Hall competition, he painted 
and exhibited at the Eoyal Academy a variety of cabinet 
pictures. In 1846 ' Eomeo and Juliet ;' in 1847 a por- 
trait of the late Earl of Shaftesbury ; in 1848 two portraits 
(one of his brother-in-law, Mr. L K. Brunei, the engineer), 
and the sketch for ' L' Allegro and II Penseroso,* which 
was his original idea for the fresco in the Poets' Hall, 
until the subject was changed by the Eoyal Commissioners. 
In 1849 ' MalvoHo i' the Sun ; ' in 1850 ' HospitaUty ;' in 
1851 *L' Allegro and H Penseroso,' painted for the Prince 
Consort, and ' Youth and Age ; ' and at the British 
Institution a picture of ' Lance reproving his Dog,' left un- 
finished by Sir A. W. Callcott, but completed by him ; 
in 1852 * Master Slender' and 'The Madrigal;' in 
1853 'Lady Jane Grey and Eoger Ascham ; ' in 1854 
' The Pet of the Common ' and ' Attraction ; ' in 1855 
'A Scene from "Don Quixote"' and a portrait of 
'Archdeacon Sinclair,' painted for the Vestry Hall at 
Kensington. 

In the same year he attained the rank of Associate of 
the Eoyal Academy ; in the following one he exhibited 
' The Administration of the Lord's Supper ' and four 
others; in 1857 'Hide and Seek,' 'The World Forget- 
ting,' and others, including several portraits ; in 1858 
'The Noon-day Sleep' and 'Flower-girls;' in 1859 
' Milton dictating " Samson Agonistes " ' and ' Blossom- 
time ;' in 1860 ' The Duenna's Ketum,' ' Showing a Pre- 
ference,' and ' Sunny Moments ; ' and in 1861 ' Lost and 

VOL. II. z 



338 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIX. 

Found,' a modem adaptation, well carried out, of the 
parable of the Prodigal Son. In all these works there 
are proofs of truthful drawing, care, and study, signs of 
high feeling and skilful execution, and a taste for vivid 
colouring. These he applies generally to his popular 
subjects ; but whenever exercised upon works of a 
higher historical character, he shows his power to cope 
with the difficulties of them ; and when he ascends to 
sacred themes he displays alike his purity of mind and 
his facihty in expressing refined and elevated thoughts. 

George Eichmond, A.E.A., was bom in 1809, and be- 
came a student at the Academy in 1824. He commenced 
his career as a water-colour painter, drawing portraits, and 
these chiefly of ladies, in a hght and sketchy style pecu- 
liarly his own, in which he has never been surpassed. 
Sometimes they were of large size, the figures drawn 
with roundness and substance, with a broad hatch, the 
expression extremely agreeable, and the background 
filled in with open sketchy views. His full-length portrait 
of Viscount Sidmouth, done in water-colours in 1834, is 
now in the National Portrait Gallery. By these drawings 
he acquired a fashionable fame, while he also occupied a 
high position in general society. After he had attained 
perfection in this branch of his art, he began to paint in 
oil, in which he quickly attained such excellence, that it 
would be difficult to detect in his works in this style 
any indication of that which he originally practised. In 
his new manner he exhibited in 1855 a full-length por- 
trait of Sir H. R. Inghs for the Picture Gallery of the 
University of Oxford, a Ufe-sized head and bust of the 
Bishop of New Zealand, and a three-quarter length of a 
little boy standing — ' H. J. Eichmond ; ' in 1857 the 
Eev. Canon Bentinck, Vice-Chancellor Kindersley, Eev. 
C. B. Forster, B.D., and Sir J. Eobinson, Bart. ; in 1858 
Sir E. Kerrison, Bart, and the Earl of Leicester, the latter 
apparently painted in imitation of Holbein's portrait of 



Ch. XIX.] RICHMOND— LEWIS aSO 

that nobleman's ancestor. Among his drawings was one of 
H.E.H. the Prince of Wales. In 1859 he exhibited por- 
traits of the Bishop of Salisbury, the Dean of Westminster, 
and Admiral Sir C. Hotham, the last named painted for 
the city of Melbourne ; and drawings of the Bishop of 
Columbia, Canon Wordsworth, and others. In 1860, 
among other portraits, was that of Col. Greathed, H.M.'s 
8th Foot, distinguished in the Indian Mutiny; and in 
addition to many portraits in 1861, he painted a land- 
scape, 'A Sunset Scene in Hyde Park' In 1858 he 
exhibited a picture of a sacred character, finely conceived, 
and richly coloured in the manner of the Venetian school. 
The subject was * Christ's Agony in the Garden,' repre- 
senting the Saviour kneeling, and being about to fall to 
the ground, supported by an angel. He also paints 
chalk portraits, life-size, in which the features are gene- 
rally slightly marked, but with intense expression, and are 
altogether admirable productions. He was elected an 
Associate of the Eoyal Academy in 1857, and his nume- 
rous contributions to the exhibition testify to the exten- 
sive patronage he has obtained in the several styles to 
which he has applied his powers. 

John Frederick Lewis, A.RA., is the son of Mr. R 
C. Lewis, an engraver and landscape painter of great 
abihty, and was born in London on the 14th July, 1805. 
He received from his father instruction in both the arts 
he followed, and his first employment was to paint wild 
animals — a taste no doubt fostered by his acquaintance 
with the Landseer family. These he executed both in 
oil and water-colours, and afterwards engraved some of 
them. At the age of fifteen he sent his first picture to 
the British Institution, and was fortunate enough to find 
a purchaser for it; from that time he determined to 
abandon engraving altogether, and to become a painter. 
He studied extensively in the menagerie at Exeter Change, 
and Northcote bought some of the sketches he made there. 

z 2 



340 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIX. 

Sir Thomas Lawrence gave him a commission to paint for 
him for a year, and some of the drawings he thus made 
were afterwards etched by Mr. W. B. Cooke. At the age of 
seventeen he painted a large picture of ' Deer-shooting at 
Belhus, Essex/ which was sold, and in his nineteenth year 
he was employed by King George IV. painting in Windsor 
Forest. One of the pictures upon which he was thus 
engaged was exhibited at the Eoyal Academy in 1826 — 
' Deer-shooting in Windsor Forest, with portraits of His 
Majesty's Head Keepers.' Subsequently he paid visits to 
Germany and Northern Italy. 

Hitherto he had painted in oil ; now, by the advice of 
George Eobson, the landscape painter, he began to prac- 
tise water-colours. In 1828 he exhibited at the Academy 
a drawing of ' The Chamois, sketched in the Tyrol ; ' and 
at the Water-Colour Society (of which he was elected a 
member) 'Highland Hospitality.' In 1832 he went to 
Spain, first stopping at Madrid to copy the works of the 
great Spanish masters, and afterwards proceeding to 
Toledo, Granada, Cordova, and Seville, studying Spanish 
scenes, characters, and figures with great perseverance. 
In 1833 he went from Gibraltar to Tangiers, returned to 
Granada, and after wintering at Madrid came back to 
England in the spring of 1834. In the next two years 
his works began to attract general admiration : among 
the first were ' Monks preaching at Seville,' ' Interior of a 
Mosque at Cordova,' and a series of three pictures depict- 
ing a bull-fight at Seville, minute in all the details, yet 
vigorously drawn, and coloured with a breadth and 
richness rarely attained in water-colours. In 1837 he 
exhibited ' Spanish Peasants dancing the Bolero ' and 

* Peasants at their Devotions ; ' besides a brilKant picture of 

* The Spy brought before the Carhst General,' which was 
some years afterwards engraved by the father and brother 
of the painter ; as was also *The Suburbs of a Spanish City,' 
exhibited the year before, both proving very popular 
prints. In 1837 he drew on stone twenty-five facsimiles 



Ch. XIX.] J. F. LEWIS 341 

of his Spanish sketches. These were afterwards followed 
by similar illustrations of * The Alhambra.' In 1838 he 
exhibited ' The Pillage of a Convent in Spain by Guerilla 
Soldiers,' and ' Murillo painting the Virgin in the Fran- 
ciscan Convent at Seville.' These were painted in the 
preceding winter at Paris. 

He afterwards went to Italy, visited Florence and 
Naples, was wrecked on his way to Malta, but at length 
reached Eome, where he painted a very effective pic- 
ture, finely grouped and gorgeously coloured, 'Easter- 
day at Eome — the Pope Blessing the People,' which was 
sent home for the Water-Colour Gallery Exhibition in 
1841. After he had completed this work he proceeded 
to Constantinople, and from 1840 to 1850 he continued 
to reside in the east, making Cairo his head-quarters, and 
from thence making excursions to Egypt, Nubia, Asia 
Minor, &c. For a time the pubUc saw little of his works, 
and missed them greatly ; but after his return his large 
collection of sketches furnished abundant materials for 
future pictures of eastern hfe and scenery. One of the 
first pictures exhibited on his return at the Water-Colour 
Society was ' The Hareem,' a subject treated with the 
utmost chasteness and refinement. The amount of minute 
finish, the rich and dehcate tone and colour, and the 
breadth of general effect attained in this picture, rendered 
it a marvel in water-colour painting (in which, however, 
the artist employed a large amount of body colour), and 
excited great admiration. It was followed in 1852 by 
' An Arab Scribe — a scene in Cairo,' even more elabo- 
rately finished than the preceding, but scarcely so effec- 
tive on the whole. 

Subsequently he exhibited several pictures, in which he 
seemed to be trying experiments in colour ; as in ' The 
Halt in the Desert,' ' Bedouins and their Camels,' * Koman 
Peasants at a Shrine ' (1854) ; ' The Well in the Desert ' 
(1855) ; ' A Frank in the Desert of Mount Sinai ' (1856) ; 
the last a wonderful specimen of skilful execution, of which 



043 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIX. 

Mi\ Euskia wrote : " I do not believe that since the death 
of Paul Veronese anything has been painted comparable 
to it in its own way." It is Hterally true of these works 
that they cannot be appreciated by the naked eye, and 
for this reason they have elicited the approval of Mr. 
Euskin, although they possess none of the other peculiari- 
ties of the school of which he is so great an admirer. " To 
this task/' he says, "he has brought not only intense 
perception of the kind of character, but powers of artistic 
skill, like those of the great Venetians, displaying at the 
same time a refinement of drawing almost matchless, and 
appreciable only, as the minutiae of nature itself are ap- 
preciable, by the help of the microscope. The value 
therefore of his works, as records of the aspects of the 
scenery and inhabitants of the south of Spain and of the 
east in the earUer part of the nineteenth century, is quite 
above all estimate." 

Meanwhile Mr. Lewis was also practising oil painting, 
and in 1855 he exhibited in this style at the Eoyal 
Academy ' An Armenian Lady — Cairo,' which had all the 
elaborate detail of his water-colour drawing. Li 1856 
appeared ' The Greeting in the Desert — Egypt,' and ' A 
Street Scene in Cairo, near the Babel Luk.' In 1857 
* The Syrian Sheikh ; ' in 1858 ' lihes and Eoses — Con- 
stantinople,' * A Kibab Shop at Scutari,' ' An Arab of the 
Desert of Sinai,' ' An Inmate of the Hareem,' and ' After- 
noon Prayer in a Mosque at Cairo.' In 1859 he was 
elected an Associate of the Eoyal Academy, and exhibited 
' Waiting for the Ferry-boat — Upper Egypt' In 1861 
*A Bedouin Sheikh,' *In the Bezestein, Cairo,' and 
' Edfou, Upper Egypt.' 

During his first visits to Italy and Spain he made 
careful copies of the works of the ancient masters pre- 
served in those countries, sixty-four of which were pur- 
chased at a liberal price by the Eoyal Scottish Academy 
in 1853 for the instruction of the students, and he was 
also elected an honorary member of that Academy. In 



Ch. XIX.] LEWIS— O'NEIL 343 

1855, on the death of Copley Fielding, he was chosen 
President of the Water-Colour Society, an honour conferred 
upon him in recognition of his talents in that department 
of his art, which he afterwards resigned. Whatever his 
subject, and wherever his thirst for art led him to wander, 
he displayed an almost miraculous power of representing 
what he saw with the greatest exactness of detail, and 
the most thorough truth of character. In all his works 
he shows that he possesses powers of intense observation, 
of unwearying toil, and of careful execution, in which he 
is unrivalled by any of his compeers ; and although he 
has changed the medium in which his first achievements 
were wrought and has employed a more durable 
material, he has lost none of the deKcacy of touch, the 
highly-wrought manipulation, or the beauty and power 
displayed in his earlier method. 

Henry Nelson O'Neil, A.E.A., was born at St. Peters- 
burg of British parents in 1817. In 1823 he was brought 
to England, and although he had shown an early taste 
for design, he does not seem to have cultivated it till 
1836, when he became a student at the Eoyal Academy. 
In 1839 he exhibited his first picture, and continued 
afterwards to contribute annually to the Academy. In 
1843 appeared 'Jephthah's Daughter;* in 1844 *Euth 
and Naomi,' which was purchased by the Prince Consort ; 
in 1849 'The Last Moments of Mozart; ' in 1851 'The 
Scribes reading the Chronicles to King Ahasuerus ; ' in 
1853 'Queen Katherine's Dream ; * in 1855 ' The Ketum of 
the Wanderer ; ' and in 1858, the picture which acquired 
for him an immediate popularity. It was called ' East- 
ward, Ho 1 August, 1857 ; ' and the subject is said to 
have been accidentally suggested to the artist as he was 
going down the river in a steamer, by seeing a crowd of 
boats shipping a party of soldiers on board a transport, 
who were bound for India during the mutiny, and 
were hurriedly taking leave of their friends. He was 



344 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIX. 

touched by the scene, and in painting it appealed to the 
sympathies of the thousands who have never looked 
upon it unmoved, whether gazing on the picture or 
the fine engraving from it. 'Home Again,' the com- 
panion picture, was another natural scene of real life, 
full of poetry and feeling, but scarcely equal to its pre- 
decessor, which must, we fear, be said also of the works 
of the same class which have followed it. These were in 
18G0 ' The Volunteer ' about to swim from a ship broken 
to pieces, in the forlorn hope of getting a rope to shore ; 
and in 1861 * The Parting Cheer' to the sailing voyagers. 
Mr. O'Neil is also a painter of portraits, and while he 
carefully finishes all his works, they are correct in draw- 
ing, natural in colouring, and unexaggerated in treat- 
ment. His simple touching stories are conceived with 
great originality and truthfulness ; the arrangement of his 
crowded groups of figures is natural, and the costumes 
carefully studied ; his contrasts of colour are efiective ; 
and to every face in his pictures he gives not only cha- 
racteristic features, but the expression of the emotion 
proper to the scene in which each is represented as 
taking a part. He was elected an Associate of the Eoyal 
Academy in 1860. 

William Charles Thomas Dobson, A.E.A., was bom 
at Hamburg in 1817, and was the son of John Dobson, an 
English merchant there, who returned to London after 
having sufiered severe losses in 1826. His son had from 
earliest childhood evinced a great taste for drawing; 
when he was but fourteen he commenced his studies from 
the antique in the British Museum, and became a student 
at the Eoyal Academy in 1836. He received his first 
instruction in painting, however, from Mr. E. Opie of 
Plymouth, a nephew of John Opie, E.A., who took 
great interest in his progress, and he was also so fortunate 
in early life as to obtain an introduction to the present 
President of the Eoyal Academy, from whom he received 



Ch. XIX.] W. C. T. BOBSON a45 

during many years much friendly advice and many valu- 
able suggestions, which seem to have borne fruit in the 
character of the works produced by his proUgL In 
1842Dobson first appeared as an exhibitor at the Academy, 
the subject being ' The Hermit/ from Pamell's poem ; in 
1843 he exhibited two portraits, and ' Paul and Virginia ; ' 
in 1844 and 1845 oiJy portraits; in 1846 *A Young 
Italian Goatherd.' In 1847 he entered the cartoon com- 
petition in Westminster Hall, exhibiting ' Lamentation,' a 
very talented production, and ' Boadicea,' only inferior to 
it in merit. In 1848 he contributed to the Eoyal Academy 
' Saul and the Witch of Endor,' and * Undine ; ' and in 
1849 ' The Knight Huldbrand.' 

In 1850 he commenced the series of sacred pictures 
by which his fame has been mainly established: 'The 
Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus ' and ' St. John the 
Evangelist ' were the first of these ; he also exhibited ' A 
Portrait of a Lady as St. Cedlia,' and a picture of a young 
girl, all works of great merit. In 1851 'St. John leading 
Home the Virgin Mary after the Crucifixion,' a work full 
of intense and devout feehng; in 1852 'The Christian 
Pilgrim,' 'Miriam,' and 'Mater Dolorosa;' in 1853 
' Tobias and the Angel ' and ' The Chorister ; ' in 1854 
' The Almsdeeds of Dorcas ; ' and in 1855 the same sub- 
ject painted for the Queen; in 1856 'The prosperous 
Days of Job,' and ' The Children in the Market Place ; ' 
in 1857 'Heading the Psalms' (engraved by Mr. Cousins, 
E.A.), and 'The Child Jesus going down with His 
Parents to Nazareth,' both purchased by Miss Biu-dett 
Coutts ; in 1858 he exhibited ' Hagar and Ishmael,' ' The 
Holy Innocents,' and 'Fairy Tales;' in 1859 'David 
bade them teach the Children of Judah the use of the 
Bow,' and 'Der Eosenkrimz ; ' in 1860 'The Plough,' 
' Bethlehem,' ' Der Heimkehr,' and ' Emilie aus Gorwitz ; ' 
in 1861 'The Drinkmg Fountain,' 'The Flower Girl; 
and ' Bauer Madchen.' Most of his chief works have been 
engraved, many of them on a large scale. 



340 HISTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIX. 

In 1843 Mr. Dobson was appointed Head Master of 
the Government School of Design at Birmingham. This 
office he resigned in 1845 ; but he was so popular in the 
school that, on quitting it, he was presented with a piece 
of plate by the pupils as a token of their esteem. He 
afterwards proceeded to Italy to study the works of the 
great masters of art ; he remained there some years, and 
after his return to England he again set forth, in 1858, 
for two years' study at Dresden, that he might acquire a 
knowledge of the principles and practice of the German 
school. His works are of an elevated character, and his 
aim is evidently to devote his art to the noble purpose of 
teaching what is holy and pure. His themes are care- 
fully studied, and his colouring is rich and brilUant. 
Having chosen many sacred and scriptural subjects, he has 
happily added to the skill with which he has represented 
them a love for holy things ; and the reverential feeUng 
which pervades his own mind in treating such themes is 
communicated, in some degree, to the beholder of his 
pictures. He was elected an Associate of the Eoyal 
Academy in 1860. 

KiCHARD Ansdell, A.E.A., was born at Liverpool in 
1815, and was educated at the Blue Coat School of that 
town, where he continued to reside till 1847. Although 
it was intended that he should enter into business pur- 
suits, his strong predilections for art led to his finally 
adopting it as a profession. Historical subjects, the sports 
of the field, and pictures of animals, were his forte, and 
in 1840 he exhibited at the Eoyal Academy 'Grouse- 
shooting,' and 'A Galloway Farm ;' in 1841 'The Earl 
of Sefton and Party returning from Shooting;' and in 
1842 'The Death of Sir W. Lambton at the Battle of 
Marston Moor,' a very spirited picture, in which the 
artist chose a higher range of subject than he had pre- 
viously attempted. In 1843 appeared ' The Death of 
the Deer ; ' in 1844 ' Mary Queen of Scots ' returning 



Ch. XIX.] RICHARD ANSDELL 347 

from the chase to Stirling Castle ; in 1845 a portrait 
group of * Mr. J. Machell and Family at Fox-hunting ; ' 
in 1846 at the British Institution 'The Drover's Halt, 
Isle of Mull/ and at the Academy ' The Stag at Bay.' 
The next year a companion to the last picture, 'The 
Combat ; ' both of these have been engraved by Eyall. 
In 1848 he sent to the Academy 'The Battle of the 
Standard* at Waterloo, which has been engraved, and 
is one of his best works ; and exhibited at the British 
Institution ' Turf-stacking ' and ' Stag-hunting in the 
Olden Time.' To the same place in 1849 he contributed 
' The successful Deer-stalkers ' and ' An old Trespasser,' 
and to the Koyal Academy ' The Death of Gelert ' and 
' The Wolf-slayer.' 

In 1850 he commenced working with Mr. Creswick, 
and exhibited at the British Institution ' South Downs,' 
and 'The regretted Companion,' and at the Academy 
' The Eivals.' Among his many subsequent works the 
principal are, in 1850 ' England's Day in the Country,' 
jointly with Mr. Creswick; in 1851 'The Shepherd's 
Eevenge ; ' in 1852 ' The Drover's Halt by the Common,' 
'The Park,' &c. In 1855 he exhibited 'Feeding the 
Calves,' painted in conjunction with Mr. Frith, who 
drew the maid pouring the milk into the trough for the 
young kine. 

In 1856 he accompanied Mr. Phillip to Spain, and the 
following year took up his station at Seville. As with 
Phillip, so with Ansdell, this journey changed the whole 
subject-matter and style of his paintings. In 1857 ap- 
peared 'The Water-carrier,' 'Mules Drinking,' &c. In 
1858 'The Eoad to Seville,' 'The Spanish Shepherd,' 
' Crossing the Ford, Seville.' In 1859 ' The Banks of the 
Guadalquiver,' 'The Spanish Flower-sellers,' &c. In 
1860 he once more exhibited English subjects — one a 
humorous one, ' Buy a Dog, Ma'am,' the other, ' The Lost 
Shepherd.' In 1861 appeared a group of 'Mules Drink- 
ing ' at the British Institution, and ' Hunted Slaves,' 



348 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIX. 

' Scotch Shootings,' and ' Old Friends ' at the Eoyal 
Academy. 

Mr. Ansdell is a bright, rich, and vigorous colourist ; 
he draws carefully and truthfully, catches the character 
of his subjects, and is a skilful deUneator of animal Ufe 
in many of its varieties, especially in its fiercer aspects. 
Although the sphere of art he has chosen is limited, yet 
in it he displays great ingenuity in choosing scenes and 
subjects differing greatly from each other, although in all 
of them animals form prominent and most attractive 
objects. He has received the " Heywood " medal at Man- 
chester on three occasions, and was awarded the gold 
medal at the Paris Exposition in 1855. He was elected 
an Associate of the Eoyal Academy in 1861. 

Thomas Faed, A.R.A., was bom in 1826 at Burley 
Mill, Kirkcudbright, N.B., where his father (a man of great 
mechanical genius and mental ability) carried on business 
as an engineer and millwright. While employing his 
boyhood in sketching the ragged boys he met with in his 
walks his father died, and his elder brother John, who 
had already estabUshed himself as a skilful painter in 
Edinburgh, knowing Thomas's taste, invited him to join 
him there in 1843, and directed his studies for some 
years. The younger brother doubtless owes much of his 
subsequent success to the affectionate interest which the 
elder took in his progress, and to the instruction he re- 
ceived from him. For some years Thomas pursued his 
studies at the Trustees' Academv under Sir William 
Allan, and in 1849 became an Associate of the Eoyal 
Scottish Academy. In the same year he exhibited his 
picture of * Scott and his Friends at Abbotsford,' which 
was greatly admired, and afterwards engraved. 

He first appeared as an exhibitor at the Eoyal Academy 
in London in 1851, when he contributed three works, 
' Cottage Piety,' ' Auld Eobin Gray,' and ' The First Step.' 
In 1852 he came to reside in London, and exhibited 



Cn. XIX.] THOMAS FAED 340 

* Burns and Highland Mary' and ' Patrons and Patronesses 
visiting the Village School.' In 1853 * The Early Lesson' 
and 'Sophia and Ohvia.' Inl854 'Peggy,' from the "Gentle 
Shepherd," and ' Eeapers going out.' Among his works 
subsequently exhibited, that (in 1853) of ' The Mitherless 
Bairn ' displayed so much tender kindly feehng that it 
won applause from all who beheld it. The next year he 
exhibited a kindred picture, ' Home for the Homeless,' 
and another ' Highland Mary.' In 1857 appeared ' The 
First Break in the Family,' a young man leaving his 
cottage home and all his early ties — another picture 
directly appealing to the domestic affections, and full of 
pathetic incidents. In 1858 he appeared in a humorous 
mood, 'A Listener ne'er hears Quid of Himself;' in 1859 

* Sunday in the Backwoods,' cleverly painted and well- 
told, from which an etching has been made by Simmons, 
and 'My ain Fireside.' In 1860 'His only Pair,' a 
picture ftdl of nature and humour, and ' Coming Events 
cast their Shadows before.' In 1861 appeared 'From 
Dawn to Sunset,' which is to be engraved by T. L. Atkin- 
son, a work of great power — an epic poem in sentiment 
— displaying with deep feeling and reality the story 
of life from its beginning to its close, in the grouping 
together of a family in a cottage room, the oldest 
member of which is just passing away, the youngest at its 
mother's breast. In this year he was elected an Associate 
of the Eoyal Academy. 

His pictures are essentially popular favourites, and 
many of them are engraved. His colouring is clear, 
rich, harmonious, and mellow, and he paints scenes of 
humble life with powerful truthfulness : whether he 
wishes to excite humour or pathos, the feehng conveyed 
is just what he desires to be felt or understood. In his 
treatment of his subjects he greatly resembles his famous 
countryman Wilkie, although they often possess a deeper 
meaning, and more strongly appeal to our aff^tions 
and sympathies. 



a-K) HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIX. 

James Saxt, A.E.A., was born in London in 1820, and 
commenced his professional career by studying under 
John Varley, the water-colour painter. Subsequently, in 
1840, he became a student at the Boyal Academy; 
after completing his studies he commenced his career as 
a portrait painter, and has since found extensive patronage 
in that department of art, to which however he has not 
confined himself exclusively. In 1860 a collection of 
twenty-one portraits, all with one exception painted by 
this artist, were exhibited at the French Gallery in Pall 
Mall. They were a commission from the Countess of 
Waldegrave, who desired to decorate her mansion at 
Strawberry Hill with these reminiscences of her personal 
friends. Among these works, all of them excellent, some 
are especially beautiful ; as, for instance, the Marchioness 
of Stafford, the Countess of Shaftesbury, Lady Constance 
Gower, Lady Sehna Vernon, and Mrs. Stonor; of the 
gentlemen the best portraits are those of the Bishop of 
Oxford, Earl Grey, Lord Clarendon, the Due d'Aumale, 
and Mr. Van de Weyer. 

All Sant's portraits are refined, poetical, and gracefid ; 
but his pictures of young children are especially pleasing, 
and in this particular branch of his art he is now without 
a competitor. He has long occupied a high position 
among our portrait painters ; and two years since the 
late Prince Consort (whose portrait he painted) gave 
him a commission for those of the Princesses Helena and 
Louisa, who were represented in one picture, surrounded 
by a wreath of flowers. 

Among his fancy pictures are * Samuel' (1853), illus- 
trating the text, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth," 
which was so efiective in drawing, light and shade, expres- 
sion and colouring, that it was greatly admired, and shortly 
afterwards engraved : a companion picture was ' Timothy,' 
also engraved. These were followed by ' The Children in 
the Wood ' (1854), ' The Fortune-teUer ' (1855), ' The Pet's 
Pet' (1856), ' Infancy' (1857), a ' Scene in Wales,' painted 



Ch. XIX.] SANT— WEEKES 351 

in conjunction with G. Sant (1858), 'The Cornfield,' 
* Scotch Firs,' and ' Little Eed Eiding Hood' (1860), and 
'The Whisper' (1861). These works have been inter- 
spersed with many pleasing portraits, and by some excel- 
lent subject pictures. Of the latter class are 'Saxon 
Women watching a Battle-field,' ' Astronomy,' ' Music,' 
' Harmony,' &c. He was elected an Associate in 1861. 

The two Sculptors added to the Associates of the Eoyal 
Academy since Sir Charles Eastlake became President are 
Henry Weekes (1851) and Baron Marochetti (1861). 

'Henry Weekes, A.RA., was bom at Canterbury in 
1807. His father cherished his early display of a faculty 
for imitating what he saw, and articled him for five years 
to Behnes the sculptor. He became a student at the 
Eoyal Academy in 1823, and at the expiration of his 
apprenticeship at once engaged himself as an assistant 
to Sir Francis Chantrey, with whom he remained for 
several years, eventually becoming his principal modeller. 
Meanwhile he also exhibited some of his own works at 
the Eoyal Academy. After the death of Chantrey he was 
of course thrown on his own resources, and shortly after- 
wards obtained a commission to execute the statue of 
the Marquis Wellesley for the East India Company. Her 
Majesty also sat to him for her bust; and he subsequently 
obtained several commissions for statues and monuments 
for India. 

His chief statues are those of Dr. Goodall at Eton, 
Lord Bacon in Trinity College, Cambridge, Sir Eobert 
Peel, the Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Auckland for 
Calcutta, John Hunter for the Museum of the Eoyal 
College of Surgeons, Sir T. F. Buxton, Bart. M.P., and the 
monuments to Shelley and Mary Woolstoncroft at Christ 
Church, Hampshire. His reputation rests chiefly on the 
truth of character and delicacy of expression which distin- 
guish his portrait busts. He has executed a large number 



862 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIX. 

of posthumous works of this class, and has thus preserved 
the lineaments of many celebrated personages who have 
passed away. 

He also exhibits occasionally ideal works of great 
sweetness and purity, selecting subjects which, while they 
afford him the opportunity of displaying his power to 
realise the beauty of the outward form, at the same time 
awaken some of the best emotions and sympathies of the 
heart : thus * Charity ' (1850) represents a mother with 
her child pleading for help ; 'The Mother's Kiss' (1858), 
a picture of natural affection ; ' The Young Naturalist' 
(1857), a simple representation of youth : while of a 
bolder type of poetic conception is ' Sardanapalus ' (1861), 
one of the marble statues for the Egyptian Hall of the 
Mansion House, for which a commission was given to the 
sculptor by the civic authorities. He was elected an 
Associate of the Eoyal Academy in 1851. 

Baron Carlo Marochetti, A.E.A., was bom at Tiuin 
in 1809. He received some instruction in art in the 
Jjjcie Napoleon and in the studios of Bosio and Gros. 
In 1827 he exhibited a group of * A Young Girl playing 
with a Dog ; ' in 1831 ' The Fallen Angel ;' and some time 
afterwards he executed an equestrian statue of *Philebert,' 
erected at Turin. On the death of his father he inherited 
the Chateau de Vaux near Paris, where he remained till 
1848. Among his principal works executed during this 
period were two equestrian statues of the Duke of Orleans, 
one in the court of the Louvre, the other for the Place 
du Gouvemement at Algiers, an * Assumption,' in white 
marble, in the church of the Madeleine, and a bas-relief 
in the Arc de I'Etoile, Paris ; also in 1844 an equestrian 
statue of the Duke of Wellington, a commission re- 
ceived from the citizens of Glasgow. 

The pohtical convulsions on the Continent in 1848 
brought the Baron to England ; and in 1851 his statue 
of 'Kichard Cceur de lion,' erected outside the Great 



Ch. XIX.] BARON MAROCHETTI 853 

Exhibition building in Hyde Park, attracted public atten- 
tion to the sculptor of it, by its striking attitude and 
vigorous execution. It has lately been reproduced in 
bronze, by pubhc subscription, and is now erected (tem- 
porarily only, we presume) in old Palace Yard. In 1854 
he designed an equestrian statue of the Queen for the city 
of Glasgow; and he has since obtained frequent employ- 
ment on commissions for public works. The Scutari 
monument (1856), erected in the burial-ground of our 
Crimean heroes, did not, however, satisfy the public 
wishes. It consists of a lofty granite obehsk, with a 
winged angel at each of the four comers of the pedestal, 
and a gilt cross and circle on the top. It cost £17,500. 
He was more successful in a monument he designed by 
command of the Queen in St. Thomas's Church, Isle of 
Wight, to the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King 
Charles I.; and also in his subsequent works, the monu- 
ment to the oflScers of the Coldstream Guards who fell at 
Likerman, erected in St. Paul's, the statue of the Duke 
of WeUington at Leeds, of Lord Chve at Shrewsbury, 
and of Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeeboy at Bombay. 

At the Eoyal Academy, among other contributions, he 
has exhibited * Sappho' (1850), a bust of H.RH. the 
Prince Consort (1851), ' Cupid and a Greyhound ' (1854), 
and in 1856 a bust of the Queen in stained marble. 
He is very bold in the handhng of his subjects, and 
romantic in the treatment of them. He designs horses 
with much spirit, and he places their riders at ease upon 
them. His portrait busts of ladies, too, are ideal and 
dignified. He was elected an Associate of the Eoyal 
Academy in 1861. He has been chosen to execute the 
statue of the late Lord Herbert to be erected at SaUsbury, 
and the monument to Lord Melbourne and his brother 
for St. Paul's Cathedral. 

The only architect added to the Associates within the 
period embraced in this chapter, is Mr. E. M. Barry, who 

VOL. II. A A 



a54 raSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACxVDEMY [Oh. XIX. 

was chosen in 1861 to fill the vacancy caused by the 
election of an Academician from among the Associates, in 
the room of his eminent father, the late Sir Charles Bany. 

Edwakd Middleton Barry, A.E.A., the third son of 
that distinguished architect, was bom in 1830, and edu- 
cated for his profession by his father, except during the 
short time he spent as a pupil of Mr. T. BL Wyatt, until 
he became a student at the Eoyal Academy in 1848. For 
the last ten years of his father's life he was associated 
with him in the conduct of all his most important works ; 
the Government, therefore, felt that he was the most com- 
petent person to complete the Houses of Parhament, and 
he has been appointed architect to that building accord- 
ingly. The new Eoyal Italian Opera-House, Covent 
Garden, completed in 1858, is a fair specimen of his abilities. 
It is erected in the Italian style, with a Corinthian portico 
and two wings ; the sculptured friezes by Flaxman, which 
adorned the old theatre, are preserved, and introduced, 
over the five arched windows which light the grand stair- 
case. The construction of the building, and its ornamen- 
tation within and without, are admirably adapted to the 
purpose for which it is designed, and the convenience of 
the visitors. The Floral Hall, adjoining the theatre, 
chiefly of iron and glass, was subsequently erected from 
his design. The Birmingham and Midland Institute, the 
Leeds Grammar School, St. Saviour's Church, Haverstock 
Hill, and the National Schools of St. Giles's-in-the-Fields, 
a brick building of great beauty and novelty of design, 
are among his other works, and give promise, by the 
proofs they afford of the attainments he already possesses, 
of his rising to future eminence in his profession as an 
architect. 

Two Associate-Engravers have been elected since 
Sir C. Eastlake became President of the Academy, — 
Lumb Stocks and John Henry Eobinson. 



Ch. XIX.] LUMB STOCKS 366 

LuMB Stocks, A.E., was the son of a coal-owner in 
Yorkshire, and was bom at lightchffe near Halifax, on 
November 30, 1812. While at school at Horton near 
Bradford, he acquired some knowledge of art from 
Mr. C. Cope, the father of C. W. Cope, E.A., and at the 
age of fifteen was at his own earnest solicitation brought 
to London, and articled for six years to Charles EoUs, the 
engraver. At the expiration of his articles he com- 
menced his profession as a line engraver, by executing 
some of those small highly finished plates which adorned 
the Anmmla of the period. Subsequently he has found 
extensive employment, engraving in Finden's GaUery, 
*The Christening' after Williams, 'Moses going to the 
Fair,' by Machse, and ' Nell Gwynne,' by Charles Land- 
seer, as well as for the " Art Journal " a large number 
of plates from the pictures in the Vernon Gallery and 
the Eoyal Collections. Among these were : ' Peace and 
War,' after Landseer, 'Uncle Toby and the Widow,' 
after Leshe, Phillip's ' Spanish Letter Writer,' Uwins's 
'Cupid and Psyche,' Turner's 'Apollo killing the Py- 
thon,' &c. In 1842 the Art Union of London engaged 
him to engrave Callcott's 'Eafiaelle and the Fomarina/ 
Subsequently he executed three plates for the Association 
for Promoting the Fine Arts in Scotland, after the pictures 
by R S. Lauder, of ' The Glee Maiden ' and ' Euth,' and 
'The Ten Virgins,' by J. E. Lauder. In addition to 
these works he has since produced a series of prints 
after J. N. Paton, of the 'Dowie Dens of Yarrow,' 
'The Dame's School,' and 'The Card Player,' after 
Webster, ' Evening Prayer,' after W. P. Frith, E.A., and 
' Many Happy Eetums of the Day,' a picture by the same 
artist, engraved on a large scale for the Art Union of 
Glasgow. He is now engaged upon, another work by 
W. P. Frith, E.A., ' Claude Duval,' exhibited at the Eoyal 
Academy in 1860. 

He was elected an Associate-Engraver of the old class 
in February 1853, and of the new class (in which he has 

A A 2 



366 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XIX. 

become eligible for the higher rank of Academician- 
Engraver) in 1855. 

John Henry Eobinson, A.E., was bom at Bolton in 
Lancashire in 1796. He was a pupil of James Heath, the 
celebrated engraver, and followed his style of line engrav- 
ing. Among his principal works are * Sir W. Scott,' after 
Sir T. Lawrence, ' Napoleon and Pius VH.,' after Wilkie, 
' Little Eed Biding Hood,' ' The Mantilla,' and * Twelfth 
Night,' after Sir E. Landseer ; ' The Indian on the 
Ganges,' after Devis, *The Wolf and the Lamb,' aft«r 
Mulready, * The Mother and Child,'after C. E. LesUe, and 
' The Queen,' after Partridge ; the last named one of his 
best works, remarkable for high finish and dehcate execu- 
tion. He has also engraved several of the works of the 
ancient masters, *The Flower Girl,' after Murillo, 'The 
Countess of Bedford,' and ' The Emperor Theodosius 
refused admission into the Church,' after Vandyke, and 
others ; besides a large number of illustrations for books 
(including some of those in Eogers's " Italy ") and nume- 
rous portraits. He has gained a high position in his 
profession, and has acquired an independence from his 
successful pursuit of it. He was elected an Associate- 
Engraver of the new class (which quaUfies him for 
further academic honours) in November 1856. 



867 



CHAPTER XX. 

CONCLUSION. 

Influence of the Soyal Fatnmage on the Success of the Royal Academy — 
Abstract of the Laws for its Regulatum and Oovemtnent — TTie PrivHegee 
of Members — The Annual Dinner — The Schools, and the Encouragements 
given to the Students — Lectures of the Professors — The ExhUntion, and the 
Selection of Contributions — Election of Members: their Retirement ^ and 
Diploma Works — The Funds: their Source, and Appropriation — The 
Charities of the Royal Academy — Parliamentary Controi uncalled for — 
Work for the Academy in the PkUure — Results of its past Operations on 
the EngUsh School of Art, 

HAVING in the preceding chapters traced the history 
of the Eoyal Academy from its formation to the 
present time, we have now only to refer to the general 
character of its constitution, and to notice the results 
which have been attained by its proceedings in the past, 
as well as to point out some matters of detail in which 
its usefulness may be extended in the future. 

The Boyal Academy arose as we have seen by the 
enterprise of a few men of acknowledged ability in art, 
out of the chaos of confusion into which the previous 
societies of artists had fallen by mismanagement; and 
was ushered into the world under the gracious and 
liberal patronage of King George HE., who not only took 
a personal interest in its formation, but supported it by 
large grants out of the Privy Purse so long as it needed 
his assistance. By the ability of its members it elevated 
the character of the British School even in the eyes of 
jealous foreigners, and overcame the sceptical prejudices 
of connoisseurs at home ; and by filling up its ranks 
from among the best rising artists of the period, it gained 
an eminence which no other Art Society has ever 



358 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

acquired in England, and conferred upon the native 
professors of art in this country a dignity and position 
which they had never previously been able to attain. 

Much of the influence so quickly obtained by the 
Eoyal Academy must undoubtedly be attributed to the 
especial patronage of the Sovereign, which is one of the 
most important characteristics of the Institution. Not only 
was it founded by the express command of the King, but 
George HL provided it with necessary funds, and with 
apartments in one of his own palaces, until they were 
exchanged with the Government for new ones. His 
Majesty retained in his own hands the right of approving 
of all artists elected into the Eoyal Academy, drew up in 
his own handwriting its diploma, and ordered that the 
Eoyal Sign Manual should be affixed to the diplomas of 
all members who became Eoyal Academicians. He also 
reserved to himself the appointment of Treasurer and 
Librarian, and confirmed, or not, according to his plea- 
sure, the other officers elected by the general assembly : 
he exercised control over its expenditure, and made up 
during the early years of the existence of the Academy 
all the deficiencies in its fimds. The same control in ail 
these respects is still exercised by the Sovereign ; and no 
donation exceeding £50 can in any one year be granted 
to any member of the Academy or to any person 
whatever without Her Majesty's consent. 

Ever since its foimdation the principal officers of the 
Academy have been admitted to the presence of the 
Sovereign for the purpose of submitting for the Eoyal 
approval the election of the President and all other 
officers (except those above named), and also any new 
law or regulation requiring the Patron's sanction. These 
proceedings are all entered in a book kept expressly for 
the purpose, called "The King's Book," the entries in 
which when approved are signed by the Sovereign, and 
not countersigned by any Minister of State. This latter cir- 
cimastance proves that the patronage of the Crown extended 



Ch. XX.] ROYAL PATRONAGE 359 

to the Eoyal Academy is both peculiar and personal, 
differing essentially from that extended to other societies ; 
so much so, that when the question of the claims of Parlia- 
ment to control the proceedings of the Academicians was 
discussed during the period when the late Sir Eobert Peel 
was Prime Minister, the knowledge of this fact at once 
satisfied that gifted statesman that there was no ground 
on which such a right of interference could fairly rest, 
and he warmly defended the Academy in Parliament 
against the attempted innovation of its privileges in this 
respect 

By the abstract of the constitution and laws of the 
Eoyal Academy appended to this volume [vide Appendix], 
it will be seen how the plans and purposes of the In- 
stitution thus auspiciously patronised, are to be carried on. 
The members consist of forty Eoyal Academicians, twenty 
Associates, and (by a recent extension) of a new class 
to consist of not more than four Academician-Engravers, 
and Associate-Engravers, all of them to be " men of fair 
moral character, of high reputation in their several profes- 
sions." Until very recently engravers were only granted 
the rank of Associates, as a testimony to their ability in 
imitating and diffusing copies in chiar'oscuro of the most 
admired of ancient and modem works, and in rescuing 
from obhvion by their skilful hands many meritorious 
examples of art. By this arrangement most of the advan- 
tages of the institution were conceded to them, although 
they were not admitted, as is now the case, to that class 
to which the management of the establishment belongs. 

The government of the Society is vested in a President 
(annually elected or re-elected), and a Council of ten 
members (including the President and Secretary), the 
seats going by succession to all the Academicians ; the 
four seniors retiring every year, and newly-elected mem- 
bers being called upon to serve in the next succeeding 
CounciL The Treasurer, when not serving in rotation, is 
a member of the Council, ex officio, but has no vote. By 



860 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

this simple arrangement all the affairs of the Academy 
are managed and decided without unnecessary difficulty 
or expenditure of time. In addition, there is an annual 
General Assembly of all the Eoyal Academicians, to elect 
a President, declare the Council, choose visitors and 
auditors, confirm new laws, adjudge premiums to students, 
elect those who are to be sent abroad, hear complaints 
and redress grievances, and transact any other business 
relating to the Academy. The assembly also meets re- 
peatedly during the year, whenever the attendance of aU 
the members is necessary. 

The officers consist of a Secretary^ who in addition 
to the correspondence, takes the care of the Antique 
Academy, in the absence of the Keeper, and the direction 
of the servants of the Academy : the Treasurer^ appointed 
by the Sovereign, who makes disbursements, receives all 
funds, and keeps the accounts of the Academy, reporting 
them quarterly to the Council, and submitting them to 
the keeper of H.M.'s Privy Purse, to be by him finally 
audited : three Auditors of the accounts, who are chosen 
by ballot annually: the Keeper^ whose business is to 
attend regularly in the Antique Academy, to give advice 
and instruction to the students, to be constantly at 
hand to preserve order and decorum, and to superintend 
the Academy, and the models, casts, &c. belonging to it : 
and the Librarian^ selected by the Sovereign, who is 
expected to attend in the Library from 10 till 4 on Mon- 
day, and fi-om 5 to 8 on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, 
to preserve order, to take charge of the books, &c. The 
pecuniary recompense of these permanent officers is so 
small that it would be derogatory to any man of talent to 
receive it, if it were not that they are stations of high 
consideration amongst the body, and are therefore held 
much more as honours than as situations of emolument. 
In addition to these officers there is a Registrar^ who is 
not a member of the Academy, to whom the charge of aU 
the records is entrusted, who prepares all statistical returns. 



CH.XX.] OFFICERS OF THE ACADEMY 361 

and is in daily attendance to transact any business that 
may be required. 

Besides the oflSicers practically engaged in carrying on 
the work of the Academy there are five Honorary Members^ 
selected from the most distinguished in the land as 
Professors of Ancient History and Literature, as Antiquary, 
Chaplain, and Secretary for Foreign Correspondence ; the 
intention of these appointments being to unite Art with all 
from which it may require aid ; for, although the general 
education of artists ought to be as extensive as possible, yet 
they will sometimes require the assistance of those whose 
special studies and abihties have been directed to a 
deeper research into particular subjects than the artist 
can ever hope to give to literary studies. 

The Professors of Painting^ Sculpture and Architecture 
(and also of Perspective^ until the recent substitution of a 
teacher of that branch of study) are elected for five years 
(being eligible for re-election), and are required to read 
annually six lectures calculated to instruct the students in 
the several branches. There is also a Professor of Ana- 
tomy ^ " elected from among the most eminent men in that 
branch of science," who lectures on the appUcation of 
anatomical knowledge to the Arts, and superintends prac- 
tical demonstrations for the instruction of the students. 
Each professor is aUowed two years on appointment to 
prepare his course of lectures ; if not delivered within the 
third year, he is deemed to have resigned his office. The 
Lecture season commences on the second Monday evening 
in November : the first delivered are those on Anatomy ; 
then Perspective, Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting, in 
succession. Nine Boyal Academicians are appointed as 
Visitors of the Life Academy, " to attend one month each 
by rotation, to set the figure, to examine and correct the 
performances of the students, and give them their advice 
and instruction." Nine others are appointed as Visitors 
of the School of Painting, " to attend one month each by 
rotation twice a week, for two hours each time, to set the 



302 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

draped model, to superintend the progress of the students, 
and afford them such instruction as may be necessary." 
Of these five and four alternately go out at every year's 
election. The first professors of art in the country are thus 
ready to devote their time and give the results of their 
experience to the students for a remuneration, which for 
such teachers, must be regarded as insignificant. 

The Funds of the Society are vested in the names of 
four Trustees^ the President, Treasurer, and Secretary, 
besides one other member. The salaries of the several 
officers have been increased as the financial position of the 
Academy has improved, as will be seen by comparing 
those fixed by the Instrument of Institution [see ante, 
vol. i. pp. 49-55] with the laws now in force. At the pre- 
sent time an annual stipend of £300 a year is given to the 
President, until such time as Sir F. Chantrey's bequest for 
that purpose is available ; the salary of the Secretary is 
£250 and an allowance of £150 per annum in lieu of 
residence in the Academy ; the Keeper £200, with apart- 
ments, &c. ; the Treasurer £100, the Librarian £120, the 
Professors each £60 for six lectures, and the Eegistrar 
£200 and an apartment. The members attending at 
each meeting of Council receive £4 10^. among them 
(the intention apparently being to pay for coach-hire) ; 
every member present at a general assembly receives ten 
shillings, and those appointed to arrange works for the 
exhibition £2 28. for each day's attendance ; the Visitors 
one guinea for each attendance. 

Pensions are now granted to 

An Academician of . . £105 per annum , if it does not make his 

whole annual income exceed . £200 

An Associate .... 75 ,, 160 

The Widow of an Academician 75 „ 160 

,y Associate . 45 jy 100 

the Council being " scrupulously bound to investigate each 
claim and to make proper discrimination between impru- 
dent conduct, and the unavoidable failure of professional 



CH.XX.] THE FUNDS — THE EXmBITION 368 

employment." These pensions do not preclude those 
receiving them from also having temporary reUef in 
addition, under pressing difficulties ; but such sums (never 
to exceed fifty pounds) must be paid out of the ordinary 
annual income, and not out of the Pension Fund. 
Members failing to exhibit for two years, or if sculptors 
three, unless from illness, or after they have attained the 
age of sixty, have no claim on the Pension Fund. The 
donations are made (on the recommendation of a Koyal 
Academician, and one other person of respectability) to 
artists v^ho are or have been exhibitors, their widows or 
children, and occasionally also to those who have not 
even in this way been connected with the Academy. 

The members, both Academicians and Associates, have 
free ingress to the Library, &c. at all seasonable times, 
and Associates have the same number of tickets of ad- 
mission to the Lectures, the private view, the soir^, &c. 
as the Academicians. "All Academicians of foreign 
academies of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, shall 
be allowed free admittance to the Schools, the Library, 
and the Lectures, and the President is empowered to 
grant a ticket of general admittance for that purpose." 

The rules relative to the Annual Exhibition (" in which 
all artists of distinguished merit shall be permitted to ex- 
hibit their works "), are, that it shall be opened to the 
pubUc for six weeks or longer, that no work exhibited 
elsewhere shall be admitted, nor wax models nor needle- 
work, &c. ; that the works of members be numbered, that 
the arranging committee may so dispose them in their 
order, and that those of deceased members be ehgible 
only within one year after decease ; that no alterations of 
the arrangements made be permitted; that no copy of 
any work entrusted to the Eoyal Academy for exhibition 
be made, and that exhibitors shall have free admittance 
to the exhibition. 

The invitations to the Annual Dinner are issued by 
the President and Council to "persons in elevated 



304 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

situations of high rank, distinguished talents, or known 
patrons of the Arts " — the number being limited to 140, 
exclusive of those sent to the members and the musicians. 
If any of those invited dedine, or are unable to come, 
their places are not afterwards filled up. In conformity 
with established etiquette, the President waits personally 
on the Princes of the blood with the customary invitation. 
It is not a public dinner, but a banquet given by the 
members to a certain number of illustrious and distin- 
guished guests who are invited to partake of the 
hospitahties of the Academy amidst the beauties of Art 
as yet unrevealed to the public eye. The cost of the 
entertainment is defrayed out of the fimds of the Society, 
and each guest is present in virtue of a special and 
personal invitation. The Cabinet Ministers, the great 
officers of State and of the Eoyal household, the heads 
of the Church, the Army, Navy, Law, and Civic authority 
are, according to usage, invited, and generally the leading 
members of " the Opposition " to the Ministry then in 
power. The Council determine all new invitations by 
ballot. Until Sir Charles Easdake became President the 
members of the press were not invited to be present, but 
of late years the proceedings have been reported in " The 
Times " and other daily papers. 

The laws of the Academy in regard to the admission 
of students to the Schools, which are also appended to 
this volume, will show that a Uberal provision has been 
made for affording means of improvement to those who 
give proof of abihty in Art, the instruction being com- 
pletely gratuitous, of the best kind, and with the best 
examples supplied to the student, who is simply required 
to provide his own materials. 

The qualifications for admission are, for painters and 
engravers, a certain proficiency in drawing in chalk from 
an undraped antique statue ; for sculptors, the ability to 
model in round or in bas-rehef from a similar statue ; and 
for architects, the execution of drawings to indicate a 



CH.XX.] THE SCHOOLS 866 

reasonable degree of proficiency. If these are approved, 
the candidate, duly recommended by any person of known 
respectability, is admitted as a probationer ^ after which he 
is allowed three months in which to prepare, within the 
Academy, a set of drawings or models. At the end of 
that time he is, if his performances are approved by the 
Council, admitted as a student for seven years, and can 
then attend every day during the period in which the 
Schools are open. One failure in this ordeal does not 
prevent a renewed attempt, or exclude from subsequent 
admission as a student 

The Antique School which is the first entered, is appro- 
priated to the study of the best remains of antique sculp- 
ture: from thence, on proving his abihty and showing 
a certificate of having attended the whole course of Per- 
spective, and one entire course of lectures, the student is 
eUgible to be admitted to the school of the Living Model, 
in which care is taken that no impropriety shall take place, 
and that no one is allowed to enter except when " employed 
in his immediate business as a Student of the Academy." 
From these departments the next grade is the School 
of Painting, intended " to provide facihties for the more 
special study and practice of the art of Painting," to 
which the students of the School of the Living Model, 
being painters or engravers, are eligible ; and also imder 
special conditions some of those in the Antique, and 
students in Sculpture. 

In these schools a constant opportunity of study is 
aJBbrded, being open every day (except on Sundays, 
and during the vacations, of which tiiere are three in the 
year, including the period during which the rooms are 
required for the exhibition), the Antique from 10 A.M. to 
3 P.M. ; and from 5 to 7 p.m. in summer, and 5 to 8 p.m. 
in winter ; the Living Model from 5 to 7 p.m. in summer 
and from 6 to 8 in winter, and the Pamting School from 

10 A.M. till 4 P.M. 

The students have access to the Library — filled with 



366 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

choice drawings and engravings of every known school of 
art, and of works on the fine arts, antiquities, history, &c. 
—on Mondays (except during the vacations), from 10 till 
4, and on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 
5 to 8, summer and winter ; and they are granted free 
admission at all times to the annual exhibition. 

As an encouragement to perseverance, a biennial dis- 
tribution of the following premiums is made: a gold 
medal, with the discourses of Eeynolds and other books, 
is given for (1) the best historical picture in oil colours, 
being an original composition consisting of not less than 
three figures : (2) for the best model of an historical bas- 
rehef or alto-rehef, to consist of two or more figures, or 
for a group in the round : (3) for the best finished design 
in architecture. A scholarship to the amount of £25 
may be added to this award, and may be renewed for a 
second year at the option of the Council, but cannot be 
held together with the TraveUing Studentship. In addi- 
tion to these the " Turner " gold medal is given for the 
best landscape in oil-colours. Silver medals are also 
awarded for the following subjects : — 

For the best Drawing of a figure from the Life; in the School of the 

Living ModeL 
;y« Punting from the Living Draped Model. 

„ Drawings and Models of Academy figures^ done in the 

School of the Living Model. 
„ Aichitectural Drawings from a given subject^ measured by 

the students. 
„ Drawings and Models of a statue or group in the Antique 

Academy. 
„ Perspective Drawing in Outline. 

„ Drawing exemplifying the principles of sciography. 

,; Medal Die cut in steel ; 

and a £10 premium for the best drawings executed in the 
Antique School, or the School of the Living Model during 
the year, besides presents of books to the most successful 
students. The silver medals are also given in the inter- 
mediate years. The premiums are adjudged by a general 



PlilMLEGES OF STUDEKTS 



assembly of the Academicians, who meet annually on 
December 1, to inspect the different performances, and 



they are ddivered to the successfiil candidates on 
December 10, the anniversary of the foundation of 
the Academy. Considerable importance attaches to the 
adjudication of these testimonials of honour, as well as to 
the performances by which they have been earned, for if 
judiciously bestowed, they lead us to watch with interest 
the future career of the recipients, and also serve to indi- 
cate the tendencies of the rising talent of the day. 

Nor do the privileges of the students cease here : for 
besides free entrance to the schools for seven years, per- 
mission to attend the Lectures of the Professors, to make 
use of the Library, and to visit the annual exhibition, they 
may, by obtaining first-class premiums, retain the privileges 
of students for life. The student who gains the gold medal 
in each class is selected in rotation to piursue hb studies 
on the Continent for two years, receiving an allowance of 
£60 for his journey and return, and £100 annually for 
his expenditure : in special cases in Painting and Sculpture 
this award may be exchanged for an allowance to pursue 



368 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

hifi studies at home, proof being given that the candidate 
makes good use of the advantages offered to him. In 
Architecture a TraveUing studentship of £100 for one 
year is offered annually, except during the term allotted 
to the Gold Medal student in Architecture. Each 
" Travelling Student " is required on his return, to submit 
to the Council specimens showing the result of his studies 
while abroad. Of course all these advantages may be 
forfeited at any time by immoral or disgraceful conduct 
on the part of the student, whether in or out of the 
Academy. 

The rules by which both the Academy and the schools 
are regulated, have undergone frequent revision from 
time to time, and many alterations and amendments have 
been made in them at different periods ; some of the more 
important of these have been already noticed in this his- 
tory, and the rest may be ascertained by comparing the 
present laws, as printed in extenso in the Appendix, with 
the original Instrument of Institution. Indeed, the whole 
of the arrangements of the Academy have been imder the 
consideration of the members during the last ninety-three 
years, and have been altered whenever it was deemed 
expedient to meet the changes effected during that long 
period, in the position of the Society and of the Arts in this 
country. 

In the schools of the Eoyal Academy no less than 
2,804 persons, purposing to making Art their profession, 
have been educated gratuitously, and that in the best 
possible way — not giving them a superficial knowledge 
of Art, by which to make a rapid display of their abihties, 
but grounding them by careful and patient training in its 
fundamental principles, supplying the best materials for 
imitation, and the first instructors ; and varying these, so as 
to prevent the possibUity of the manner of any one artist, 
however celebrated, being followed by the students. 
Much encouragement is also given to incite to emulation, 
in the form of prizes and honours ; 611 silver medals and 



Ch. XX.] PRIVILEGES OF STUDENTS 369 

121 gold medals (costing nearly £3,000), and several 
money premiums have been bestowed since the establish- 
ment of these schools, besides the travelling allowance 
granted to twenty-three of the gold-medal students. 
Added to these advantages, a " distress fund " was formed 
in 1855, from which temporary rehef might be privately 
bestowed to any student who needed such assistance. 
Besides the instruction provided in the schools, and by 
the professors' lectures, the free admission given to the 
exhibition, and other art collections, the Tower armoury, 
the Zoological Gardens, &c., are all means to the same end. 
The Academy is also in possession of some excellent copies 
of celebrated works in foreign galleries, which serve as 
specimens for students in painting, and they are desirous 
of forming a small collection of original pictures selected 
for their technical excellence, so as to be available 
at times when other fit examples are not obtainable. 
Various are the positions which the students who pass 
through the schools occupy in after life ; they do not all 
become artists, or all attain eminence ; some become 
teachers of drawing (and for those who are qualified for 
such a position, a certificate from the Academy, stating 
that they are considered to be so, would be of great 
value), others may fail in success from want of real 
natural genius, perseverance, industry, or opportunity; 
and some may enter upon other pursuits : but aU have 
had opportunities of acquiring a knowledge of the true 
principles and practice of art, while many have after- 
wards become distinguished in their profession, and have 
had their names enrolled among the most celebrated 
artists of their country. 

It is much to be regretted that a greater number of 
those intending to adopt art as a profession do not take 
advantage of the instruction freely offered by the Eoyal 
Academy. The preparatory ordeal requisite to obtain 
admission (at which more than half the candidates are 
usually rejected), and the further test demanded before the 

VOL. II. B B 



870 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

probationer is confirmed as a student, may deter many 
persons from seeking admission to these schook. In 
January 1861, out of forty-two candidates for probationer- 
ship, twenty-five were rejected ; in July, out of forty can- 
didates, twenty-two were rejected ; and out of the eighteen 
accepted on the last occasion, five subsequently failed 
to obtain admission as students. It is thus that the 
Academy compels those who desire to be instructed to 
give proof of their ability, and seeks to maintain the high 
standard of art-teaching. The fact that the instruction is 
perfectly gratuitous may lead some to suppose it is, there- 
fore, inferior to that which they can pay for elsewhere ; 
but these are only imaginary objections, and the schools 
of the Academy, when really understood, will always be 
regarded as a kind of university of art, wherein none 
can fail to succeed who possess talent and patience in 
study, but where the incompetent and indolent will find 
no compelling power by which they can be "made" 
artists. Nearly all the best professors of art have issued 
from these schools, which it is to be hoped will be yet 
more valuable when increased accommodation is pro- 
vided, for at present the course of study is sadly inter- 
rupted by the use of the rooms for the annual exhibition. 
During the year 1861 the Antique School was open for 
seven months, and the aggregate number of attendances 
of seventy-one students was 4,500. The School of the 
Living Model was closed for three months, and fifty-four 
students attended 2,384 times in the aggregate. In the 
Painting School thirty-five students attended, and at the 
present time 605 students are eUgible to study, 315 of 
whom have obtained medals. 

The lectures of the different professors and the ad- 
dresses of the President are duly estimated by all who 
attend them, whether as students, or members, or as 
visitors. These productions, besides the instruction they 
afford to the professional artist, are valuable to the 
general pubhc, and constitute the most important contri- 



Ch. XX.] LECTURES BY THE PROFESSORS 371 

butions to our art literature. With but few exceptions, 
the professors chosen for this duty have been eminently 
qualified for the tasks assigned to them ; for it has been 
truly observed that " it is not always he who exhibits the 
greatest proficiency, or displays the most conspicuous 
genius in the practical department of art or science, who 
is best qualified to impart judicious principles in con- 
nection with its theory, or trace out the most efiective 
course of study to be followed by those who seek to 
devote themselves to its cultivation." Nor can the remu- 
neration awarded by the Academy to its professors 
diminish the debt of gratitude which we owe to them as 
public art-teachers, a service for which the nation makes 
them no return whatever. It is to be hoped that in its 
fixture enlarged sphere of labour, the Eoyal Academy 
will be enabled to extend this kind of instruction to the 
general public, so that they may be educated in the prin- 
ciples of art, and thus become able to correct false judg- 
ment and to acquire a true taste, to cherish the growth 
of art, and to appreciate the highest excellences of the 
artist's workmanship. 

It is not pretended to assert that all the professors of 
the Academy have been equally gifted, or equally anxious 
to fiilfil the purposes for which they were elected. Artists 
are subject to like feelings and fajlings with other men, 
and some may have neglected to exercise their influence, 
or may have become dead to their responsibilities. But 
it ought not to be forgotten that even when teachers, 
whether in universities of learning or in academies of art, 
are conscientiously fulfilling their duties, it is not possible, 
nor ought it to be expected, that they should make all their 
pupils great men. In the universities, facOities are given 
for opening out the experience and knowledge of ages 
to all, that each may learn to exercise his gifts with in- 
creased faciUty and power. The professors cannot give 
strength of thought, but they lead the minds of students 
into contact with the mighty dead, in the hope that such 

B B 2 



372 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

knowledge may stimulate them to feats of intellectual 
power. It is the same in academies of art ; for in 
their most perfect state they only offer students a know- 
ledge of what experience has shown to be the best means 
and methods, and how these may be most skilfully 
applied. They point them to great thoughts and con- 
ceptions set forth in form and colour, expression, compo- 
sition, or perspective, as other schools present kindred 
thoughts in language. But the artist, like the poet or 
the preacher, will only produce a great and finished 
work, when his mind has been educated in those prin- 
ciples and practices which have rendered great the best 
works of his artistic predecessors or contemporaries. 
The Academy has laboured to this end with the means 
placed at its disposal, and England ought not to forget 
that to this institution and its schools we are indebted 
for our present position in art among the nations. 

It is indeed generally admitted that its schools have 
been ably conducted, and that the instruction afforded in 
them, while of the best quahty, is also most hberally given 
without cost to the students, but at great expense (about 
£2,400 per annum) to the institution, which expends the 
fimds it derives from the annual display of the works of 
its members and others, upon the education of future 
competitors with them for fame. There is no doubt that 
the Academy could readily obtain fees from the students 
for such a course of teaching, which would diminish if not 
cover the expenses they incur ; but it would be contrary 
to the high and generous purpose for which the institution 
was established to do so, and much of the honour and 
gratitude now justly due to the Academy for its services, 
would be forfeited by such a proceeding. 

Many of the students in the Academy have not only 
aimed to rival but have sometimes excelled the works of 
their predecessors, and each succeeding generation has 
made some progress towards elevating the character of 
the English school. The opportunity gratuitously afforded 



Ch. XX.] THE EXHIBITIONS 373 

by the Koyal Academy to every aspirant for fame to 
exhibit his productions side by side with the works of 
those who have akeady attained the honours of the pro- 
fession, and thus to bring them under the notice of the 
patrons of art, and of the pubhc, is an advantage which 
should be borne in mind in considering what has been 
done by the Academy for artists. In preceding chapters 
allusion has been made to the complaints made against the 
Academy for excluding so many works annually, and for 
hanging some where they could hardly be seen ; but when 
the whole available space is appropriated, and when the 
members frequently renounce their own claims to space in 
their own exhibition rooms, that younger and less cele- 
brated men may be brought to notice, there does not seem 
to be any justice in the implied censure, however much 
we may be disposed to sympathise with the disappointed 
feelings of those whose works are excluded. 

During the first few years of the Academy's existence, 
the works of members bore a large proportion to the 
whole exhibition. When it was removed to new Somerset 
House there was sometimes a difficulty in filling the addi- 
tional space there obtained, even though each exhibitor 
was allowed to contribute an unhmited number of works. 
Eeynolds and some other members were often, in those 
days, asked by the arranging committee for more pictures 
to fill the walls. Thus from 1785 to 1787 Eeynolds 
exhibited forty-two works, and in 1790 J. Eussell, E.A., 
sent twenty-two. As the contributions of non-members 
increased, other rooms were appropriated, and those 
assigned to the Secretary were given up for the exhibition, 
he being provided with a residence elsewhere at the cost 
of the Academy, as is still the practice. In 1800 the 
number of pictures by each exhibitor was limited to 
eight ; this rule is still in force, and the members rarely 
send so many. Still there is no doubt that the chief 
attractions of the exhibition are the works of the 
Academicians and Associates, whose privileges are not 



374 HISTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

SO great in proportion to non-members as they were for- 
merly, the chief one retained being that their works shall 
be well displayed — a claim which none can reasonably 
question, even though some may indicate occasional short- 
comings, or in those cases where the ardour of a veteran 
artist's heart may exceed the power of the aged hand. 
The best productions of contributors are placed in the 
best situations, for, setting aside any higher motive, it 
is obviously the interest of the institution to attract the 
pubUc by placing works of merit in conspicuous situations ; 
and the eight members of Council, the President and the 
Secretary, certainly form as competent a tribunal to judge 
of the relative merits of the works submitted as could 
anywhere be found. 

But even if the accommodation at the disposal of the 
Academy were adequate to its necessities (which is so very 
far from the case), it would still be necessary to exclude 
some, and perhaps very many, works offered for exhibi- 
tion ; for it would destroy the real value of the collection 
if it failed to attract the real judges of art, as it would do, 
if it contained many works of mediocrity with here and 
there a few excellent specimens interspersed ; and it would 
fail to have that influence in educating the public taste, 
which a well-selected and judiciously arranged collection 
of ordinarily good pictures is calculated to exercise. As 
it is, the works accepted for exhibition have to undergo 
(from want of space) a further process of selection, in 
which, form, dimensions, size of frames, and the necessity 
for filUng up certain spaces, have to be considered as well 
as the intrinsic merits of the works themselves. Much 
disappointment would be obviated, if the Eoyal Academy 
had accommodation to exhibit all works accepted as meri- 
torious, and the members would gladly save their brother 
artists the painfiil ordeal of finding deserving works 
excluded, to which they themselves in times past have 
been exposed. " The accommodation afforded to the works 
of the exhibitors — opening to the meritorious artist the 



Ch. XX.] HONOURS CONFERRED BY THE ACADEMY 376 

path to distinction and professional success — is the chief 
advantage which the Academy offers to the profession at 
large by its exhibition. The advantage, secured as it ever 
must be by a high degree of merit, does not, however, 
end thus. The successful exhibitor looks forward to the 
honours and privileges of the Eoyal Academy ; and the 
merit which generally secures for him a place of distinction 
on the walb of the exhibition, often renders him ehgible 
for membei-ship." * 

Despite the difficulties created by contracted space, the 
exhibition has always been the besj^vdisplay of works of 
modem art in the country, and is the best means by 
which the pubUc can cultivate a taste for art, and study 
its growth and progress in our own school ; while its 
attractions are such that it has become a fashionable re- 
sort for those who simply seek for the pleasant occupation 
of their leisure time, as well as for those who make the 
fine arts a source of high intellectual enjoyment. 

The honours of the Academy — its Aisociateship, its 
rank of Eoyal Academician, and its highest office, that 
of President — while they are badges of distinction 
recognised by those who are not themselves qualified 
to judge of the relative merits of artists, are also signs by 
which they justly obtain distinction among their brethren 
in the profession. That they often lead to patronage is a 
natural result, and since they have been conferred by the 
best qualified judges, they are more likely to be worthily 
bestowed as they are now awarded, than they would be 
under any other arrangement. No exclusive spirit, no pre- 
judice or favouritism, no narrow-minded or self-interested 
motives, influence these elections ; nor can such be even 
suspected, if we make ourselves acquainted with the hves 
of those who have attained all these honours in the past 
They belonged not to any high famiUes, no influence from 
without was pressed into their service, personal friendship 



Report of the Council, 1869-60, 



376 HISTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

might indeed bias here and there a single member of the 
Academy ; but on the whole such as were elected could 
be chosen by no factious or mercenary spirit, and were at 
least considered the best artists among the candidates at 
the time. 

The promise of early talent has not, however, in all 
cases been realised : but in what human institution is 
perfection to be obtained, and in what position in life 
have not the first expectations of a future brilUant career 
been sometimes disappointed ? Some artists have early 
obtained the rank of Associates, but either because they 
slackened their efibrts to attain greater excellence, and 
were satisfied with the distinction they had gained, or grew 
indolent, or lacked genius, they did not fulfil their first pro- 
mise, and have sometimes waited years, and in other cases 
remained till the end of their lives, without being elected 
to the higher rank. In some few instances, Academicians 
have been led from the active pursuit of their profession 
by the speedy acquisition of wealth, or by other causes, 
and in such cases it is to be regretted that there is not 
some means by which the number of active working 
members might be kept up, without requiring those who 
have thus virtually retired from their profession to resign 
also their academic honours. Sir N. Dance resigned 
when he obtained a fortime in 1790, and Sir Eobert 
Smirke when he retired from his profession in 1859 — ^but 
it would be more satisfactory if a supplemental list of 
retired members could be kept, by which their distinction 
of E.A. might be preserved, without diminishing the 
efficiency of the governing and active body. 

It is obvious, however, that no such retirement could 
be made compulsory ; for it would be very painful to an 
artist still loving his profession and full of enthusiasm for 
art, and still conscious of the power of exercising his 
genius (as many venerable men have been long after 
the allotted term of " threescore years and ten " has 
been reached) to find himself deemed no longer on a par 



Cn. XX.] RETIREMENT OF MEMBERS 877 

with those whom he has hitherto rivalled in abihty, and 
to see himself removed from the place of honom* he had 
so worthily filled for many years, to make room for a 
younger member of his profession. Even if the act of 
retirement, from any of these causes, were voluntary, such 
members, although exempted from active duty as 
members of Council or Visitors, should not cease to be 
allowed to attend, if able, the general assembly; their 
names would stiU appear in the annual catalogue in a 
separate list, and they would still retain the rank and dignity 
of a Eoyal Academician. By some such arrangement as 
this it might be possible to extend the honours of the 
Academy to a greater number of artists, without depriv- 
ing any of the members of their reward, or making any 
addition to the present complement of acting members. 

In the same manner, irreparable ill-health, extreme age, 
or any other cause by which an Associate was altogether 
withdrawn from his profession, might be considered in a 
similar way, and an arrangement made by which, while 
he was not in consequence deprived of the honour he had 
obtained, a more active member of the profession might 
be enabled to obtain the like distinction. Indeed, as we 
have already ventured to suggest,^ it might be possible to 
extend the class of Associates without diminishing the 
value of the higher dignity, or increasing the present 
number, of Eoyal Academicians. 

It has sometimes been the fashion to pronounce the 
Academicians exclusive in the selection of those who fill 
the vacancies in their ranks : but as their own dignity in 
their position arises from the estimation in which the 
institution of which they are members is held by the 
pubhc, it is obvious that, if from no higher motive, self- 
interest alone would induce them to enhst into their com- 
munity the men who would confer the greatest distinction 
upon the Academy by their talents, and so to invigorate 



* Vol. i. p. 63. 



878 inSTORY OF THE ROYAL AC.AJ)EMY [Ch. XX- 

and elevate the whole body. Leslie has observed on this 
point, " as well indeed might we expect to find a sincerely 
religious man indifierent to the advancement of piety, as 
to meet with a really good artist unconcerned for the 
general advancement of art. It would be absurd to claim 
for my own profession any exemption from the infirmities 
of human nature, and it must be admitted that the greatest 
painters, and very good men among them, have not been 
free from jealousies of their contemporaries : but to judge 
from my own experience, I should say that bad feeUngs 
rankle most among the inferior artists, where their efiects, 
from the comparative obscurity of the individuals, are 
least known or noticed." Indeed, it is so obviously the 
first duty and the natiu-al aim of the Eoyal Academy to 
sustain its credit, efficiency, and importance by electing into 
its brotherhood the best artists, that it would be most im- 
pohtic for them to attach any vexatious or humiliating 
condition to the terms of admission to its ranks. Except 
during the first few years of the Academy's existence, the 
full number of members has been complete ; and latterly 
arrangements have been made to fill vacancies at short 
intervals, instead of waiting for the annual election-day, 
as was formerly the case. No one, however, becomes a 
Eoyal Academician until the royal sign-manual is attached 
to the diploma, and if from any circumstance the Sovereign's 
signature camiot be obtained, the Associateship cannot 
be filled up until the election of the member vacating it, 
on elevation to the higher rank, has been thus con- 
firmed. 

We have already ^ discussed the question of the limit 
fixed by the instrument of institution to the number of 
Academicians, and we need only further remark that, 
as the number was fixed prospectively on the basis of 
long-estabhshed foreign academies, any further extension 
of that limit would only necessitate the admission of 



» Vol. i. pp. 61-62. 



Ch. XX.] ELECTIONS OF MEMBERS 379 

artists of less ability, and destroy the value of the dis- 
tinction intended to be conferred only upon the highest 
degree of excellence. Already by the addition of twenty 
Associates, two Academician-Engravers and two Associate- 
Engravers, there has been a large increase of the original 
estabhshment, sufficient to show that the Academicians 
have not been immindful of the necessity for adapting 
the institution to the wants of the age ; although these 
changes have been made gradually, cautiously, and care- 
fully, to guard against the disastrous consequences of the 
lax government in this respect of former art societies. 

It has been sometimes urged as a grievance that no ladies 
have been elected, either as Associates or Academicians, 
since the time when two were nominated by George III. 
on its foundation. No law forbids such a selection ; but 
one or two ladies, if elected as members, could scarcely 
be expected to take part in the government, or in the 
work of the society ; and as the practice even of giving 
votes by proxy has long since been abolished, the effect of 
their election as Eoyal Academicians would be, virtually, 
to reduce the number of those who manage the affairs of 
the institution and the schools, in proportion as ladies 
were admitted to that rank : and as long as the number 
of Associates is limited, a difficulty would arise in the fact 
that the higher rank has to be recruited from that body. 
Whether a number of honorary appointments could be 
made, to recognise talent in such cases, but conferring 
none of the other rights or privileges of membership, is a 
matter which the Council of the Academy are best able to 
determine ; and there is no doubt from their desire, as far 
as is wise and reasonable, to meet any just demands, that 
the claims of all artists of ability, whether male or female, 
will meet with due consideration. 

Several members of the Royal Academy have been 
elected honorary members of foreign academies, and have 
doubtless received those distinctions with much gratifica- 
tion and honest pride. But the Eoyal Academy has not 



380 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

reciprocated the compliment thus paid to British artists, 
by conferring similar honours on foreign artists. The 
subject has not, however, been overlooked ; but the space 
for the annual exhibition being so hmited, it was difficult 
to confer the honorary rank of membership on foreign 
professors of eminence without offering them the customary 
privilege of contributing specimens of their works, to 
the still further exclusion of the productions of many 
of our own meritorious artists, not members of the 
Academy. Yet it would be a graceful return to the 
foreign academies to elect some of their brightest orna- 
ments as honorary members of our own Eoyal Academy, 
and, if necessary, to withhold the invitation to exhibit 
imtil increased accommodation is provided, when it would 
be both interesting and instructive to compare the works 
of different modem schools, and to become better ac- 
quainted with the works of contemporary foreign artists. 
Before dismissing the subject of the election of mem- 
bers, it may be necessary to say a few words on the 
subject of the specimens of their skill which they are 
required to deposit in the Academy on attaining the rank 
of E.A. By the laws, the diploma of a newly-elected 
member cannot be submitted for the Sovereign's signature 
until this specimen (which is hence called his " diploma " 
work) has been deposited, and no Associate can be 
elected in his stead until this is done. His desire not to 
delay the election of an Associate prompts him hastily to 
prepare a work for the purpose, or to deposit a temporary 
substitute, avowedly not a fair specimen, until he has 
time to prepare a better. It has thus happened that 
very imsatisfactory productions, hastily executed, or not 
intended to remain, have been left with the Academy as 
the only specimens of the works of some of its members. 
Of late years the diploma works have been placed in the 
annual exhibition, and so described, which has had the 
effect of making their authors more anxious to perfect them 
than if they were only to be deposited, imseen by the public, 



Ch. XX.] DISPOSAL OF THE FUNDS 381 

in the Academy ; but we trust some arrangement will be 
made by which, in fiiture, more time may be allowed for 
the preparation of the diploma works, without thereby 
delaying the appointment of an Associate ; for such a col- 
lection of works, if of the average merit of each artist, 
would be a valuable historical gallery of specimens of 
English art. As it is, the series of diploma works, defec- 
tive and unworthy of their authors as some few of them 
are, is a very interesting one, and will doubtless increase 
in importance as years roU on.^ 

The disposal of the funds of the Academy next claims 
our attention. The great source of its revenue is the exhi- 
bition, the product of the labours of the members, united 
with the works of those who are aspirants for the honours 
of the institution, and to which they become ehgible by 
being exhibitors. In addition to this source of income, 
there is nothing but the interest on the stock in which 
has been invested its surplus funds, and the gifts of two 
of its distinguished members, the " Turner " bequest and 
that of Sir F. Chantrey in reversion. The statement by 
the Treasurer, copied on the following page, will show the 
total receipts and expenditure for ninety-one years to the 
year 1859. 

It wiU thus be seen that £218,469 bs. was spent up to 
that date on the maintenance of the schools, the general 
management of the Academy, and some few incidental 
expenses, and a sum of £61,511 6^. bd. in pensions to 
members or their famiUes, and in relief to distressed 
artists or their relatives. Perhaps there is not another 
similar instance in Europe of an institution maintained 
by its own efforts, thus dispensing so large a sum for the 
benefit of the country in which it exists, without receiving 
aid from the Government, the nation, or any private 



* A list of the diploma works is the Academy^ and of other art- 
given in the Appendix, as well as of treasures in its possession, 
some works by the first members of 



382 



HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 



individuals. Its officers, as we have already seen, are 
paid but small sums, considering their position in the 
profession, and the intrinsic value of their time ; and 
even its pensions are not granted to all the members, but 
only to the necessitous among them, whereas in other 
art institutions it is customary to grant pensions to all 
members indiscriminately after sixty years of age. While 
it supports unaided a national school of art, it also dispenses 



General Abstract of the Accounts of the Rotal Academy, /roiit 

1769 to 1859. 



Total Sums received flroin the Annual Exhibition, firom 1709 to) 
I8A9 (inclusive), being a period of 91 years (leM tba expen<«g V 
attending tbe same) ) 



Sums rec^ired bv Dividends on Stock, Interest on ) 
Exchequer Bills, Maryleljone Bonds, &c. . .J 

Sums received from His Majesty's PriTy Purse, \ 
from 1769 to 1780 i 

Sums recelTed of tbe Executors of the late J.M.W.\ 
Turner, Esq., R. A., under a Decree ofthe Court | 
of Chancery, dated the 19th March, 1R56, in lieu \ 
of all Claims due to the Royal Academy, under ( 
his Will J 

Interest on the same, as awarded by the said Decree, 
to the Royal Academy, from the 30th of June 
the lOtb of October, ISiM! 



cree, \ 
ne to> 



Sums expended by the Roral Academy, fVom the' 
commencement of the Institution, tIi., from 
1769 to 1H59, In the Gratuitous Instruction of 
Students in the FineArts, in the General Manage- 
ment of tbe Institution, in the Purchase of Books, > 
Prints and Pictures; including the Sum of £500 
contributed toward tbe Exigencies of the State, 
in the year 1798, and the Sum of £600 subscribed 
towards the Great Exhibition of 1851 

Sums paid in Pensions to Distressed and Super- 1 
annuated Members of the Royal Academy and \ 
their Widows, from 1802 to I8d9, under the Re-f 
gulations of the Academy ) 



Sums paid in Donations to Distressed and Super- 
annuated Artisu and their Families, from 1769 
tol8d9 



I 



£91,567 8 9 



6,116 S 



20,000 



213 4 11 



267,083 16 5 



; d. 



96.683 10 9 



20,213 4 11 



884.480 II 1 



218,469 5 



28,739 7 



32,772 5 10 



Total Amount expended in theRelief of Distressed ) 
Artists and thetr Families J 

Balance in faTour of the Royal Academy, loTetted in the Public Funds 

Amount of Stock belonging to the Royal Academy ;— 

In the Three per Cent. Reduced Annuities £98,600 

In the Three per Cent. Consolidated Annuities 24,000 



£122,600 



61,511 6 5 



279,980 II ft 
£104.499 19 8 



February 1860. 



PHILIP HARDWICK, B.A. 
Treasurer, 



Cn. XX.] DISPOSAL OF THE FUNDS 383 

its charities to artists and their families having no claim 
of membership, and no plea to urge but that of want. 
Such labours cannot be overlooked, even when con- 
sidering the services of the Academy to the pubhc ; for 
how much of misery is thus averted from those to whom 
we are all indebted for so many pleasant emotions, as we 
gaze on their works ! and how much of the help which 
public sympathy would render, if called upon to do so, is 
anticipated by the unseen and untold liberahty of the 
institution, which year by year receives the applications 
of distressed artists and their families, and helps them in 
their trouble ! Art is a profession which has of late years 
become a profitable one to those who win pubHc favour, 
but there will always be some backward in the race for 
fame and fortune ; and to these it is right that the kind 
hand of friendship should be extended by this art-brother- 
hood, rather than that the sensitive high-minded man of 
genius should be left to appeal, for himself or those dear 
to him, to the alms of public charity. 

Hitherto the Eoyal Academy has been enabled to lay 
by a portion of its income ; but if the purpose of erecting 
a new building at its own cost, on a site to be provided 
by the Government, is carried out, the accumulations of 
the past eighty years will nearly all be absorbed, and if 
from any unforeseen causes its fiiture receipts should be 
diminished, its usefiilness wiQ be proportionately de- 
creased. It is such considerations as these, and not un- 
willingness on the part of the Academy to extend its 
usefulness, which have hitherto hindered any attempt 
being made to open the exhibition gratis under certain 
limitations for a short time every year, much as the mem- 
bers would wish that as many as possible might benefit 
by the means of instruction and enjoyment it affords. 

The expenditure of the funds of the Academy will 
bear pubhc scrutiny, although, being of a private cha- 
racter and not derived from any public source, they 
are not properly open to such investigation. Care has 



384 inSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

been taken to guard against their diversion from the 
special objects which the Academy was established to pro- 
mote ; and even the Eoyal founder of the Academy per- 
sonally exercised a similar vigilance over its finances. 
The plate possessed by the Academy was not purchased 
out of its funds, but is the gift of the members to the 
institution, each one contributing, at his own cost, some- 
thing towards the general stock ; the annual dinner 
(when the distinguished personages of the realm and the 
patrons of art are invited) and the council dinner (when 
the newly elected and the retiring members of Council 
annually assemble), are the only entertainments provided 
at the cost of the Academy, the members paying for their 
tickets on all other occasions. The King's and Queen's 
birthday dinners have been replaced by the soiree which 
follows the close of the exhibition, provided by the mem- 
bers as a welcome to the exhibitors, and designed to 
express the sympathy of the academic body for the wide 
circle of* artists who gather round them by their works 
from year to year! 

Whether, therefore, we look at the internal working of 
the schools of the Academy, its laws and regulations in 
regard to the election of members, or the manner in which 
its fimds are dispensed, we cannot think that any good 
could possibly result from parliamentary interference in its 
management. Those who know the wants and difficulties 
of a profession, are the most competent to direct the 
studies of its future members; and those who have 
attained to eminence in the practice of art, are certainly 
the most competent judges on all questions relating to it ; 
for Parliament cannot be expected to understand enough 
of such matters to be able to legislate for art, or become 
either the art-collector or custodian of the art-treasures 
of the country. Very little, indeed, of this nature, has 
been attempted by it. For nearly forty years after the 
estabhshment of the Eoyal Academy, Parliament did 
nothing for art; in 1805 the ToWley collection of 



Ch. XX.] PARLIAMENTARY CONTROL 386 

marbles was purchased, and in 1816 the Elgin marbles ; 
with the exception of the annual vote for the British 
Museum, nothing more was done till 1824, when the 
nucleus of the National Gallery was formed. From that 
time to the present, a sum of £184,505 has been voted 
for the purchase of pictures, and during the last thirteen 
years, an equal sum has been spent on the Department of 
Science and Art, and other kindred institutions. But, 
whenever questions relating to art have come under the 
consideration of Parliament, it has been deemed necessary 
to obtain the opinion of some of the most eminent members 
of the Academy upon them before any decision was given ; 
for since the foundation of the Eoyal Academy, it has 
encircled within its folds nearly all the eminent artists of 
this country, and has thus attained a recognised position as 
the most competent authority to decide on all questions of 
national importance concerning art. As Parliament has 
no claim to control the Eoyal Academy (for it provides 
none of its fimds), so it is incapable (for it would require 
a technical knowledge of art) to direct a purely art-society, 
having for its object the instruction of students, and the 
award of its honours among those artists who seek for 
them. 

Without the aid of Parliament, and without any grant 
from the public ftmds, the Royal Academy has materially 
advanced the progress of the arts, promoted its professors, 
and obtained for them a status in England which the nation 
never gave to them before. Nor have its labours been 
without good effect in improving the practice of art. 
Many of those who are now members of the Academy, 
remembering the early benefits they derived from the 
lessons of Flaxman, Fuseli, Constable, Leslie, and others, 
can testify to the value of the instruction in the schools, 
in which most of the artists practising and exhibiting 
in the present day, have been students at some part of 
their career. Three-fourths of the present members 
have been trained in those schools, and in the great 

VOL. II. c c 



386 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

Cartoon Competition in 1843, nine out of eleven of the 
premiums awarded by the Commission on the Fine 
Arts, were gained by its students. The Academy has 
laboured zealously to remove the reproach of false 
drawing which at one time attached to the English 
schooL Long after the time of Eeynolds, colour at any 
sacrifice was the ruling passion, and certainly it was 
carried in painting heads to a degree of excellence equal 
to that of the Venetians. By aid of the Academy, or at 
least along with it, has grown up a school of national 
art, possessing more of variety in thought and expression, 
and less distinguished by the so-called Academic style, 
perhaps, than any other school in Europe. In our own 
day a tendency is exhibited by very able artists to re- 
produce one or two striking efiects in their works, which 
it will be well for the professors and members of the 
Academy to guard against, both in teaching and practice. 
Several eminent artists, succeeding in some particular efiect, 
or finding a certain subject or class of subjects to be 
popular, have contented themselves with confining their 
efibrts to renewed and often intensified representations of 
the same idea, thus limiting in tone and character, tint 
and effect, and even in choice of subject, their powers of 
execution and invention, which before were full of variety 
and freedom. 

A subject worthy of, and requiring the especial attention 
of the Eoyal Academy, is the instruction of the students 
in painting in the selection of their materials. To 
teach the knowledge of anatomy necessary for correct 
drawing is undoubtedly one great use of the Academy to 
the young student; but in former times the ancient 
masters fiilfiUed another service to their pupils, which the 
Academy (as their modem substitutes) would do well to 
imitate, — viz. to instruct them in that essential branch of 
the technical part of art, which consists in the preparation 
of colours, and the selection of the substances for their 
composition and application. On this the old masters laid 



Cn. XX.] PREPARATION OF COLOURS S87 

great stress/ because they knew that the preservation of 
their works depended upon it. This is a matter of impor- 
tance to the English school, and one from the neglect of 
which its future reputation will greatly suffer. Already 
some of the works of its best masters are all but destroyed 
from this cause. The changes which have taken place in 
some of Sir J. Eeynolds's pictures arise from the experi- 
ments he so frequently made with pigments, the chemical 
properties of which he did not imderstand. Many of 
Wilkie's later works, and some of those by Hilton, Etty 
and Turner are rapidly perishing from the same cause. 
Most of the mischief to our modem pictures has resulted 
from the use of asphaltum and other bituminous pigments, 
which never harden, but contract and expand imder alter- 
ations of temperature, and retain a tendency to fluidity 
from heat ; while metallic and earthy pigments, when 
mingled with the oils and resins of the painter's vehicle, 
become harder and drier by age and exposure. Prom the 
time of Eeynolds till within the last twenty years these 
bituminous pigments were largely used for their cool, 
transparent brown colour, nor they did seem to injure the 
pictures till they were varnished, when they cracked in 
yielding to the strong contraction thus produced. Leshe 
gave another reason for acquiring a chemical knowledge 
of the materials for painting, when he said that " unless 
you possess a most extraordinary knowledge of the 
chemical as well as modifying qualities of colour, it was 
always very uncertain whether you would obtain by that 
means the exact tint you wanted." It would be a great 
service to the cause of art, if the Eoyal Academy would, 
with the aid of some of the best analytical chemists, 
thoroughly investigate the whole subject, and instruct our 
rising artists so to apply their materials as to preserve their 
pictures from an untimely end. 

A retrospect of art during the past century presents a 



^ See ante, vol. L p. 18. 
c c 2 



388 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY [Ch. XX. 

Btriking and very gratifying contrast. A hundred years 
ago artists were often compelled to resort to what would 
now be thought unworthy employments, in order to 
obtain a maintenance. A man of real talent as a painter 
then became an engraver, or a painter of scenes or signs 
or coach-panels, also, because that kind of art was most 
in demand, and that at a time when there were compara- 
tively few painters of any kind. Now that they are 
nmnbered by thousands, we find all obtaining employ- 
ment, and some speedily realising large fortunes. Insti- 
tutions for promoting the Fine Arts are to be found in most 
of the large towns in the kingdom, local exhibitions are 
becoming very general, and many are now held annually 
in London, besides that of the Eoyal Academy ; the htera- 
ture of the present day is remarkable for the number and 
the beauty of its illustrations, thousands of designs and en- 
gravings being annually required for this purpose alone, 
while the very news of the week is now accompanied 
by pictures many of them full of artistic excellence. 
Science, too, has discovered means by which pictorial 
representations may be more speedily multipUed ; besides 
the old forms of engraving, Uthography, chromo-printing, 
wood engraving, and more wonderftd than all, the art of 
photography, have displayed their powers : but while art 
has thus been so cheapened and popularised that no home, 
however poor, need now be without its good prints or 
pictures, there is still an increasing demand for works of 
the highest class, and of the most costly character. At 
no previous period were artists so liberally remune- 
rated for their works as they now are, nor has there 
ever been so decided and general an appreciation of the 
works of the English school as in the present day; 
and we cannot but feel that much of this is due to tie 
labours of the Eoyal Academy, both as an art-teacher 
and as the community of the best professors in the king- 
dom, bound together by an obUgation taken when they 
attain their honours that they will use their best endea- 



Ch. XX.] INFLUENCE OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 389 

vours to promote the noble purpose for which it was 
instituted. The high social position which the mem- 
bers of the Academy have attained, and by which the 
status of all professors of art is improved, is due to the 
honour which the Eoyal Founder was first pleased to 
bestow upon them as a class. When George ILL granted 
to the chief officers of the Academy direct personal com- 
munication with himself, as the Sovereign and as their 
Patron, he conferred a dignity upon all the professors of 
the arte represented by them ; and the honour of knight- 
hood, which has been bestowed on several occasions in 
recognition of the genius of artiste, is a further proof 
of the influential position which the arte have now at- 
tained ; a result first attributable to the Royal patronage, 
and next, to the fact that those upon whom it has been 
bestowed, have worthily fulfilled the trust reposed in 
them. 

The favour of the Sovereign still happily reste upon 
the Eoyal Academy ; it possesses also the moral support 
which the approval of the public confers on it : and if it 
has met with opposition, not always kind or just, let us 
hope that it will serve but as a stimulus to continued 
activity in the course which, not perfectly, but yet with 
steady and unswerving energy, it has pursued in the past, 
and that ite future wiU be one of increasing usefulness 
and prosperity. 



APPENDICES. 



I. LIST OF THE BOYAL ACADEMICIANS, 1768-1862. 

n. LIST OF THE ASSOCIATES WHO HAVE NOT BECOME ROYAL 
ACADEMICIANS, 1770-1862. 

m. LIST OF THE OFFICEBS, PROFESSOES, AND HONORARY 
MEMBERS. 

IV. DIPLOMA WORKS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMICD^S, AND SOME 
OTHER ART-TREASURES IN POSSESSION OF THE ROYAL 
ACADEMY. 

V. LIST OF THE STUDENTS TO WHOM GOLD MEDALS HAVE 
BEEN AWARDED, AND OF TRAVELLING STUDENTS. 

VI. CONSTITUTION AND LAWS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY, AND 
OF THE SCHOOLS. 



THa DIPU)I(A ORAMTXD 1 

■mv the Urm plite br F. DAtTotoi: 



APPENDIX I 



THE EOYAL ACADEMICIANS, 1768-1862. 

DistiDguishing those who were educated in the Schools of the 
Royal Academy, and those appointed to offices in it; and 
giving the dates of appointment, both as Associates and 
Soyal Academicians, and, where necessary, the date of 
decease. 



[The first thirty-six were nominated on the Foundation of the Royal Academy 

by King George III.] 



Date of 
BlectloD 



1768 
1768 
1768 
1768 

1768 
1768 
1768 

1768 
1768 
1768 
1768 
1768 
1768 
1768 
1768 

1768 



Namea 



Sir Joehoa Reynolds 
Francis Cotes . 
Joseph Wilton . 
Thomas Sandby 

George Barret • 

Sir William Chambers 

George Michael Moser 

Charles Catton . 
Jeremiah Meyer 
Richard Yeo . 
Benjamin West 
Paul Sandby 
John Baker 
John Gwynn . 
Samuel Wale . 

William Tyler . 



ProteiioD 



Painter 



ft 



Sculptor 
Architect 

Painter 

Architect 

Sculptor 

Painter 

If 
Sculptor 

Painter 

>f 

ff 

Architect 

Painter 
Architect 



Student 
of R. A. 



Asso- 
ciate 



Date of 
Decease 



1792 
1770 
1803 
1798 

1784 
1796 
1783 

1798 
1789 
1779 
1820 
1809 
1771 
1786 
1786 

1801 



Offices filled by 



First President 

Keeper: Librarian 

Professor of Archi- 
tecture 

Treasurer 

Keeper : Deputy- 
Librarian 



President 
Deputy-Librarian 



Professor of Per- 
spective : Libra- 
nan 

Trustee and Auditor 



394 



HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 



Date of 
Eleciioti 


Name! 


ProfeuioD 


Student 
ofR. A 


Auo- 

ciate 


Date of 
Decease 


1 
Offlcea flUed by 


1768 


Mason Chamberlin . • 


Painter 






1787 




1768 


Francesco Bartolozzi . 


11 










1815 




1768 


John Richards . 


11 










1810 


Secretary 


1768 


Peter Toms 


It 










1776 




1768 


Nathaniel Hone 


11 










1784 




1768 


Francesco Znccarelli . 


11 










1789 




1768 


Dominic Serres 


11 










1792 


Librarian 


1768 


G. Baptista Cipriani . 


If 










1785 




1768 


Richard Wilson 


11 










1782 


Librarian 


1768 


Edward Penny . 


It 










1791 


Professor of Paint- 

• 


1768 


Agostino Carlini 


Sculptor 










1790 


ing 
Keeper 


1768 


Francis Milner Kewton . 


Painter 










1794 


Secretary 


1768 


Angelica Kanffinan . 


»» 










1805 




1768 


MaiyMoser 


>t 










1819 




1768 


Fmnds Hayman 


1* 










1776 


Librarian 


1768 
1768 


George Dance . 
Thomas Gainsborough 


Architect 
Painter 










1825 
1788 


Trustee : Auditor : 
Elected Prof, of 
Arch., but declined 


1768 
1769 


Sir Nathaniel Dance . 
Johann Zoffanij 


11 

ff 










res. 1790 

d, 1811 

1810 




1769 


William Hoare . 


1* 


• 








1792 




1771 


Edward Borch . 


Sculptor 


1769 


1770 


1814 


Librarian 


1771 


Richard Cosway 


Painter 


1769 


1770 


1821 




1772 


Joseph Nollekens 


Sculptor 


• • 


1771 


1823 




1773 

1777 
1778 


James Barry 
William Peters . 
John Bacon 


Painter 

11 

Sculptor 


• • 

1769 


1772 
1771 
1770 


exp. 1799 
d, 1806 

res, 1790 

d. 1814 

1799 


Professor of Paint- 
ing 


1779 


John Singleton Copley 


Painter 


• » 


1776 


1815 




1781 


Philip James de Louther- 
boorg 


ft 


• • 


1780 


1812 




1783 


Edmnnd Garvey 


ff 


• • 


1770 


1813 




1784 


John Francis Rigand 


tf 


• • 


1772 


1810 


Auditor and Deputy- 
Librarian 


1785 


Thomas Banks . 


Sculptor 


1769 


1784 


1805 


1785 


James Wyatt 


Architect 


• • 


1770 


1813 


Plresident for one 


1785 


Joseph Farington 


Painter 


1769 


1783 


1822 


year 
Auditor 



APPENDIX I. 



305 



D«toof 
Election 


NamM 


Profetalon 


student 
of R. A. 


Auo- 

cUte 


Dftteof 
DeceaM 


Offlcet flUed by 


1787 
1787 


John Opie 
James Northcote 


Painter 


• • 

1771 


1786 
1786 


1807 
1831 


Professor of Paint- 
ing 


1787 


William Hodges 




f 


• • 


1786 


1797 




1788 


John Russell 




f 


1770 


1772 


1806 




1789 


William Hamilton 




f 


1769 


1784 


1801 




1790 
1791 


Henry Fuseli . 
John Yenn 


tf 
Architect 


• • 
1769 


1788 
1774 


1825 
1821 


3rd and 5th Profes- 
sor of Painting: 
4th Keeper 

Treasurer 


1791 


John Webber . 


Painter 


1776 


1785 


1793 




1791 


Francis Wheatley . 






1769 


1790 


1801 




1791 


Ozias Humphrey 






• • 


1779 


1810 




1793 


Robert Smirke . 






1772 


1791 


1845 




1793 


Sir Francis Bourgeois 






• • 


1787 


1811 




1794 


Thomas Stothard 






1777 


1791 


1834 


Deputy-Libranan 


1794 


Sir Thomas Lawrence 






1787 


1791 


1830 


President 


1794 


Richard WestaU 






1785 


1792 


1836 




1795 


John Hoppner . 






1776 


1793 


1810 




1797 


Sawrey Gilpin . 






• • 


1795 


1807 




1798 


Sir William Beechey. 






1772 


1793 


1839 




1799 
1799 


Henry Tresham . 
Thomas Daniell 






• • 
1773 


1791 
1796 


1814 
1840 


Professor of Paint- 
ing 


1800 


Sir Martin Archer Shee 






1790 


1798 


1860 


President 


1800 
1802 


JohnFIaxman . 

Joseph Hallord William 
Turner 


Sculptor 
Painter 


1769 
1789 


1797 
1799 


1826 
1851 


Professor of Sculp- 
ture 

Professor of Per- 
spectiye: Auditor 


1802 
1802 


Sir John Soane . 
Charles Rossi . 


Architect 
Sculptor 


1771 
1781 


1796 
1798 


1887 
1839 


Professor of Archi- 
tecture, Trea- 
surer: Auditor 


1804 


Heniy Thomson 


Painter 


1790 


1801 


1843 


3rd Keeper 


1806 


William Owen . 


» 


1791 


1804 


1825 




1807 


Samnel Woedforde . 


»i 


1782 


1800 


1817 




1808 

1808 
1809 


Hemy Howard 

Thomas Phillips 
Nathaniel Marchant . 


ft 
Sculptor 


1788 

1791 

• • 


1800 

1804 
1791 


1847 

1845 
1816 


Deputy and Secre- 
tary: Professor of 
Painting 

Professor of Paint- 
ing: Trustee 


1810 


Sir Augustus Wall Calloott 


Painter 


1797 


1806 


1844 





396 



inSTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY 



Date of 
Election 


Namei 


P,ofc.d<» ^^\ 


Amo- 

cUte 


Date of 
DecesM 


OIBces filled bj 


1811 


Sir David Wilkie . 


Painter 


1805 


1809 


1841 




1811 


James Ward 


ti 


• • 


1807 


1859 




1811 
1811 
1811 


Sir Richard Westmacott . 
Sir Robert Smirke, joo. . 
Henry Bone 


Sculptor 

Architect 

Painter 


• • 

1796 

• • 


1805 
1808 
1801 


1856 

res. 1859 

(living) 

1834 


PJrofessor of Sculp- 
ture: Auditor 
Trustee: Treasurer 


1812 


Philip Reinagle 


*t 


1769 


1787 


1833 




1813 


Wilham Theed 


Sculptor 


1786 


1811 


1817 




1814 


Greorge Dawe . 


Painter 


1794 


1809 


1829 




1814 


William Radmore Bigg . 


1* 


1778 


1787 


1828 




1815 


Edward Bird . 


»f 


» • 


1812 


1819 




1815 


Sir Heniy Raebum . 


»i 


• • 


1812 


1823 




1816 


William Mulready . 


II 


1800 


1S15 


living 




1816 


Alfred Edward Chalon 


t* 


1797 


1812 


1860 




1817 


John Jackson . 


f» 


1805 


1815 


1831 




1818 


Sir Francis Chantrey 


Sculptor 


• • 


1816 


1841 


Trustee and Auditor 


1819 


William Hilton 


Painter 


1806 


1813 


1839 


Keeper 


1820 


Abraham Cooper 


)i 


• • 


1817 


living 




1820 


William Collins 


II 


1807 


1814 


1847 


Librarian 


1821 


Edward Hodges Baily 


Sculptor 


1809 


1817 


living 




1822 


WilHam Daniel! 


Painter 


1799 


1807 


1837 




1822 


Richard Cook . 


n 


1800 


1816 


1857 




1823 


Ramsay Richard Reinagle. 


If 


• « 


1814 


res. 1848 

(living) 

1840 




1824 


Sir Jeflppy Wyatville . 


Architect 


• • 


1822 


Auditor 


1824 
1826 
1826 


George Jones . 
William Wilkins . 
Charles Robert Leslie 


Painter 

Architect 

Painter 


1801 

• ■ 
1813 


1822 
1823 
1821 


living 
1839 
1859 


Deputy and Keeper, 
and Librarian 

Plx>fessor of Archi- 
tecture 

Professor of Paint- 

• 


1826 


Heniy William Pickersgill 


n 


1805 


1822 


living 


mg 
Librarian 


1828 


William Etty . 


i» 


1807 


1824 


1849 




1829 


John Constable 


i> 


1800 


1819 


1837 




1830 


Sir Charles Tx)ck Eastlake 


If 


1809 


1827 


living 


Librarian : Presi- 
dent 


1831 


Sir Edwin Heniy Jjandseer 


»» 


1816 


1826 


living 


1832 


Gilbert Stuart Newton 


1* 


1820 


1828 


1835 




1832 


Heniy Penonet Brigge 


f> 


1811 


1825 


1844 




1835 


Clarkson Stanfleld . 


II 


• • 


1832 


living 





APPENDIX I. 



307 



Data of 

Blection 


Names 


ProfBMlon 


student 
ofR.A. 


Auo- 

date 


Date of 
Decease 


Offices filled bjr 


1836 


Sir William Allan . 


Painter 


• • 


1825 


1850 




1836 


John Gibson . 


Sculptor 


• • 


1833 


living 




1836 
1838 


Charles Robert Cockerell . 

John Peter Deering (for- 
merly Gandy) 


Architect 
ff 


• • 
1805 


1829 
1826 


.living 
1850 


P»>fessor of Archi- 
tecture 


1838 


Thomas XJwins . 


Painter 


1798 


1833 


1867 


Librarian 


1838 


Frederick Richard Lee 


>» 


1818 


1834 


living 




1838 


William Wyon . 


Sculptor 


1817 


1831 


1851 




1840 


Daniel Madise . 


Painter 


1828 


1836 


living 




1840 


Frederick Wilh'am Wither- 
ington 


If 


1805 


1830 


living 




1840 


Solomon Alexander Hart . 


»f 


1823 


1836 


living 


Professor of Paint- 

• 

« 4% OP 


1841 


Philip Hardwick 


Architect 


1808 


1839 


living 


ing 
Auditor & Treasurer 


1841 


David Roberts . 


Painter 


• • 


1838 


living 




1841 


John James Chalon . 


tt 


1796 


1827 


1864 




1842 


Sir Charles Barry 


Architect 


• • 


1840 


1860 




1843 


Sir William Charles Ross . 


Painter 


1808 


1838 


1860 




1844 
1846 


John Prescott Knight 
Charles Landseer 


tf 


1823 
1816 


1836 
1837 


Uving 
living 


Professor of Per- 
spective: Deputy 
and Secretary. 


1846 


Thomas Webster 


1* 


1821 


1840 


living 




1846 


Patrick McDowell . 


Sculptor 


1830 


1841 


living 




1846 


John Rogers Herbert 


Painter 


1826 


1841 


living 




1848 


Charles West Cope . 


1) 


1828 


1843 


living 




1848 


William Dyce . 


»» 


• • 


1844 


living 




1849 


Richard Westmacott 


Sculptor 


1818 


1838 


living 




1851 


Sir John Watson (Gordon . 


Painter 


• • 


1841 


living 




1851 


Thomas Creswick 


If 


■ • 


1842 


living 




1851 


Richard Redgrave . 


ff 


1826 


1840 


Uving 




1851 


Francis Ghrant . 


ff 


• • 


1842 


living 




1852 


William Calder Marshall . 


Sculptor 


1834 


1844 


living 




1853 


William PoweU Frith 


Painter 


1837 


1846 


living 




1855 


Samuel Conains 


Engraver 


• • 


1835* 


living 




1855 


Edward Matthew Ward . 


Painter 


1835 


1846 


living 




1856 


Alfred Elmore . 


ff 


1832 


1845 


living 




1857 


Frederick Richard Pickers- 
gill 


tf 


1840 


1847 


living 





* Elected as Associate-Engraver in the New Class 1864. 



308 



HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 



Date of 
Election 


Namef 


Profeuion 


student 
ofR.A. 


Amo- 

cUte 


Date of 
Deceue 


Officee eiled by 


1857 


George Thomas Doo . 


Engraver 


• • 


1856 


liTing 




1858 


John Heniy Foley . 


Sculptor 


1835 


1849 


living 




1859 


John Phillip . 


Painter 


1837 


1857 


living 




1859 


Sydney Smirke . 


Architect 


1817 


1847 


living 




1860 


James Clarke Hook . 


Painter 


1836 


1850 


living 




1860 


Augustas Leopold Egg 


f* 


1836 


1848 


living 




1860 


George Gilbert Scott 


Architect 


• • 


1855 


living 




1861 


Paul Falconer Poole . 


Painter 


. . 1846 


living 





300 



APPENDIX II. 



-•o*- 



LIST OP ASSOCIATES WHO HAVE NOT BECOME ROYAL 

ACADEMICUNS. 



[The full nmnber of twenty Ansociates wbb not completed till 1773 ; nor the full 

number of six AMOciate-Engraven till 1776.] 



Data of 

EICCtlOD 


Names 


Profession 


Student 
oTR-A. 


Date of 
Decease 




1770 


Thomas Mi^or . 


Engraver 




1799 




1770 


Simon FrandB Ravenet . 


»» 




1774 




1770 


Peter Charles Canot . 


tf 




1777 




1770 


John Browne • 


ff 




1801 




1770 


Thomas Chambers . 


»t 




1789 




1770 


Edward SteTens 


Architect 




1776 




1770 


George James . 


Painter 




1796 




1770 


Elias Martin . 


f» 


1769 


unknown 


Erased in 1832 


1770 


Antonio Zuoehi 


i> 


• • 


1796 




1770 


Michael Angelo Booker 


ft 


1769 


1801 




1770 


William Pars . 


» 


1769 


1782 




1771 


Nicholas Thomas Ball 


>» 


• • 


1777 




1771 


Biaggio Bebecca 


f> 


1769 


1808 




1771 


William Tomkins 


If 


• • 


1792 




1772 


Stephen Elmer 


If 


• ■ 


1796 




1773 


Edward Edwards 


If 


1769 


1806 




1776 


Valentine G^reen 


Engraver 


• • 


1813 




1776 


William Pany . 


Painter 


1769 


1791 




1778 


John Mortimer , 


tf 


• • 


1779 








400 



HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 



Date of 
Election 


Namei 


Profescion 


student 
of R. A. 


Date of 
Deceaie 




1778 


James Nixon . 


Painter 


1769 


1812 




1779 


Horace Hone . 


If 


1770 


1826 




1780 
1781 

1783 


George Stubbs . 

Joseph Wright (of Derby) . 

Francis Haward 


11 
11 

Engraver 


• • 
1776 

1776 


1806 
1797 

1797 


Elected RA in 1781: 
declined 

Elected R A . ; erased 
from List of Asso- 
ciates at his own 
request 


1786 


Joseph CoUyer . 


11 


1771 


unknown 




1789 


Joseph Bonomi 


Architect 


• • 


1808 




1791 


James Heath . 


Engraver 


• • 


1836 




1796 


John Downman 


Painter 


1769 


1824 




1797 


Anker Smith . 


Engraver 


• » 


1819 




1800 


George Garrard 


Painter 


1778 


1826 




1800 


James Fittler . 


Engraver 


1778 


1836 




1803 


Joseph Gandy . 


Architect 


1789 


1844 




1803 


Theophilus Clarke . 


Painter 


1793 


unknown 


Name erased in 1832 


1806 


John Tjandseer . 


Engraver 


• • 


1862 




1807 


Archer James OUyer 


Painter 


1790 


1842 




1808 


Samuel Drummond . 


ti 


1791 


1844 




1810 


George Amald . 


11 


• • 


1841 




1812 


William Westall . . 


11 


• « 


1860 




1813 


George Francis Joseph 


11 


1784 


1846 




1814 


William Ward . 


Engraver 


• • 


1826 




1818 


Washington Allston . 


Painter 


1801 


1843 




1819 


William Bromley 


Engraver 


• • 


1842 




1820 


Henry Edridge . 


Painter 


1784 


1821 




1821 


George Clint 


11 


• • 


res, 1836 
d. 1864 


Name erased at his 
own request 


1826 


Francis Danby . 


f> 


• • 


1861 




1827 


Richard James Lane 


Engraver 


• • 


Uving 




1828 


Charles Turner . 


ft 


1796 


1867 




1832 


Andrew Geddes 


Painter 


1807 


1844 




1836 


Robert Graves . 


Engraver 


• • 


living 




1837 


George Fatten . 


Painter 


1816 


living 




1842 


John Hollins . 


ff 


• • 


1866 




1843 


James Tibbetts Willmore . 


Engraver 


• • 


living 




1843 


Thomas Duncan 


Painter 


• • 


1846 





r~ 



APPENDIX 11. 



401 



Date of 
Election 


Names 


Profeuioxi 


Student 
ofR.A. 


Date of 
Decease 


Sat\|ect 


1845 


Thomas Sidney Cooper 


Painter 


1824 

• 


living 




1846 


William Edward Frost . 


If 


1829 


II 




1848 


Robert Thorbum 


»» 


1836 


i» 




1851 


William Bozall 


i> 


1819 


II 




1851 


Edward William Cooke . 


*> 


• • 


II 




1851 


Frank Stone 


>i 


■ • 


1859 




1851 


Henry Weekes . 


Sculptor 


1823 


living 




1852 


Frederick Goodall . 


Painter 


• • 


II 




1853 


John Everett Millais. 


II 


1840 


II 




1853 


Lumb Stocks . 


Engraver 


II 


II 




1855 


John Callcott Horsley 


Painter 


1831 


II 




1856 


John Henry Bobinson 


Engraver 


• « 


II 


New Class 


1857 


George Richmond 


Painter 


1824 


»i 




1859 


John Frederick Lewis 


II 


» e 


»» 




1860 


Henry Nelson O'Nefl 


II 


1836 


»» 




1860 


Wm. Chas. Thos. Dobson . 


II 


1836 


II 




1861 


Richard Ansdell 


II 


• • 


II 




1861 


Thomas Faed . 


II 


• • 


II 




1861 


Baron Carlo Marochetti . 


Sculptor 


• ■ 


If 




1861 


Edward Middleton Barry . 


Architect 


1848 


II 




1861 


James Sant . . • . 


Painter 


1840 


II 





VOL. II. 



D D 



402 



HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 



APPENDIX III. 



-•o»- 



OFFICERS, PROFESSORS, AND HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE 

ROYAL ACADEMY. 



OFFICERS. 



Presidents. 

Sir Joshua Re^iiolds . 
Benjamin West 



1768—1792 
1792—1805 
1806—1820 
[James Wyatt, in the interval 

1806-1806] 
Sir Thomas Lawrence . 1820—1830 
SirM. AShee. . . 1830—1860 
Sir Charles L. Eastlake . 1860— 

Secretaribs. 

Francis Milner Newton 1768—1788 res, 
John Richards . . 1788— 1810 <f. 
Heniy Howard, Dep^. 1810 

Sec. 1811—1847 rf. 
J. P. Knight, Dep». . 1847 

Sec. 1847— 

Trustees. 

Benjamin West . appointed 1792 

1792 
1792 
1792 
1801 



John Richards . 
John Yenn 
William Tyler . 
James Wyatt . 
Henry Howard . 
Nathaniel Dance 



i» 



If 



ti 



»i 



it 



It 



1811 
1813 



Trustees — continited. 
Sir Thos. Lawrence . appointed 1820 



Sir R. Smirke . 
Sir John Soane . 
Sir M. A Shee . 
Sir Francis Chantrey 
T. Phillips 
J. P. Knight . 
Richard Cook . 
Sir Charles L. Eastlake 
Philip Hardwick 
Charles West Cope . 

Trbasubsbs. 



1820 
1825 
1830 
1837 
1842 
1847 
1848 
1860 
1860 
1860 



Sir Wm. Chambers 
John Yenn 
Sir R Smirke . 
Philip Hardwick 
Sydney Smirke . 



. 1769—1796 
. 1796—1820 
. 1820—1860 
. 1860—1861 
. 1861— 



Librarians. 
Francis Hayman . , 1770 — 1776 
Richard Wilson . . 1776—1782 

Or, M. Moser, Dep'. . 1782 
SamnelWale . . . 1782—1786 
Joseph Wilton . . 1786—1790 



APPENDIX in. 



403 



OFFICERS 
LiBRABiAxs — contin ued, 
Dominic Serres . . 1792—1793 

Edward Burch. . . 1794—1814 
Paul Sandby, Dep». . 1799--1809 
J. F. Rigaud „ . 1810 
Thos. Stothard „ . 1810 

Librarian 1814—1834 
George Jones . . . 1834—1840 



William Collins 
C. L. EastlaJce . 
T. Uwins . 
H. W. Hckepsgill 



1840—1842 
1842—1844 
1844—1865 
1866— 



— continued, 

KSEPEBS. 

George M. Moser . 1768—1783 

Agostini Carlini . 1783—1790 

Joseph Wilton . . 1790-1803 

Robert Smirke election (1804) vetoed by 

King George III. 

Henry Fuseli . . 1804—1825 

Heniy Thomson . 1825—1827 r«. 

WiUiam HUton . 1827—1839 

George Jones, Depy. . 1839 

Keeper 1840—1850 res, 

Charles Landseer . 1851 — 



PROFESSORS. 
Of Paintino. 

Edward Penny . . 1768 — 1782 res. 



James Barry . 
Henry Fuseli . 
John Opie 
Henry Tresham 
Henry Fuseli . 
Thomas Phillips 
Henry Howard 
C. R. Leslie 
Solomon Alex. Hart 



1782— 1799ftrp. 
1799—1805 res, 
1805—1807 d. 
1807—1809 res, 
1810—1825 d, 
1826—1832 res, 
1833—1847 d, 
1847—1862 res, 
1854— 



Of Abchitectubb. 
Thomas Sandby . 1768—1798 d. 



George Dance . 
Sir J. Soane 
William Wilkins 
C. R. Cockerell 
Sydney Smirke . 



1798—1805 res, 
1806—1837 d, 
1837—1839 d. 
1839—1856 res, 
1860— 



Of Pebspbctivb. 

Samuel Wale . . 1768— 1786 rf. 
Edward Edwards . 1788—1806 d, . 
J. M. W. Turner . 1807—1837 res, 
J. P. Knight . . 1839—1860 res. 
[A Teacher of Perspectiye substituted 
for the Professorship, 1861]. 

Op Sculftthb. 

JohnFlaxman. . 1810—1826 
Sir R. Westmacott . 1827—1866 
R. Westmacott . . 1857— 

Of Anatomy. 

Dr. William Hunter . 1768— 1783 d, 
John Sheldon . 
Sir Anthony Carlisle 
J. H. Green 
Richard Partridge 



1783—1808 d, 
1808—1824 res, 
1826—1851 res. 
1852— 



Chaplains. 
Rev. W. Peters, late R.A, 

1784—1788 res. 
Bishop of Killaloe (Dr. Ber- 
nard), afterwards Bishop of 
Limerick. . . 1791—1806 
Bishop of Exeter (Dr. Fisher), 
afterwards Bishop of Sa- 
lisbury . . 1807—1826 



HONORARY MEMBERS. 

Chaplains — con tin ued. 
Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Legge) 

1826—1827 
Bishop of Chester (Dr. Blom- 
field), afterwards Bishop of 
London . . . 1827—1858 
Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Wilber- 
foree) .... 1859 



D D 2 



404 



lUSTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY 



HONORARY MEMBERS — coirfwtia?. 



Sbcretabies 



FOB FOBBION CORSB- 
8PONDENCB. 



Joseph Barretti 
James Boswell 
Prince Hoare . 
Sir George Staunton, M.P. 
Sir Heniy Holland, Bart. 



1769—1789 
1791—1795 
1799—1836 
1839—1860 
1860— 



Pbofessobs of Ancient Histobt. 



Oliyer Gk>ld8mith . 
Rev. Dp, T. Franklin 
Edward Gibbon 
William Mitford . 
Heniy Hallam 
George Gxote 



1770—1774 
1774—1784 
1787—1794 
1818—1835 
1836—1859 
1860— 



Pbofessobs of Ancient LrrBBATVBB. 
Dr. Samuel Johnson . 1770—1787 



Bennet Langton 



1787—1802 



Pbofessobs of Ancient Litebatubb — 
continued, 

Charles Bumey, L.L.D. 1803—1816 

Bishop of London (Dr. Howley), 
afterwards Archbishop of 
Canterbuiy . . 1818—1830 

Bishop of Llandaff (Dr. Cople- 

stone) . . . 1831—1849 

Right Hon. T. B. (afterwards 



Lord) Macanlav . 
Dean Milmon 

ANTiatJABIBS. 

Richard Dalton 
Samuel Lysons 
Sir H. Englefield 
Sir W. Scott . 
Sir R. H. Inglis 
Earl Stanhope 



1860—1859 
1860— 

1770—1784 
1818—1819 
1821—1826 
1827—1832 
1850—1856 
1866— 



r 



405 



APPENDIX IV. 



THE DIPLOMA WORKS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMICIANS, AND 
SOME OTHER ART-TREASURES IN POSSESSION OP THE 
ROYAL ACADEMY OP ARTS. 



« • 



The Diploma Works are arranged according to the Order in 
which the Authors of them were elected Soyal Academicians. 
The law requiring new members to deposit a specimen of 
their skill was not passed till October 1770, hence the 
following list does not include the original thirty-six members 
nominated by George III. on the foundation. 



Dat«of 
Election 


Namet 


ProfeuJoD 


Subject 


1771 


Edward Buich . 


Sculptor 


Gem and Cast 




1771 


Richard Gosway 


Painter 


Venus and Cupid 




1772 


Joseph Nollekens 


Sculptor 


Cupid and Psyche 




1773 
1777 


James Bany . 
William Peters . 


Painter 
»» 


(Nothing in possession of 

Academy) 
Children 


the 


1778 


John Bacon 


Sculptor 


Sickness (a head in marble) 




1779 


J. S. Copley 


Painter 


The Tribute Money 




1781 


P. J. de Lontherboiirg 


fi 


ALandsci^ 




1783 


Edmund Garvey 


>f 


A Landscape 




1784 


J. F. Rigaud . 


ft 


Samson and Delilah 




1785 


Thomas Banks . 


Sculptor 


A Falling Giant (a marble statue) 


1786 


James Wyatt . 


Architect 


Design for a Mausoleum 




1786 


Joseph Farington 


Painter 


A Coast Scene 





406 



HISTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY 



Datft of 
ElectioD 


Nainet 


Frofeision 


Subject 


1787 


John Opie 


Painter 


Age and Infancy 


1787 


James Northcote 




It 


Jael and Sisera 


1787 


William Hodges 




11 


View of the Ghauts at Benares 


1788 


John Russell . 




ft 


Naomi and Ruth 


1789 


William Hamilton 




tt 


Vertumnus and Pomona 


1790 
1791 


Henry Fuseli . 
John Yenn 




»t 
Architect 


Thor battering the Serpent of 

Midgard 
Architectural elevation 


1791 


John Webber . 




Painter 


A Scene in Otaheite « 


1791 


F. Wheatley . 




• t» 


A Peasant Boy 


1791 


Ozias Humphrey 




t» 


Fortune Teller 


1792 


Robert Smirke . 




tt 


Don Quixote and Sancho 


1793 


Sir F. Bourgeois 




t» 


A Landscape 


1794 


Thomas Stothard 




tt 


Charity 


1794 


Sip TJionias Lawrenci 




tt 


A Gipsy Girl 


1794 


Richard Westall 




It 


A Peasant Boy 


1796 


John Hoppner . 




tt 


His own Portrait 


1797 


Sawrey Gilpin . 




tt 


Horses in a Storm 


1798 
1799 


Sir W. Beechey 
Henry Tresham 




It 

It 


Portrait of H.R.H. the Prince of 

Wales (George IV.) 
Death of Virginia 


1799 
1800 


Thomas Daniell 
Sir M. A. Shee . 




11 
It 


Hindoo Temples at Bindrabnnd 

on the Jumna 
Belisarius 


1800 
1802 
1802 


John Flazman . 

J. M W. Turner . 

Sir John Soane . 




Sculptor 

Painter 

Architect 


Apollo and Harpessa: marble 

bas-relief 
View of Dolbaddem Castle, North 

Wales 
Design for a new House of Lords, 

&c. 
Bust of Lord Thurlow 


1802 


Charles Rossi . 




Sculptor 


1804 


Henry Thomson 




Painter 


Prospero and Miranda 


1806 


William Owen . 




tt 


Boy and Kitten 


1807 
1808 
1808 


Samuel Woodforde . 
Heniy Howard . 
Thomas Phillips 




11 

It 
Painter 


Dorinda wounded by Silyio, Pastor 

Fido 
The Four Angels loosed from the 

River Euphrates (Rev. ix. 16) 
Venus and Adonis 


1809 


Nathaniel Marchant . 




Sculptor 


Gem and Cast 


1810 


Sir A. W. Callcott . 




Painter 


Morning 


1811 


SirD.WUkie . 




tt 


Boys digging for a Rat 


1811 


James Ward 




tt 


Bacchanalian 



APPENDIX IV. 



407 



Date or 
Election 


Names 


ProfeitioD 


Subject 


1811 
1811 


Sip E. Westmacott . 
Sir K. Smirke, Jon. , 


Sculptor 
Architect 


Jupiter and Ganymede: alto-relievo 

in marble 
Restoration of the Acropolis of 

Athens 
Venus and Cupid 


1811 


HezuyBone . 


Painter 


1812 
1813 


Philip Reinagle 
William Theed . 


Sculptor 


An Eagle and Vulture disputing 

with a Hysena 
A Bacchanalian Group, in bronze 


1814 


George Dawe . 


Painter 


Demoniac 


1814 


William Badmore Bigg . 


II 


Cottagers 


1815 


Sir HeDiy Raebum . 


II 


Boy and Rabbit 


1815 
1816 


Ed. Bird . . . . 
William Mulreadj . 


II 
II 


Proclaiming the young King Joash 

(2 Chron. xxiii. 11) 
The Village Buffoon 


1816 


A. R Chalon . 


II 


Tuning 


1817 


J. Jackson 


II 


Jewish Rabbi 


1818 


Sir F. Chantrey 


Sculptor 


Marble Bust of B. West, P.RJL 


1819 


WilUam Hilton . . 


Painter 


Ganymede 


1820 


Abraham Cooper 


II 


Sir TreTisan fleeing from Despair 

(Spenser) 
Young Anglers 


1820 


William Collins 


II 


1821 


Edward Hodges Bailj 


Sculptor 


Eve : a figure in marble 


1822 


KichardCook . 


Painter 


Ceres rejecting the Solicitation 

of Iris 
View on the Coast of Scotland 


1822 


William Daniell 


II 


L823 


Kamsay B. Reinagle . 


II 


Landscape and Cattle 


1824 
1824 


Sir Jef&y Wyatville 
George Jones . 


Architect 
Painter 


A British Mansion, designed for 

the first Earl of Yarborough 
The Tale of Interest (stolen) 


1826 
1826 


William Wilkins 
Charles Bobert Leslie 


Architect 
Painter 


Gateway and Cloisters of King's 

College Chapel, Cambridge 
Queen Eathenne and her Attendant 


1826 


Heniy William Pickersgill 


II 


An Oriental Love-letter 


1828 


William Etty . 


II 


Sleeping Nymphs and Satyrs 


1829 


John Constable 




II 


A Barge passing a Lock 


1830 


Sir C. L. Eastlake 




II 


Hagar and Ishmael 


1831 


Sir R BL Landseer . 




II 


The Faithful Hound 


1832 


H. P. BriggH . 




II 


Colonel Blood stealing the Crown 

Jewels 
The Student 


1832 


G. S. Newton . 




II 


1835 


Clarkson Stanfield . 




II 


On the Scheldt 


1835 


Sir WiUiam Allan . 




II 


The Shepherd's Grace 


1836 


Charles R Cockeiell . 




Architect 


Design for the Royal Exchange 



408 



HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 



Date of 

Elect iun 


Names 


Profecsion 


Subject 


1836 


John Gibson . 


Sculptor 


Narcissus 


1838 


Thoman Uwins 


Painter 


An Italian Mother 


1838 


Frederick R. Lee 


u 


A Jjandscape 


1838 


William Wyon . 


Sculptor 


A Medallion 


1838 


J. P. Deering (Gandy) 


Arrfiitect 


Design for Exeter Hall 


1840 


Daniel Maclise . 


Painter 


The Woodranger 


1840 


F. W. Witherington . 


** 


Landscape and Figures 


1840 


S. A. Hart 


If 


Reading Shakspeare 


1841 


J. J. Chalon 


1* 


Gipsy Encampment 


1841 
1841 


P. Hardwick . 
David Roberta . 


Architect 
Painter 


Entrance Gate to Railway Station 

at Euston Square 
Baalbec 


1842 


Sir Charles Barry 


Architect 


AViUa 


1843 


Sir W. C. Ross . 


Painter 


The Pilgrims 


1844 


J. P. Knight . 


ti 


The Departing Blessing 


1845 


Charles Landseer 


i» 


The Dying Warrior 


1846 


Thomas Webster 


»* 


Aji Early Lesson 


1846 


Patrick McDowell . 

• 


Sculptor 


AKymph 


1846 


John R Herbert 


Painter 


St. Gregory teaching his Chant 


1848 


Charles West Cope . 


»» 


{Dfpont picture — temporary) 


1848 


WiUiamDyce . 


t» 


A Magdalen 


1849 


Richard Westmaoott. 


Sculptor 


" Go, and sin no more " 


1851 
1851 


Sir J. W. Gordon . 
Thomas Creswick 


Painter 


Scene from Bums' "Anld Lang 

Syne" 
{Dfposit picture — temporary) 


1851 


Richard Redgrave . 


t» 


The Outcast 


1851 


Francis Grant . 


»f 


A Girl knitting 


1852 


WilUam C. Marshall 


Sculptor 


An Infimt Satyr 


1853 


Winiam P. Frith . 


Painter 


The Village Model 


1855 

1855 
1856 
1857 


Samuel Consens 

Edward M. Ward . 

Alfred Elmore . 

F. R PickeragiU . 


Engraver 

• 

Painter 

ft 
if 


[Impressions of all plates engraved 
by him subsequent to his elec- 
tion] 

Queen Elizabeth Woodville in the 
Sanctuary at Westminster 

A Scene from " The Two Gentle- 
men of Veiona" 

The Bribe 


1857 
1858 


George T. Doo . 
John Henry Foley . 


Engraver 
Sculptor 


[Impressions of all plates ezechted 
by him subsequent to election] 
The Elder Brother from "Comus" 


1859 


John Phillip . 


Painter 


Prayer 



APPENDIX IV 



409 



Date of 

Election 

1859 
1860 
1860 
1860 
1861 


Namec 


ProfectioD 


Subject 


Sydney Smirke . 
James C. Hook. 
Augostna L. Egg 
Gheoige G. Soott 
Paul Falconer Poole . 


Architect 
Painter 

» 
Architect 

Painter 


Nev Carlton Clnh 

{Depont picture — temporary) 



The Royal Academy possesses many works by the Foundation 
Members, either presented by themselves or by others. Among 
these are — 

^King George III. in his Coronation Bobes) presented by the 
Queen Charlotte in her Coronation Robes \ Boyal Founder. 
His own Portrait aa D.CX. > p^^ted by himself. 



Sir Joshua Beynolds 



Francis Cotes . 

Joseph Wilton 
Thomas Sandby 
Geoige Barret 
Sir Wm. Chambem 
Creorge M. Moser 
Charles Catton 
Jeremiah Meyer 
Richard Yeo . 



Bei\jamin West 



Sir W. Chambers. ) 

Frank Hayman : presented in 1837. 
Gniseppe Marchi : presented by H. Edridge in 1821. 
^Theory. 

{Portrait of M. Bloomfield, Surgeon : presented by Sir J. 
Wright, 1796. 
Portraits of his &ther and of W. Hoare, RjL, in crayons. 



•None. 



I The paintings for the ceiling of the Council Chamber. 

I Christ blessing little Childi^n. 

-j Portrait of himself: presented by J. Neeld, Esq., 1830. 



Drawings of ' Death on the Pale Horse,' * Moses striking the 
V Rock,' and * Prince Bladud in Exile.' 
Paul Sandby 
John Baker 

John Owynn . . )>None. 
Samuel Wale . 
WiUiam Tyler 

Mason Chamberlin. Portrait of W. Hunter, M.D. 
Francis Bartoloszi 

None. 



John Richards 
Peter Toms . 
N. Hone. 

F. Zuccarelli . 
D. Serres 

G. B. Cipriani 
R Wilson . 
R Penny 

A. CarUni 
F. M. Newton 

A. Rauffinan . 

Maiy Moser . 



His own Portrait: presented by Mr. J. Archer, 1808. 

None. 

Shipping. 

Drawing fo]:,the Diploma. 

Portrait of himself. 

None. 

Small Equestrian Statue of King G^rge IIL 

None. 

!Com^sition, Invention, Design, and Colouring ; four oval 
paintings for the ceiling of Uie Council Room. 
Two Flower-pieces 



410 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 

F. Hayman . . > ^^^^ 
Q. Dance . . ) 

(A Landscape. 
Sir N. Dance . . Portrait of G. B. Cipriani, B.A 
John Zoffany . . None. 
-nr-rt- jT (Several portraits and crayon drawings: presented by his 

( son, Pnnce Hoare. 

Among other works preserved in the Academy are the following: — 

The Hojal Academicians in General Assembly nnder the Presidentship of Benja- 
min West. The large picture painted by Heniy Singleton (engraved) presented by 
P. Hardwick, R.A 
Busts by T. Banks, R.A, of himself and Sir. J. Reynolds (terra cotta). 
Bust of J. Wilton, R.A., by Roubiliac (a cast) presented by Lady Chambers. 
H. Bone, R.A by Chantrey, presented by H. T. Bone. 
B. West, P.R.A, by Chantrey. 

George IV., by Chantrey, presented by Lady Chantrey. 
William IV. „ „ 

G. Dance, R.A., by C. RossL 
Models in plaster by J. Wilton, R.A, presented by Lady Chambers. 
Medallions by J. Flaxman, presented by Miss Flazman. 
Bas-relief by J. Flaxman (a cast), the Rape of Ganymede. 
Portrait of John Opie, R. A, by himself, presented by H. Thomson, RJL 

„ H. Thomson, R.A, by himself, presented by Rev. J. Cooper. 
Studies by Thomas Stothard, R A., and a very extensive (if not oomplet«) collec- 
tion of engravings from his designs, formed by Sir Richard Westmacott, R. A 

By or after Ancient Masters : — 

A bas-relief in marble by Michael Angelo : presented by Sir G. Beaumont 

A cartoon by Lionardo da VincL 

A copy from Pavia of * The Last Supper' of L da Vinci, made by his favourite 
pupil, Marco D'Oggioni. 

Copies of Raffaelle's cartoons made by Sir J. Thomhill for the Duke of Bedford. 

Copies of works by Raffaelle, Rubens, &c, presented by Lady Bassett and 
others. 

A large collection of models, casts, bas-reliefs, books on art, prints, drawings, &C:, 
both ancient and modem : presented by H.R.H. the late Prince Regent, the Duke 
of Dorset, the Earl of Bessborough, Charles Townley, N. Marchant, RA, and others. 

Memorials of Artists &c. : — 

The first Presidential chair of the Royal Academy. 
Sir J. Reynolds's palette (presented by J. Constable, R.A.) and his easel. 
Hogarth's palette (presented by Turner) and his maul-stick (presented by Mr. 
J. Hall). 

Sir Thos. Lawrence's palettes. 



APPENDIX V. 



UST OP BOYAL ACADEMY STUDENTS TO WHOM GOLD MEDALS 
HAVE BEEN AWABDED. 



Dwtt 


NimeofSluJanl 


BrwchofArt 


Hubjen 


1769 
1769 
1789 

1770 
1770 
1771 
1771 


Manritiufl Lowe . . 
John Bacon . 
James Oandon . 

Joseph Strutt . 
Thomas Bstita . . . 
P. M, Van Qelder . . 
John Ytmn 


Hislorical painting 
Sculpture 
Archit«cture 

Historical painting 
Sculpture 

Architecture 


Time discoTering Truth 

Triumphal Arch lo comme- 
mora^ jic 

^ncae stopped by Crcnsa 
Bas-reUef: Rape of Pro- 

serpine 
Bas-relief: Choice of Hcr- 

cul™ 
Noblcman'a Villa 



412 



mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 



Date 


Name of Student 


Branch of Art 


Subject 


1771 
1772 


William BeU . 
John Keyse Sherwin 


Historical painting 
Historical painting 


Venus entreating Vulcan 

to forge the armour of 

^neas 
Coriolanus taking leave of 

his Family 
Bas-relief: Ulysses and 

Naujsicaa 
Seleucus and Stratonice 


1772 
1774 


Thomas Engleheart . 
James Jefiferys . 


Historical painting 


1774 


Charles Banks . 


Sculpture 


Pygmalion and his Statue 


1774 


Thomas Whetton 


Architecture 


Nobleman's Town House 


1776 


Charles Ghrignion 


Historical painting 


Judgment of Hercules 


1776 


Henry Webber . 


Sculpture Judgment of Midas 


1776 


John Soane 


Architecture 


Triumphal Bridge 


1778 


Charles Henben Riley 


Historical painting 


Sacrifice of Iphigenia 


1778 
1778 
1780 


John Hickey . 
William Moss . 
George Farington 


Sculpture 

Architecture 

Historical painting 


Bas-relief: Slaughter of 

the Innocents 
Church of the Corinthian 

Order 
Macbeth 


1780 
1782 


John Deare 
John Hoppner . 


Sculpture 
Historical painting 


Bas-relief. From Milton's 

"Paradise Lost" 
From "King Lear" 


1782 


Charles Peart . 


Sculpture 


Hercules and Omphale 


1782 


Thomas Malton 


Architecture 


A Theatre 


1784 


Thomas Proctor 


Historical painting 


From "The Tempest" 


1784 
1784 


Charles Rossi . 
George Uadfield 


Sculpture 
Architecture 


Venus conducting Helen to 

Paris 
National Prison 


1786 


William Artaud 


Historical painting 


From " Paradise Lost " 


1786 


Peter Francis Chenu . 


Sculpture 


To perfect the Torso 


1786 


John Sinnell Bond . 


Architecture 


Mausoleum for Monuments 


1788 


Henry Singleton 


Historical painting 


From Diyden's Ode 


1788 
1788 


Charles Horwell 
John Sanders . 


Sculpture 
Architecture 


Achilles' grief at death of 

Patroclus 
A Church 


1790 


Henry Howard . 


Historical painting 


Caractacus 


1790 


Charles Taoonet 


Sculpture 


Samson 


1790 


Joseph Grandy . 


Architecture 


Triumphal Arch 


1792 


George Francis Joseph 


Historical painting 


Coriolanus 


1792 


Edward Gyfford 


Architecture 


Houses of Lords and Com- 


1794 


John Bacon, Jon. 


Sculpture 


mons 
Cassandra 


1797 


James Smith . 


>i 


Venus wounded by Dioroed 


1797 


William Atkinson . 


Architecture 


A Court of Justice 



APPENDIX V. 



413 



Datfl 


Name of Student 


Branch of Art 


Subject 


1799 


Richard Smirke 


Historical painting 


Samson and Dc'lilah 


1799 
1801 
1801 


Bobeit Smirke . 

Francis Stephen Eigaud . 

Thomas Willnnn 


Architecture 

Historical painting 

Architecture 


National Gallery for Paint- 
ing, &e. 

Clytemnestra exulting over 
Agamemnon 

National Edifice 


1803 


George Dawe . 


Historical painting 


Achilles 


1803 


Humphry Hopper 


Sculpture 


Death of Meleager 


1805 
1805 


Thomas Douglas Guest 
William ToUemach . 


Historical painting 
Sculpture 


Bearing dead body of Pa- 
troclus to the Camp 

Chaining Prometheus to the 
Rock 

A Villa 


1805 


W. C. Lochner . 


Architecture 


1807 


Lascelles Hoppner . 


Historical painting 


Judgment of Solomon 


1807 

1809 
1811 


Charles A. Busby 

James Adams . 
Arthur Perigal . 


Architecture 

Architecture 
Historical painting 


An insulated building to 
contain the Royal So- 
ciety, Antiquarian So- 
ciety, and Royal Aca- 
demv 

An edifice dedicated to 
National Genius and 
Virtue 

Themistodes 


1811 


Edward H. Baily . 


Sculpture 


Hercules rescuing Alceste 


1811 


Francis Edwards 


Architecture 


A Theatre 


1813 

1813 
1815 


Josephus Kendrick . 

Lewis Vulliamy 
SamuelJoseph . 


Sculpture 

Architecture 
Sculpture 


Adam and Eve lament- 
ing over dead body of 
Abel 

A Nobleman's Country 
Mansion 

Eve supplicating forgive- 


1815 


Mathew Edward Thomas . 


Architecture 


Ucss 

A Palace 


1817 
1817 


William Scoular 
Charles Harriot Smith 


Sculpture 
Architecture 


Alto-relievo: Judgment of 

Paris 
Design for Royal Academy 


1819 


Joseph Severn . 


Historical painting 


Cave of Despair 


1819 


Joseph Gott 


Sculpture 


Jacob wrestling with the 

Angel 
Pliny's Villa 


1819 


Sydney Smirke . 


Architecture 


1821 


John Graham . 


Historical painting 


The Prodigal Son 


1821 


Frederic William Smith . 


Sculpture 


From Antigone 


1821 


Richard Kelsey 


Architecture 


A Theatre 


1823 
1823 


Francis Yeates Hurlstone . 
Robert Ball Hughea . 


Historical painting 
Sculpture 


Michael contending with 

Satan 
Mercury and Pandora 


1823 


Thomas Bradbeny . 


Architecture 


Hospital for Sailors 



414 



HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADE]SIY 



Date 


Name or Student 


Branch of Art 


Subject 

Joseph expounding the 

Dreams 
David and Goliath 


1825 
1825 


John Wood 
Joseph Deare . 


Historical painting 
Sculpture 


1825 


Henry Bassett . 


Architecture 


A National Gallery 


1827 


Samuel Loat 


f» 


11 


1829 
1829 
1829 


George Smith . 
James Lcgrew . 
William GrelUer . 


BUstorical painting 

Sculpture 

Architecture 


Venus entreating Vulcan to 
forge Eneas' s arms 

Cassandra dragged from 
the altar of Minerva 

British Senate House 


1831 


Daniel MacUse 


Historical painting 


Choice of Hercules 


1831 


Sebastian Wyndham Arnold 


Sculpture 


Murder of the Innocents 


1833 


Edward George Papworth . 


II 


Ulysses 


1833 


John Davis Paine 


Architecture 


A Royal Exchange 


1835 


W. Denholm Kennedy 


Historical painting 


Apollo and Idas 


1835 
1835 


Henry Timbrell 
John Johnson . 


Sculpture 
Architecture 


Mezentius tying the dead 

to the living 
A Royal Palace 


1837 


Ebenezer Butler Morris . 


Historical painting 


Horatius 


1837 


Edward A. Gifford . 


Architecture 


A National Museum 


1839 


William Edward Frost 


Historical painting 


Prometheus bound 


1839 


Thomas Earle . 


Scidpture 


Hercules delivering Hesione 


1839 


Edward Falkener 


Architecture 


A Cathedral Church 


1841 


Henry Le Jeune 


Historical painting 


Samson bursting his bonds 


1841 
1841 


W. Calder Marshall . 
William Hinton Campbell . 


Sculpture 
Architecture 


Venus rescuing .£neaa from 

Diomed 
Houses of Lords and Com- 


1843 
1843 
1845 


Edward Bownng Stephens 
Henry Bayly Garling 
J. C. Hook 


Sculpture 

Architecture 

Historical painting 


mons 
Alto-relievo : Combat of 

the Centaurs andLapithie 
Design for Music Hall and 

Royal Ac4idemy of Music 
Finding the body of Harold 


1845 
1845 


Alfred Brown . 
Arthur Ebden Johnson 


Sculpture 
Architecture 


Alto-relievo : The Hours 
leading out the Horses 
of the Sun 

National Record Office 


1847 
1847 


J.E. Millais . 

George Gammon Adams . 


Painting 
Sculpture 


Young Men of Beigamin 
seizing their Brides 
(Judges XXI.) 

Murder of the Innocents 


1847 


Edward Rumsey 


Architecture 


A Cathedral Church 


1849 


John Alfred Vinter . 


Painting 


An Act of Mercy 


1849 


Edward James Physick . 


Sculpture 


Basso-relievo : Rape of 
Proserpine 



APPENDIX V. 



415 



Date 


Name of Student 


Branch of Art 


SutaiJcct 


1849 


Arthur Allom . 


Architecture 


Design for Eoyal Academy 
at Trafalgar Square, pre> 
serving the lateral pas- 






• 


sages 


1851 


William S. Burton . 


Historical painting 


Delilah asking forgiveness 


1851 


Charles Summers 


Sculpture 


Mercy interceding for the 
vanquished 


1851 


John Bobinson . 


Architecture 


Design for a Marine Palace 


1853 


Charles Bolt . 


Historical painting 


Orestes comforted by his 
sister 


1853 


Edw. George Papworth . 


Sculpture 


Dejith of Procris 


1853 


Eichard Norman Shaw 


Architecture 


Design for Military College 








in honour of the Duke of 
Wellington 


1855 


Joseph Powell . 


Painting 


Death of Alcibiades 


1855 


John Adams . 


Sculpture 


Eve supplicating forgive- 


1857 


Philip Eichard Morris 


Historical painting 


The Good Samaritan 


1857 


G«oige James Miller 


Sculpture 


It 


1857 


Francis T. GKmipertz . 


Architecture 


National GhUlery 


1857 


Nevil Oliver Lupton . 


Landscape* 


An English Landscape 


1859 


Samuel Lynn . 


Sculpture 


Lycaon imploring Achilles 
to spare his life 


1859 


Ernest George . 


Architecture 


A grand Hotel in the heart 
of a Metropolitan City 


1861 


Andrew Brown Donaldson . 


Historical painting 


The trial scene in the 
"Merchant of Venice" 


1861 


George Slater . 


Sculpture 


" Bemorse," Adam and Eve 
after the fall 


1861 


Thomas Henry Watson 


Architecture 


An Exchange for a large 
Commercial City 



* First TuBznB Medal. 



416 



HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 



GOLD MEDAL STUDENTS TO WHOM THE THAYELLINO ALLOWANCE HAS 

BEEN AWARDED BT THE BOTAL AGADEMT. 



Paintsbs. 

1771 Mauritiofi Lowe (recalled 1772). 
1781 Charles Grignion. 

1796 Wmiam Artaud. 

1821 Joseph Seyem. 

1831 George Smith. 

1840 William Denholme Kennedy. 

1846 J. C. Hook. 

SCTLPTOBS. 

1772 Thomas Banks. 
1785 Charles Kossi. 
1785 John Deare. 

1793 Thomas Proctor (died before leav- 
ing England). 



ScuLFTOBS — continued. 

1825 William Sconlar. 

1834 Edgar George Papwortb. 

1843 Henry Timbrell (died at Home). 

1850 E. G. Physick. 

1858 John Adams. 

Abchitbcts. 

1777 John Soane. 

1790 George Haddeld. 

1818 Lewis Vnlliamy. 

1828 Samuel Loat 

1837 John Johnston. 

1854 Bichard Norman Shaw. 

1861 John Robinson. 



N.B. All the above were awarded the allowance for three years, except Mr.' J. Robinson, 
in 1861, whose allowance is for two years only, under the A-ria fing regulations. 



417 



APPENDIX VI. 



-•o^ 



ABSTEACT OF THE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS OF THE 

ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS. 

SECTION I.— MEMBERS. 

1. The Society shall consist of Forty Members, who shall 
be called Academicians of the Academy. 

2. There shall be another order, or rank, of Members, not 
exceeding Twenty in number, who shall be called Associates of 
the Royal Academy. 

3. There shall be another class of Members, not exceeding 
four in number, consisting of Academicians and Associates, who 
shall be called Academician-Engravers, and Associate-Engravers 
of the Royal Academy. Such class, not exceeding four, may, 
at the discretion of the Academy, consist of a less number, and 
the proportion of Academicians shall not exceed two. 

Note. — That although such class of Engravers shall be 
considered as before a distinct class, their privileges and obliga- 
tions as Associate and Academician-Engravers shall in no other 
respect diflFer from those respectively of the Twenty Associates 
and Forty Academicians. 

That future vacancies in the original class of Six Associate- 
Engravers shall not be filled up. 

4. They shall all of them be men of fair moral characters, of 
high reputation in their several professions; resident in the 
United Kingdom, and not Members of any other Society of 
Artists established in London. 

VOL. II. E E 



418 HISTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY 

HONOBABT MEMBERS. 

5. There shall be a Chaplain, of high rank in the Church. 
There shall be a Professor of Ancient History, a Professor of 
Ancient Literature, an Antiquary, and a Secretary for Foreign 
Correspondence, men of distinguished reputation. 



SECTION II. — GO VERNMENT OF THE SOCIETY. 

1. The government of the Society is vested in a President 
and Council, and the General Assembly. 

2. President. — The President shall be annually elected. 

3. The President shall have power to summon the Council 
and Greneral Assembly of the Academicians, as often as he shall 
think it necessary, but shall have no vote in either, unless the 
suffrages are equal, in which case he shall have the casting 
vote. 

4. The President shall have power to nominate one of the 
Council to act as President in his absence. 

5. The President, or his Deputy, and no other person, shall 
have power to summon either the Council or General As- 
sembly. 

6. The President shall convene a General Assembly, when- 
ever five or more Academicians may apply to him, in writing, 
for that pui-pose. 

7. Council. — The Council shall consist of eight Academi- 
cians and the President, who shall have the entire direction and 
management of all the business of the Society. 

8. The seats in the Council shall go by succession to all the 
Academicians, except the Secretary, who shall always belong 
thereto. The four Senior Members of the Council shall go out 



APPENDK VI. 419 

by rotation every year, and these shall not reoccupy their seats 
in the Council till all the rest of the Academicians have served. 

9. The new-elected Academicians (having received their 
diplomas) shall be placed at the top of the List, and serve in 
the succeeding Council. 

10. Whenever an Academician shall from any cause decline 
to be a Member of the Council in regular rotation, or be dis- 
qualified by accepting any office incompatible with it, his name 
shall be passed on, and his claim to a seat in it forfeited, till it 
shall again appear in regular rotation. 

11. If any Member of the Council shall have failed to attend 
in his place for eight successive Meetings, such Member shall 
be considered as having vacated his seat in the Council, and the 
seat so vacated shall be filled according to the provisions of the 
following Law. 

12. When the seat of a Member of Council shall have become 
vacant within the first year of the period of his service, by death, 
resignation, or otherwise, the rights and duties attached to it 
shall immediately devolve on the Treasurer for the residue of 
the said year, or on the Keeper, should the Treasurer be of the 
Council by rotation. 

The vacant seat for the second year shall be declared by the 
President, at the Annual General Meeting on the 10th of 
December ; and after the usual nomination of persons to serve 
by rotation in the ensuing Council, a Member shall be appointed 
by lot, from amongst all the Academicians (except those who 
serve by rotation the succeeding year), to supply the vacancy so 
declared. 

The appointment by lot shall be in the following manner : — 

The name of each Academician present, written by himself, 
and each absent Academician, written by the Secretary, shall be 
put in a box, and shaken together ; the President shall then 
draw forth one name, which shall decide the appointment. 

When the seat of a Member of Coimcil shall have become 
vacant within the second year of the period of his service, 
the residue of the said second year shall be supplied accord- 
ing to the regulation before applied to the residue of the first 
year. 

E B 2 



420 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 

13. The List of Rotation shall be printed annually, and the 
name or names of new Members (if any) shall be placed at the 
head of the List of the Junior Members of the Council, according 
to the order of election of Academicians. 

14. The President and Secretary being always of the Coimcil, 
their names are to be omitted in such List of Rotation. 

15. The names of Academicians, whose permanent residence 
is more than six miles from the Royal Academy, Trafalgar 
Square, shall be omitted in the lists delivered out for the suc- 
cession of Coimcil. 

16. The Council shall meet as often as the business of the 
Society shall require it. 

17. A meeting of Five Members of the Coimcil, including 
the President or his Deputy, shall be deemed a Quorum. 

18. In the absence of the President or his Deputy, it shall be 
in the power of five in the Council to nominate a Chairman for 
that Meeting, and proceed to business. 

19. The Secretary to draw the line in the book of attendance 
©f the Council, immediately at the expiration of half an hour 
after the time of meeting specified in the summons : Members 
not attending before the line is drawn, to forfeit their share of 
the remuneration of Council. 

20. Members withdrawing from Council before the business 
of the evening is concluded, and so reducing the number below 
a Quorum, the Meeting can no longer be deemed a Quorum. 

21. The Council shall frame all new Laws, but they shall have 
no force till ratified by the consent of the General Assembly, 
and the approbation of the Queen. 

22. All Laws, which may from time to time be made by the 
Council, shall be confirmed at a subsequent meeting of the 
Council, before they are presented to the General Assembly of 
the Academicians for their consent. 



APPENDIX VI. 421 

23. All the OflScers and Servants of the Academy shall be 
Bubseryient to the Council. 

24. The Council shall have power to reform all abuses ; to 
censure those OflScers who are deficient in their duty ; and, with 
the consent of the general body, and the Queen's permission 
first obtained for that purpose, to suspend, or entirely remove 
from their employments, those who shall be found guilty of any 
great offences, 

25. No Correspondence whatever, connected with the business 
of the Royal Academy, shall be carried on without the concur- 
rence of the Council; the routine business of departments 
excepted. 

26. All business relative to the Boyal Academy, which is to 
be laid before Her Majestt, after it has been settled by the 
Council in the usual form, shall be presented to the Queen 
by the President, attended either by the Secretary or the 
Treasurer, as the nature of the business shall require, and they 
shall make report to the Council, of Her Majestt's pleasure 
thereon. 

27. A Committee, consisting of two of the Senior Members 
of the Council, shall annually, with the assistance of the 
Librarian, examine the state of the Books, Prints, &c., in the 
Library, and report such improvements as may be necessary, 
within one month from the close of the Exhibition. 

28. A Committee, consisting of two of the Senior Members 
of the Council, shall annually, with the assistance of the Keeper, 
examine the Models, Casts, &c., belonging to the Royal Academy, 
and report such improvements as may be necessary, within one 
month from the close of the Exhibition. 

29. Four Members of the Council for each year, the two 
seniors, by rotation, for the first six months, and the two next 
for the last six months, shall be Inspectors of Casts, Prints, &c., 
imported by British Artists, and by Foreign Artists being 
Members of the Royal Academy, for their own use, conform- 
ably with the regulations established by the Lords of the 
Treasury. 



422 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 

30. General Assehblt. — There shall be annually one 
General Meeting, or more if requisite, of the whole body of 
Academicians, to elect a President, declare the Council, elect 
Visitors and Auditors ; to confirm new laws ; to adjudge the 
Premiums to be given to the Students ; to elect those who are 
to be sent abroad ; to hear complaints and redress grievances ; 
and do any other business relative to the Society. 

31. Ten in the General Assembly, including the President or 
his Deputy, shall be deemed a full meeting. 

32. In the absence of the President or his Deputy, it shall 
be in the power of ten in the General Assembly to nominate 
a Chairman for that meeting, and to proceed immediately to 
business. 

33. If at a General Assembly of the Academicians, five 
Members object to any law made in the Council for the go- 
vernment of the Society, they shall deliver their objections in 
writing, signed with their respective names ; which done, the 
law objected to shall be referred to the Council to be re- 
considered. 

34. If any Member shall become obnoxious to the Society 
by improper conduct, he may be reprimanded, suspended, or 
expelled, by the majority of a General Assembly of Academicians, 
to be decided by ballot, and subject to Her Majestt's pleasure. 

35. If any Academician, Associate, or Associate-Engraver, 
shall have wholly neglected, during a period of seven years, to 
communicate personally, or by letter, with the Secretary, so as 
to afford the means of authentic information as to his existence, 
and place of residence, he shall be considered as having ceased 
to be a Member of the Royal Academy, and his place shall be 
declared vacant accordingly. 



SECTION in. — OFFICERS, AND THEIR DUTIES. 

1. Secretary. — There shall be a Secretary of the Royal 
Academy, elected by ballot from amongst the Academicians, 



APPENDIX VI. 423 

and approved of by the Queen : his business shall be to keep 
the Minutes of the Council, write letters^ send summonses, 
attend during the arrangement of the Exhibition, make out the 
Catalogues, &c. He shall also, when the Keeper of the Academy 
is indisposed, take upon himself the care of the Antique 
Academy, for which he shall be properly qualified ; he shall, 
jointly with the Keeper, have the direction of the Servants of 
the Academy ; and he shall continue in office during the Queen's 
pleasure. 

2. The Secretary shall have no vote either in the Council or 
General Assembly. 

3. Keepeh. — There shall be a Keeper of the Royal Academy, 
elected by ballot from amongst the Academicians. He shall be 
an artist properly qualified to instruct the Students ; his business 
shall be to superintend the Academy, the Models, Casts, Books, 
and other moveables belonging thereto; to attend regularly 
the Antique Academy, to give advice and instruction to the 
Students, and be constantly at hand to preserve order and 
decorum. He shall, with the assistance of the Visitor, provide 
the living models. He shall have, jointly with the Secretary, 
the direction of all the Servants of the Academy. He shall have 
a convenient apartment allotted him in the Boyal Academy, 
where he shall constantly reside ; and he shall continue in office 
during the Queen's pleasure. 

4. Treasurer. — There shall be a Treasurer of the Royal 
Academy, who shall be appointed by Her Majesty from 
amongst the Academicians. His business shall l)e to receive the 
rents and profits of the Academy, to pay its expenses, to report 
to the Council the necessary repairs and alterations, and 
examine all bills. He shall be summoned to all meetings of 
the Council by right of his office, and have the liberty of giving 
his opinion in all debates ; but shall have no vote, except he is 
of the Council for the time being. He shall once in every 
quarter lay a fair state of his Accounts before the Auditors and 
Council ; and when they have passed examination, he shall lay 
them before the Keeper of Her Majesty's Privy Purse, to be 
by him finally audited, and the deficiency (if there should be 
any) paid. 



424 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY. 

5. All sums of money which shall hereafter be received by 
the Treasurer on account of the Royal Academy, shall be imme- 
diately paid by him into the hands of a Banker appointed 
by the Council. 

6. In the month of January in every year, the Treasurer 
shall deliver in an account of the whole receipts and disburse- 
menta of the foregoing year, fairly written, and arranged under 
distinct heads. 

When the quarterly bills, with their abstract, and the annual 
account, have passed the Council, the General Book of Accounts, 
with the original bills, vouchers, and receipts after payment^ 
shall be kept in the Academy, in the custody of the Secretary, 
and shall on no account be removed from the Academy. 

7. The Treasurer shall not be at liberty to dispose of any 
money remaining in his hands without the order and direction 
of the Council. 

8. Auditors. — There shall be three Auditors of the Accounts 
of the Royal Academy, of whom two shall form a quorum, who 
shall be chosen by ballot from amongst the Academicians. 

9. They shall examine the Treasurer's quarterly and annual 
accounts ; they shall report upon and certify the same to the 
Council ; they shall inspect the Banker's book, and specify the 
balance of cash remaining in the Treasurer's hand at the time of 
passing his Account. And the Auditors' report upon the annual 
Account shall be laid by the Council before the General Assem- 
bly, in the month of January every year. 

10. In the event of the demise or resignation of any of the 
Auditors, it shall be in the power of the Council to appoint one 
of their own body to oflSciate for the remainder of the year. 

11. Librarian. — There shall be a Librarian of the Royal 
Academy, who shall be appointed by Her Majesty from 
amongst the Academicians. His business shall be to attend the 
Library from ten in the morning till four in the afternoon, every 
Monday, and from five till eight in the evenings of Monday, 
Tuesday, and Thursday, when the Academy is open, to pre- 
serve order, and to see that no damage be done to the books, &c. 



APPENDIX VI. 425 

He shall assist the Inspectors in reviewing the Library. 
He shall continue in office during the Queen's pleasure. 

12. There shall be a Begistrar of the Boyal Academy. His 
duties shall be as defined in the B^^lations (see pp. 433, 434) and 
to assist the Secretary in carrying out the orders of the Council. 

13. Pbofessors. — The Professorships of the Royal Academy 
shall be limited to a period of five years, the Professors being 
eligible for re-election. 

14. Painting. — There shall be a Professor of Painting, who 
shall read annually Six Lectures in the Boyal Academy, cal- 
culated to instruct the Students in the principles of Com- 
position; to form their taste of Design and Colouring; to 
strengthen their judgment ; to point out to them the beauties 
and imperfections of celebrated Works of Art, and the particu- 
lar excellences and defects of great Masters; and finally, to 
lead them into the readiest and most efficacious paths of study. 

15. Sculpture. — There shall be a Professor of Sculpture, 
who shall read annually Six Lectures, explanatory of the 
principles of Style and Form in that Art, and its peculiarities of 
Composition. 

16. Architecture. — There shall be a Professor of Archi- 
tecture, who shall read annually Six public Lectures in the 
Royal Academy, calculated to form the taste of the Students ; 
to instruct them in the laws and principles of Composition; 
to point out to them the beauties or faults of celebrated pro- 
ductions ; to fit them for an unprejudiced study of books on the 
Art, and for a critical examination of Structures. 

17. Perspective, — There shall be a Professor of Perspective 
and Geometry, who shall give annually a Course of Instruction in 
the Boyal Academy, in which the most useful propositions of 
Geometry, together with the principles of lineal and aerial 
Perspective, shall be fully and clearly taught. 

18. All these Professors shall be elected from among the 
Academicians, and shall continue in office during the Queen's 
pleasure. 



426 inSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 

19. Anatomy. — There shall be a Professor of Anatomy, who 
shall be elected from among the most eminent men in that 
branch of Science. He shall read annually Six public Lectures 
in the Royal Academy, adapted to the Arts of Design ; and shall 
continue in office during the Queen's pleasure. 

20. Lectures. — The Lectures in the Royal Academy shall 
annually be delivered in the following order, viz. : — 

The Lectures on Anatomy, to commence on the Second 
Monday in November, and to be continued on each succeeding 
Monday till concluded. 

The Course of Instruction in Perspective^ to commence early 
in November; the Lectures on Architecture^ on the First 
Thursday in January, and to be continued on the five succeed- 
ing Thursdays. 

On the conclusion of these, the Lectures on Sculpture to 
commence on the following Monday, and to be continued on the 
five succeeding Mondays ; and the Lectures on Painting, on the 
following Thursday, and to be continued on the five succeeding 
Thursdays. 

21. No comments or criticisms on the opinions or productions 
of living Artists in this country, shall be introduced into any of 
the Lectures delivered in the Royal Academy. 

22. Every Professor shall be allowed two years after his 
election to prepare his Lectures ; but if he fail to deliver his 
whole course within the third year, or if he subsequently omit 
to deliver them for three years, he shall be deemed to have 
resigned his Office, and it shall immediately be declared vacant. 

23. Visitors. — There shall be elected annually from amongst 
the Academicians, nine persons, who shall be called Visitors of 
the Life Academy. They shall be Painters of History, able 
Sculptors, or other persons properly qualified; their business 
shall be to attend, one month each, by rotation, to set the 
Figures, to examine and correct the performances of the 
Students, and give them their advice and instruction. 

24. The Visitor for the time being shall be considered as 
Master of the Living Academy. Neither the Keeper, nor 



APPENDIX VI. 427 

any other Academician^ shall enter the Boom whilst the 
Visitor is setting the Model; nor shall they give any In- 
structions or Orders whatsoever whilst the Visitor is present ; 
nor shall the Keeper^ nor any other Academician^ except 
the President^ introduce any friend, without first asking leave 
of the Visitor. 

25. There shall be elected annually from amongst the 
Academicians^ nine persons, who shall be called Visitors of the 
School of Painting. They shall be Painters or other persons 
properly qualified : their business shall be to attend, one month 
each, by rotation, twice a week, for two hours each time, to set 
the draped Model, to superintend the progress of the Students, 
and afford them such instruction as may be necessary. 

26. The Visitors shall draw lots for the days of their 
attendance ; which Begulation shall be put up in the Academy : 
they shall attend each time at least two hours. 

27. At every annual election of. Visitors, five one year, and 
four another, alternately, of the old Visitors, shall go out by 
rotation, but shall be eligible for re-election. 



SECTION IV. — HOUSEHOLD ESTABLISHMENT. 

The Household Establishment of the Royal Academy consists 
of a Housekeeper, Two Porters, and an Assistant Porter. 



SECTION v.— ELECTIONS OF MEMBERS. 

1. AcADEMtcuKS. — All Vacancies of Academicians shall be 
filled up by Election from amongst the Associates. 

2. All Vacancies of Academicians shall be filled up within a 
period of not less than three months, to be regulated by 
CounciL No Election being allowed to take place between the 
Ist of August and the 1st of November in each year. 



428 inSTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY 

When the General Assembly shall determine to fill any 
Vacancy or Vacancies in the class of Academician-Engravei*s^ 
the Election may take place at the end of three months from 
the date of such decision ; but no Election shall take place 
during the months of August, September, and October. 

The Secretary shall give one month's notice of the Election 
to each of the Academicians, in writing, enclosing a list of the 
Associates ; but the omission of this, by neglect or otherwise^ 
shall not impede the Election. 

3. When more than one Vacancy of an Academician or 
an Associate is to be filled up, separate ballots shall be taken 
for each, and the Vacancies filled up as they appear on the 
List. 

4. On the day of Election, each Academician shall deliver his 
marked List to the President ; which List shall be scrutinized, 
and the two Associates who are found to have the greatest 
number of sufirages, shall be balloted for ; and he who has the 
majority, shall be deemed duly elected. 

5. No Academician-Elect shall receive his Diploma until he 
hath deposited in the Royal Academy (to remain there) a 
Picture, Bas-relief, or other specimen of his abilities, approved 
of by the then sitting Council of the Academy ; which Picture, 
Bas-relief, or other specimen of his abilities, shall be presented 
for the consideration of the Council, within a period of six 
months after his Election ; in failure of which, his Election shall 
become void, unless such an apology be made by l^pi for the 
omission, as shall or may be deemed suflScient by the Council. 
On the deposit of such Diploma Work, the Vacancy in the list of 
Associates shall be declared ; but no proceedings to fill up such 
Vacancy shall take place until the Diploma of the Royal 
Academician-Elect shall have received the signature of the 
Queen. 

Every Engraver, on being elected an Academician, shall 
deposit in the Academy a proof impression of one of his works, 
subject to the approval of Council. He shall also be required 
to present to the Academy, a proof impression of each of his 
works executed subsequently to his Election as an Academician- 
Engraver. 



APPENDIX VI. 429 

6. Associates. — The Associates shall be elected from among 
the Exhibitors in the Annual Exhibition ; they shall be Artists 
by profession, that is to say, Painters, Sculptors, Architects, or 
Engravers ; at least twenty-four years of age, and not Appren- 
tices. 

7. Candidates for the degree of Associate, being Exhibitors 
in the current Exhibition, or in that of the year immediately 
preceding, shall sign their Names on a Paper left for that pur- 
pose in the Academy during the month of May in each year ; 
which List shall be immediately printed, and sent to each of 
the Academicians. No Engraver shall be a candidate for the 
rank of Associate, who shall not have exhibited in the Eoyal 
Academy, a specimen of his Engraving, which has not been 
elsewhere publicly exhibited. But if an Engraver, being a 
Candidate for the rank of Associate, shall not be prepared at the 
time of Exhibition with an Engraving which has not been else- 
where publicly exhibited, he may submit to the Council during 
the month of May, specimens which have already been publicly 
exhibited ; and he shall comply with all other conditions re- 
quired from Candidates for the rank of Associates. 

8. A General Assembly shall be held before the Works 
exhibited are removed from the Academy, for the purpose of 
examining the performances of Candidates for the degree of 
Associate, and of recommending what number of the Vacancies 
shall be filled at the next Election. 

9. A Vapancy occurring in the List of Associates by resigna- 
tion or death, may be filled up within a period of not less than 
three months after such resignation or death ; but no Election 
of an Associate shall take place in the months of August, Sep- 
tember, or October. 

10. The Vacancies of Associai^^ occurring before the Ist of 
August, shall be filled up in the month of January following, 
and their Elections conducted in the same manner as those of 
Academicians. 

11. If at any Election of an Academician or Associate, there 
shall appear three or more Candidates who have an equal number 



430 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 

of suflRrages, a ballot shall be taken of the Members present^ 
to reduce them to two, previous to the second ballot. 

12. No Election of an Associate, or Associate-Engraver, shall 
be deemed valid, until, in the presence of the Council, he has 
signed the Instrument of Institution, and has received his 
Diploma, signed by the President and Secretary. 

13. Whoever shall be elected an Associate, or Associate- 
Engraver, and shall not take up his Diploma within one year 
from his Election, will be considered as declining to become a 
Member of the Academy, unless such an apology be made for 
the omission as shall be deemed sufficient by the Council. 

14. The Election of Officers shall annually take place on the 
5th, and be declared on the 10th of December, being the Anni- 
versary of the Institution of the Royal Academy; but the 
Members elected shall not enter into their several Offices till the 
Ist day of January following. 

15. All Elections of Members, or others, shall be by ballot of 
the Members present, and shall be decided by the majority, 

16. All Elections of Academicians and Officers must have the 
sanction of Heb Majesty's approval. 



SECTION VI. — FUNDS. 

1. The Funds of the Royal Academy arise from the profits of 
an Annual Exhibition of Works of Art, and from Money vested 
in the Public Funds. 

2. The Council shall direct all purchases of Stock Funds. 

3. Trustees. — All Monies which have been, or may hereafter 
be, laid out in the purchase of Stock in the Public Funds, shall 
be vested in the names of Four Trustees, who shall be the 
President, the Secretary, and Treasurer, for the time being, and 
any other Member of the Royal Academy, to be chosen by the 



APPENDIX VI. 431 

Council ; and the Council shall direct the Treasurer, or any other 
Trustee, to receive the Dividends as they become due. The Four 
Trustees shall accept all Stock purchased by order of Council. 

4. The Four Trustees above mentioned shall execute a Declara^ 
tion of Trust, to be deposited in the Eoyal Academy, setting forth 
that the several sums standing in their joint names in the books 
at the Bank of England, are not their own property, but the 
property of the Members of the Royal Academy, and that their 
names are made use of as Trustees only. 

5. Whenever a Successor shall be appointed to fill up any 
Vacancy occasioned by the death of one of the Trustees above 
mentioned, they shall immediately after such appointment apply 
to the Executors of the deceased Trustee, for a copy of the 
Probate of his Will, or any other authentic instrument necessary 
to prove his death at the Bank of England, that the name of the 
deceased may be removed from the books, and the name of the 
new Trustee inserted in its place : a new Declaration of Trust, 
as before described, must then be executed by all the parties, if 
necessary. 

6. Salabies, Beuunebations, and Fines. — The Secretary's 
Salary shall be £250, and an allowance of £150 per annum in 
lieu of the advantages of residing in the Academy, till other 
accommodation can be provided for him. 

7. The Keeper's Salary shall be £200, with the apartments and 
advantages allowed to that ofiice. 

8. The Treasurer's Salary shall be £100. 

9. The Librarian's Salary shall be £120, subject to a fine of 
One Guinea for not attending on any of the days prescribed, and 
neglecting to appoint an Academician to officiate for him. 

10. The Professors of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and 
Anatomy, shall each receive, for Six Lectures, £60. 

11. The Registrar's Salary shall be £200, and an apartment 
shall be provided for him. 



432 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 

12. The Council, at each meeting, shall receive Four Pouncfe 
Ten shillings, to be equally divideti among the Members attend- 
ing; in which division the Secretary shall not be included. 
Every Member shall be punctual to the hour of appointment, 
under the penalty of a fine, at the option of the Council. 

13. General Assembly. — Every Academician who attends at 
a General Assembly, shall receive Ten Shillings. 

14. Arranging Committee. — Each Member of the Committee 
for arranging the Works of Art intended for the Exhibition^ 
shall be paid Two Guineas for each day of his attendance. 

15. Visitors. — The Visitor shall receive One Guinea for each 
time of attending, and shall be subject to a fine of One Guinea 
whenever he neglects to attend, unless he appoint a Proxy from 
among the Visitors for the time being ; in which case the said 
Proxy shall be entitled to the reward. 

16. Servants. — The Housekeeper's Salary, for herself and 
Assistants, shall be £100 per annum. 

17. The two Porters shall each receive £60 per annum. 

18. The Assistant Porter shall receive £50 per annum. 

Accounts. — A Meeting of the Council shall be held on or 
before the 20th day of January, and within the first month of 
each succeeding Quarter, when the Secretary shall lay before that 
body, for their consideration and sanction, all such bills for the 
expenses of the Institution as may have been furnished up to the 
period of the previous Quarter Day. No bills shall be considered 
or sanctioned by the Council at any other time. 

This latter clause, however, shall not apply to any case in 
which the Council may think proper to refer the consideration 
of a biU, for reasons assigned on the book of the Council. 

No Member of the Royal Academy, nor any other person con- 
nected with the Establishment, shall be authorised to issue any 
orders relating to its expenditure, except the Coimcil, and, under 
the authority of the Council, the Officers of the Academy, namely, 
the Keeper, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Librarian; each of 



APPENDIX VI. 433 

whom shall be empowered to give such orders, in his own de- 
partment, as may be necessary for the routine expenses of 
the establishment. Orders relating to the expenditure of the 
Academy, issued by the Council, and which shall not be addressed 
to one of the OflScers of the Institution, or considered to be 
peculiarly within his department, shall be signed by the President, 
or his Deputy, and the Secretary. 

No bills for expenses in any of the departments of the 
Institution shall be presented to the Council, without the 
signature of the Officer in whose department such expense 
has been incurred, and no other signature shall be attached 
to them. 

All orders relative to the expenditure of the Academy, issued 
by the Council, or by the Officers in their several departments, 
shall be carried into effect according to the regulations annexed 
to the present Law. 

The Secretary shall read this Law to the Council when about 
to present any bills for the consideration of that body. 



Regulations referred to in the foregoing Law : -■- 

1. A Book, called an Order Book, shall be kept in the Academy 
by the Registrar, in which all Orders relative to matters of ex- 
penditure, signifying the dates and signatures attached to them, 
shall be regularly inserted, with the signature of the Begistrar 
opposite to the order in question. Every Order of expenditure, 
issued by the Council or the Officers of the Academy, shall be 
delivered to the Registrar to be by him entered in the Order 
Book, which entry he shall signify on the face of the Order by 
the word ' Entered,' and his signature, before it is delivered 
for execution. 

2. A Book shall also be kept by the Registrar, to be called the Bill 
and Petty Cash Book, in which shall be regularly entered a 
notice of all bills furnished on account of the Royal Academy, 
the date when received, the amount, and from whom. On the 
opposite leaf of the said book, shall be entered an account of 
all Household expenses, however small, to whom paid, and for 
what; such expenses to be summed up by the Registrar, monthly 
and quarterly, for the inspection of the Officers of the Aca- 
demy, and the Council, when required. 

VOL. II. F P 



4;34 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 

3. For objects of small expense in the Household department, 
which shall not exceed the sum of £1, the House- 
keeper shall be authorised by the Secretary or Keeper to 
provide. She shall furnish, weekly, a regular account, with 
the vouchers, to the Registrar, of these expenses, to be by him 
preserved, and the amount entered into the above-mentioned 
book. 

4. The Secretary shall conduct and superintend the expenses 
incurred for the refreshment provided for the Committee 
appointed to arrange the Annual Exhibition, such expenses 
being limited to a sum not exceeding £100. 

5. In the absence of any one of the before-mentioned OflScers of 
the Institution, from illness or other causes, he shall be 
authorised to depute one of the other three to issue such 
orders in his name as may be necessary for carrying on the 
routine business of the establishment, according to the follow- 
ing form — *For Keeper. 

Secretary.' 

6. Should any diflference of opinion arise among the Officers of 
the Academy, as to the department from which a particular 
order shall be issued, the Secretary shall be empowered to 
sign the order in question, pro tempore] and he shall 
lay a copy of such order before the Council, at the next 
meeting of that body, in order that their decision may be 
had as to the department to which it shall be subsequently 
referred. 

Pensions. — 1. To an Academician, a Pension not exceeding 
£105 per annum, provided the sum given does not make hia 
annual income exceed £200. 

2. To an Associate, a Pension not exceeding £75 per annum, 
provided the sum given does not make his annual income ex- 
ceed £160. 

3. To a Widow of an Academician, a Pension not exceeding 
£75 per annum, provided the sum given does not make her 
annual income exceed £160. 



APPENDIX VI. 435 

4. To a Widow of an Associate^ a Pension not exceeding £45 
per annum^ provided the sum given does not make her annual 
income exceed 1002. 

5. Every Academician, Associate, Widow of an Academician, 
and Widow of an Associate, who is a claimant for a Pension 
from the Royal Academy, shall produce such proofs as the Pre- 
sident and Council may require, of their situation and circum- 
stances ; and in this examination, the President and Council 
shall consider themselves as scrupulously bound to investigate 
each claim, and to make proper discriminations between im- 
prudent conduct and the unavoidable {idlure of professional 
employment, in the Members of the Society ; and also to satisfy 
themselves in respect to the moral conduct of their Widows. 

6. Any Academician, or Associate, who shall omit exhibiting 
in the Royal Academy for two successive years, -shall have no 
claim on the Pension Fund, under any of the regulations above 
mentioned, unless he can give satisfactory proof to the President 
and Council, that such omission was occasioned by illness, or 
any other cause which they shall think a reasonable excuse. 
This limitation not to extend to Sculptors, who are to be allowed 
three years, nor to Academicians or Associates who have attained 
the age of sixty. Any Academician or Associate who shall omit 
exhibiting at the Royal Academy for five successive years, 
unless from superannuation or illness, shall cease to be a Member 
of the Royal Academy. 

7. These Pensions shall not preclude any Academician, As- 
sociate, or their Widows, in cases of particular distress, arising 
from young Children, or other causes, from receiving such 
temporary relief as may appear to the Council to be necessary 
or proper to be granted. But it is to be strictly understood, 
that the Pension Fund shall, on no account, be considered as 
liable to claims to relieve such difficulties. All sums paid, on 
account of claims of such a nature, shall be carried to the current 
expenses of the year. 



F P 2 



430 inSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 



SECTION VIL— PRIVILEGES AND RESTRICTIONS. 

1. Every Academician and Associate shall have free ingress 
at all seasonable times of the day, upon application made to the 
Librarian or Keeper, to consult the Books, and to make Sketches 
from them : but no Book shall be suflfered to be taken out of 
the Library, under any pretence, by any Officer, Member, or 
other person whatever, without a particular permission from the 
Council. 

2. All Academicians of Foreign Academies of Painting, 
Sculpture, and Architecture, shall be allowed free admittance 
to the Schools, the Library, and the Lectures ; and the Presi- 
dent is empowered to grant a Ticket of general admittance for 
that purpose. 

Donations. — 1. No sum exceeding 50i. sterling, shall be 
granted by the Council within the term of one year, in aid to 
any Royal Academician, Associate, or other person whatever, 
without the ratification of the General Assembly, convened 
expressly for that purpose, and the sanction of the Queen. 

2. Every Academician shall have the privilege of recommend- 
ing proper objects (being Artists, their Widows, or Children), 
for the Annual Charitable Donations, by printed form, certified 
by two signatures, one of which must be that of a Boyal Acade- 
mician, addressed to the President and Council. 

3. All applications for pecuniary assistance shall be made 
according to the printed form, which may be obtained from the 
Kegistrar, by Members, or by letter from a Member. 

4. No Petitions can be entertained unless from Petitioners 
who are, or have been. Exhibitors, their Widows, or Children. 

5. Applications for relief shall be taken into consideration 
twice only in every year, made according to the printed form ; 
and which must be transmitted to the Secretary on or before the 
first day of February, or on or before the first day of August ; 
and relief shall be aflforded once only within twelve months to 
the same applicant. 



APPENDIX VL 437 



SECTION VIIL— EXHIBITION. 

1. There shall be an Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Sculp- 
tures, Engravings, and Designs, in which all Artists of distin- 
guished merit shall be permitted to exhibit their works ; it shall 
continue open to the public six weeks, or longer, at the dis- 
cretion of the Council, and be under the regulations expressed 
in the bye-laws of the Society. 

2. No Copy, with the exception of Paintings in Enamel, and 
Engravings which have not been elsewhere publicly exhibited, 
shall be admitted into the Exhibition. 

3. No Needle-work, Artificial Flowers, Cut Paper, Shell-work, 
Models in coloured Wax, or any such performances, nor any 
Work of Art which has been publicly exhibited elsewhere for 
emolument, shall be admitted into the Exhibition of the Boyal 
Academy. 

4. No Picture shall be received without a Grilt Frame. 

5. No Work intended for Exhibition shaU be received after 
the time limited for the reception is expired. 

6. Members to number their Works sent for Exhibition in the 
order of preference in which they may regard them, and such 
order to be observed by the Arranging Committee so far as a 
due regard to the general arrangement may admit. 

7. As soon as the time limited for sending to the Royal 
Academy the Works of Art ofiFered for Exhibition is expired, 
the Council shall attend immediately to receive or reject the 
same, which they have full power and authority to do. 

8. The arrangement or disposition of the Paintings, Sculp- 
tures, Models, Designs in Architecture, &c, for public view, 
shall be entirely left to the Council, or to a Committee ap- 
pointed by them. 

9. No Picture shall be so placed in the Exhibition as to 
break the line in any of the Booms, except the West Room. 



438 mSTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY 

10. The Works of deceased Members are eligible for Exhi- 
bition within one year only after decease. 

11. No application for changing the situation of any Work of 
Art, after the Committee have finished the arrangements and the 
Members are admitted to view the Exhibition, can be attended 
to or permitted. 

12. If, in consequence of accident, or from an unforeseen 
circumstance, any Member shall deem it necessary to retouch a 
Picture sent for Exhibition, he shall be at liberty to make 
application to the Council for permission to retouch his Work 
accordingly, for a space of time not exceeding one day. The 
decision of the Council respecting such application to be final, 
and on no consideration shall any Picture be removed from 
its place. 

13. No person can be admitted into the Rooms before the 
Exhibition opens, the Council and necessary Servants excepted. 

14. No Member of Council shall communicate with any 
Member of the Academy or other Artists on the situation of 
their Works, during the time of arrangement for Exhibition, 
without the consent of a majority of the Council. 

15. Works sent for Exhibition being a trust reposed in the 
Royal Academy, no permission to copy them during the term of 
the Exhibition shall on any account be granted. 

16. Exhibitors shall have free admittance to the Ex- 
hibition. 



SECTION IX. — ANNUAL DINNER. 

1. There shall be an Annual Dinner in the Great Room of 
the Academy, previous to the opening of the Exhibition ; the 
invitations to which shall be issued by the President and 
Council. 

2. The guests shall consist exclusively of persons in elevated 



APPENDIX VI. 439 

situations, of high rank, distinguished talents, or known Patrons 
of the Arts. 

3. The President and Council shall not issue more than one 
hundred and forty cards of invitation to the Annual Dinner in 
the Exhibition Boom, exclusive of those sent to the Members of 
the Academy and the musicians. 

4. No subsequent invitations, to supply the vacancies occa- 
sioned by those who send excuses, shdl on any pretext be 
allowed, with the exception of such vacancies as may be 
occasioned by Foreign Ministers, when, in the event of all or 
any declining, other guests may be invited. 

5. No guest shall be invited to the Annual Dinner, unless 
he be proposed by a Member of the Council for the time 
being. 

6. The Member of the Council who proposes any person for 
an invitation to tlie Annual Dinner, must give in the name in 
writing, signed by his own name ; which proposition shall be in- 
serted in the Book of the Council, for the examination of the 
Members. 

7. No proposition for an invitation shall pass in the Council 
unless by ballot of the Members present. Two black balls 
to exclude. 

8. In determining the invitations to the Annual Dinner, when 
the list of the former year is read, any name therein shall be 
put to the ballot, at the desire of an individual Member of 
Coimcil, and two black balls shall exclude, as in the case of 
names newly proposed. 

9. A copy of the above Resolutions and Regulations shall be 
laid upon the table of the Coimcil by the Secretary, at the 
time of determining the invitations for the Annual Dinner. 



440 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 



LAWS EELATING TO 
THE SCHOOLS, THE LIBRARY, AND THE STUDENTS. 

The Schools of the Royal Academy are intended to provide 
means of instruction for Students of Painting, Sculpture, Archi- 
tecture, and Engraving. 

SECTION I. — ADMISSION OF PROBATIONERS AND 

STUDENTS. 

1. It is required that applicants for admission should have 
already attained such a proficiency as will enable them to Draw 
or Model well. An acquaintance with Anatomy (comprehending 
a knowledge of the skeleton, and the names, origins, insertions, 
and uses of, at least, the external layer of muscles) is indis- 
pensable for those who are to pursue the branches of Painting, 
Sculpture, and Engraving. 

2. A Painter is required to produce, as a specimen of ability, 
a finished Drawing in Chalk, about two feet high, of an Un- 
draped Antique Statue ; or, if of the Theseus or of the Ilyssus 
(the only mutilated figures admissible), it must be accompanied 
by Drawings of a Head, Hand, and Foot. Similar specimens 
will be required from Engravers. 

3. A Sculptor must send a Model, either in the round or in 
relief, about two feet high, of an Undraped Antique Statue, 
accompanied by a Drawing in outline of a similar figure. 

4. Prior to the delivery of the specimens referred to, the 
applicant must obtain from the Registrar, through the written 
request of any Member of the Academy, or other Artist or 
person of known respectability, a printed form, the blanks of 
which must be filled up and delivered, with the Drawings or 
Model, at the Royal Academy, on or before the 28th of June or 
the 28th of December, to be submitted to the first Council 
held in July or January. If approved of, the applicant will 




APPENDIX VI. 441 

be entitled to admission as a Probationer^ and three months 
are allowed in which to prepare within the Academy a set 
of Drawings or a Model and Drawings. The time of attend- 
ance to be from ten o'clock in the morning until three in the 
afternoon* 

5. A Painter or Engraver will be required, during his pro- 
bation, to make a finished Drawing in Chalky not less than two 
feet high, from an Undraped Antique Statue, together with an 
outline Drawing or Drawings of the same figure anatomised, 
showing the bones and muscles, in one or two Drawings, with 
references to the several muscles, tendons, and bones contained 
therein. 

6. A Sculptor will be required, during his probation, to pro- 
duce a Model, in the round or in high relief, not less than 
two feet high, from a similar figure, together with an outline 
Drawing or Drawings of the same figure anatomised, showing the 
bones and muscles, in one or two Drawings, with references to 
the several muscles, tendons, and bones contained therein. 

7. These Drawings and Models will be submitted to the 
Council, together with the Drawings or Models originally pre- 
sented by the Applicant for admission as a Probationer. 
Should they be considered satisfactory by the Council, the 
Probationer will then be admitted as a Student of the Eoyal 
Academy for seven years, and receive a Ticket of admission 
from the Keeper. 

8. Each Candidate to be a Student in Architecture shall 
present to the Council a Certificate either from an Architect 
Member of the Royal Academy, from the iRoyal Institute of 
British Architects, the Grovemment Department of Art, King's 
College, London, the University College, or other public Insti- 
tution for teaching Art and Science, certifying that the applicant 
has followed up the study of Architecture and Architectural 
Drawing, and has acquired a reasonable degree of proficiency 
in the same. The applicant shall further submit to the Council 
such Drawings (not necessarily made for the occasion) as he 
may think suitable to show the extent of his proficiency : such 
Drawings being declared by him in writing to have been 
executed wholly by him, and the same being attested by the 



442 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 

persons recommending him, to the best oiF their knowledge and 
belief. If such Certificates and Drawings are approved by the 
Council, the Candidate shall be required to make, in the Royal 
Academy, under the inspection of the Keeper, such Drawings or 
Designs as may be required — the subjects to be determined by 
the Council — and for preparing which twelve consecutive days 
will be allowed ; which Drawings, together with the Certificate 
before referred to, shall be laid before the Council, and, if 
approved, the Candidate will be admitted as Student for seven 
years, in like manner as other Students. 

9. Those who have been unsuccessful in their first endeavours, 
can renew their application at any subsequent period, by again 
going through the prescribed forms. 

10. If any Candidate shall be found endeavouring to impose 
on the Academy by presenting, as specimens of his talents. 
Drawings or Models not of his own performance, he shall be 
declared incapable of being admitted a Student of the Royal 
Academy. 

11. All instruction in the Academy is gratuitous, the Student 
providing his own materials. 



SECTION II — SCHOOLS. 

The Schools for the Study of the Human Form consist of 
two departments, termed respectively the Antique School and 
the School of the Living Model ; the former appropriated to the 
study of the best remains of Ancient Sculpture, and the latter 
to the study of Living Models either nude or draped. 

THE ANTIQUE SCHOOL. 

1. A sufficient number of Examples shall be placed before 
the Students of the Antique School, occasionally changed and 
varied as the Keeper shall direct. 

2. No Student shall presume to move the Figures from the 
situations in which they have been placed. 



APPENDIX VI. 443 

3. When any Student has taken possession of a place, or 
view of a Figure^ he shall retain a right to that place until his 
Drawing is finished: unless he should neglect to attend two 
consecutive evenings, in which case such right shall be forfeited. 

4. When any Student, being a Painter in the Antique School, 
shall desire to be admitted to that of the Living Model, nude or 
draped, and the School of Painting, he shall procure a Certificate 
of attendance during one entire Course of Lessons in the Class of 
Perspective, and of attendance, either as a Probationer or as 
Student, at one entire Course of Lectures, and he shall deliver 
to the Keeper a finished Drawing of a Statue or Group, accom- 
panied by finished Drawings as large as nature of a Hand and 
Foot. He shall also be required by the Keeper to make a 
Drawing in twelve consecutive sittings of two hours each from a 
Statue especially placed for that purpose, which, if approved by 
the Keeper, shall, together with the before-mentioned Drawings 
and Certificates, be submitted to the Council ; and if, from the 
specimens produced, the Student shall be thought duly quali- 
fied, he shall be admitted to the School of the Living Model 
accordingly. 

5. The same conditions are to be observed in the case of 
Students of Engraving in the Antique School, who are desirouer 
of being admitted to the School of the Living Model and the 
School of Painting. 

6. When any Student in Sculpture in the Antique School 
shall desire to be admitted to that of the Living Model, he shall 
procure a Certificate of attendance during one entire Course of 
Lessons in the Class of Perspective, and of attendance either as 
Probationer or as Student at one entire Course of Lectures; 
and he shall deliver to the Keeper a Model in the round of a 
Statue or Group, accompanied by finished Drawings as large as 
nature of a Hand and Foot. He shall also be required to pro- 
duce a Model in the round or relief in twelve consecutive 
sittings of two hours each, from a Statue specially placed for 
that purpose, which, if approved by the Keeper, shall, together 
with the before-mentioned Certificates, Model, and Drawings, be 
submitted to the Council ; and if, from the specimens produced, 
the Student shall be thought duly qualified, he shall be 
admitted to the School of the Living Model accordingly. 



444 lUSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 

When any Student in Architecture is desirous of studying in 
the Antique School, he shall submit to the Council a Drawing 
from an Antique Statue, as is required of Painters, such 
Drawing having been made by him within the Academy under 
the superintendence of the Keeper. Should the Drawing be 
approved by the Council, he will be admitted to the Antique 
School as other Students. 



SCHOOL OF THE LIVING MODEL. 

7. The Model shall be set by the Visitor, and continue in 
the same attitude two hours, exclusive of the time required for 
resting : and each Model shall sit six or more nights, at the 
discretion of the Visitor. 

8. While the Model is being placed, if the Visitor require it, 
the Students shall draw lots for their places, of which they 
shall take possession when the Model is ready. 

9. The Students shall remain quiet in their places during the 
time the Model is sitting ; and no Student shall be permitted to 
remain either in the Living Model or Antique School, unless he 
be employed in his immediate business as a Student of the 
Academy. 

10. None but Members of the Academy, or Students of the 
School of the Living Model, shall be admitted when the Female 
Model is sitting ; nor shall any Student under twenty years of 
age (unless he be married) be allowed to study from that 
ModeL 

11. Any Student who may be desirous of painting from the 
Nude Model shall submit to the Council a finished Drawing 
from the Male Model, which Drawing, if approved, shall admit 
such Student to that privilege. Students not admitted to paint 
from the Nude Model, to be restricted to the use of black, whit« 
and red Chalks. 

12. For the especial study of the Head and Hands, a Model 
will be placed three days in each week, from which Students of 
the School of the Living Model will be allowed to draw. 



APPENDIX VI. 446 

13. Students who may be desirous of painting from such 
Model will be required to submit to the Council a finished Draw- 
ing in chalk of a Head and Hand, the size of life, from nature, 
which Drawing, if approved, shall admit such Student to that 
privilege. 

THE SCHOOL OF PAINTING. 

This School is intended to provide facilities for the more 
special study and practice of the art of Painting. 

14. Students of the School of the Living Model being 
Painters or Engravers have the privilege of studying in this 
School. 

15. Students in the Antique School may, by permission of 
the Keeper, submit to the Council a finished Drawing from a 
Statue or Group, accompained by a painting in Monochrome 
from a Head the size of nature, done in the Antique School, 
which, if approved of, shall entitle such Students to admission to 
the Painting School, to copy pictures by the Old Masters, or to 
such other mode of study as the Visitor shall direct, advice being 
given when necessary by the Curator with the sanction of the 
Visitor. Such Student to be admitted to that School for three 
months, during which he must prepare a specimen of his Paint- 
ing, to be submitted for approval to the Council. 

1 6. Students in Sculpture will have opportunities of Modelling 
and Drawing together, with Students in Painting, and, as far as 
the space at the disposal of the Academy permits, in other 
rooms, and from such other objects as the Visitor shall consider 
desirable. 

TIMES OF STUDY. 

17. The Antique and the School of the Living Model shall 
be open every day (excepting on Sundays and the times of 
vacation) ; the Antique from ten o'clock in the morning until 
three in the afternoon; in the evening from five o'clock to 
seven in the summer, and from five to eight in the winter. The 
School of the Living Model from five o'clock to seven in the 
summer, and from six to eight in the winter. The Painting 
School from ten o'clock in the morning until four in the 
afternoon. 



446 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 



SECTION III. — LIBRARY. 

1. The Library shall be open every Monday (except during 
the Vacations) from ten o'clock in the morning until four in the 
afternoon; and on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings 
from five o'clock to eight, winter and summer. 

2. No person shall be permitted to trace any Pictures, Draw- 
ings, or Prints ; nor shall bread be used ; nor any materials for 
drawing, except black-lead pencil. 

3. No person shall take down any Book without giving 
notice of it to the Librarian, nor shall he be allowed to take 
down more than two books at a time : when he has done with 
them, he shall return them to their places under the Librarian's 
inspection. 



SECTION IV. — PREMimiS. 



BIENNIAL DISTRIBUTION. 



1. A Premium of the Gold Medal, with the Discourses of 
Sir Joshua Reynolds and other Books, shall be given for the 
best Historical Picture in Oil Colours, being an original com- 
position, consisting of not less than three figures : the principal 
figure to be not less than two feet high, and the size of the 
Picture four feet two inches by three feet four inches. 

2. A Premium of the Gold Medal, with the Discourses of 
Sir Joshua Eeynolds and other Books, shall be given for the 
best Model of a Historical Baa-relief, or Alto-relief, to con- 
sist of two or more Figures, or for a Group in the Round ; the 
height of the principal Figure in each to be not less than three 
feet, the projection of the Bas-relief not to exceed two inches, 
and that of the Alto-relief not to exceed five inches. 

3. A Premium of the Gold Medal, with the Discourses of 
Sir Joshua Rejmolds and other Books, shall be given for the 
best-finished Design in Architecture. The Design to be as 



APPENDIX VI. 447 

large as an entire sheet of double elephant will admit, and to 
consist of one or more plans, an elevation, section, and per- 
spective view. 

4. A Scholarship, to the amount of £25, may be added by 
the Greneral Assembly to the Biennial Grold Medal, in each 
class, viz. : Historical Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture ; 
sxich Scholarship may be granted by the General Assembly for 
one year, and may be renewed by the Council for a second year, 
the Academy reserving to itself the power to withhold, in the 
first instance, such Scholarship when the work offered in 
competition shall not be deemed of sufficient merit. 

The Scholarship cannot be held together with the Travelling 
Studentship. 

5. A Premium of the Gold Medal, called the Turner Gold 
Medal, shall be given for the best Landscape in Oil Colours. 
Size, four feet two inches by three feet four inches. 

6. The subjects for all these compositions shall be determined 
by the President and Council. 

7. Students purposing to compete for these Premiums must 
declare their intention, by letter, to the Keeper, on or before 
the 1st day of October ; and the Candidates are to attend on the 
14th day of November, in the Royal Academy, to give a proof 
of their abilities, by making an original sketch in the presence 
of the Keeper, from a subject selected by him. 

8. The time allowed for making these sketches shall be five 
hours, from ten in the morning till three in the afternoon. 

9. The Candidates for the Historical Picture and the Land- 
scape are to make their sketches in Oil Colours. 

10. No Student shall be admitted a Candidate for the Gold 
Medals in Painting and Sculpture who has not duly attended 
the Lectures, the Class of Perspective, and the Schools. Nor 
shall any Student in Architecture be admitted a Candidate for 
the Gold Medal, unless he has attended a Course of Perspective 
as well as the Lectures. 



448 mSTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 

11. The following Silver Medals shall also be given to the 
Students, viz. : — 

For the best Painting of a Figure &om the Life in the School of the Liring 
Model. 

For the best Painting from the Living Draped Model, suse of Life. 

For the best Drawings and the best Models, in the round or in baa-relief, of 
Academy Figures, done in the School of the Living ModeL 

For the best accurately-figured Architectural Drawings, from a given subject, the 
measurements to be made by the Students. 

For the best Drawings and the best Models, in the round or in bas-relief, of a 
Statue or Group in the Antique Academy. 

For the best Perspective Drawing in outline. 

For the best Drawing exemplifying the principles of Sciography. 

For the best Medal Die, cut in Steel. 

And a £10 Premium for the best Drawing or Drawings executed in the Antique 
or School of the Living Model during the year, which Drawing or Drawings 
shall belong to the Academy. 

12. The Student who shall gain the first Medal for the best 
Drawing or Model from the Life, shall also receive a present of 
Books, handsomely bound, with an inscription stating them to 
be a Prize conferred by the Royal Academy. 

13. The Student who shall gain the first Medal for the best 
Architectural Drawing as above described, shall also receive a 
present of Books, bound and inscribed. 

14. Students who shall gain the first Medal for the best 
Drawing .of a Statue or Group, and the first Medal for the best 
Model of a Statue or Group, shall also receive a present of 
Books, bound and inscribed. 



IN THE INTERMEDIATE TEABS. 

15. The following Silver Medals shall also be given, viz. : 

For the best Painting of a Figure firom the Life, in the 

School of the Living Model. 
For the best Painting from the Living Draped ModeL 
For the best Drawing of an Academy Figure. 
For the best Model of an Academy Figure. 
For the best Drawing of a Statue or Group. 
For the best Model of a Statue or Group. 



Done in the 
Academy. 



APPENDIX VI. 449 

For the best accurately-finished Architectural Drawing. 

For a Perspective Drawing in outline. 

For the best Drawing exemplifying the Principles of Sciography. 

For the best Medal Die, to be cut in SteeL 

And a £10 Premium for the best Drawing or Drawings executed in the Antique 
or School of the Living Model during the year, which Drawing or Drawings 
shall belong to the Academy. 

16. All the Students who are Candidates for the Premiums 
offered in the Schools of the Antique, the School of the Living 
Model, and the Living Draped Model, are to enter their names 
at the times specified in the Annual Premium List; and the 
Drawings, Models, or Paintings done in the Academy shall, 
during their progress, and when finished, be left with the Keeper. 
Students whose works are executed out of the Academy are to 
declare their intention, by letter, to the Keeper. 

17. Every production, whether in Painting, Sculpture, or 
Architecture, presented for Premiums, and not executed within 
the walls of the Academy, shall be properly attested to be the 
sole performance of the respective Candidate, by any Member 
of the Academy, or other Artist or person of known respecta- 
bility; and any Embellishment, either of Figures, Ornaments, 
or Landscape, introduced in the Drawings of the Candidates in 
Architecture, shall be entirely of their own performance. 

18. No Student who has already obtained a Premium shall 
again receive a similar Premium in the same Class ; nor shall 
any Student receive an inferior Premium in the same Class in 
which he had before obtained a superior Premium. No Student 
in the Life shall become a Candidate in the Antique Class. 

19. The Pictures, Models, and Designs, for all the Premiums, 
shall be delivered to the Keeper of the Boyal Academy on the 
day specified in the annually printed Premium List. 

20. All the Works of Candidates for Premiums shall first be 
laid before the President and Council, and not admitted into 
the competition without their approval. 

21. The Works accepted by the Council shall be arranged for 
inspection on November 30, and shall remain in the Academy 
until the Prizes are delivered. 

VOL. II. • GO 



450 HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 

ANNUAL DECISION AND DISTRIBUTION OF PBEMIUMS. 

22. On December 1, annually^ the General Assembly of 
Academicians shall inspect the different performances offered 
for Premiums ; and before the Prizes are adjudged^ a decision 
shall be taken in each Class successively, to determine whether 
or not a Premium shall be given in that Class, and if any, whether 
the principal Premium shall be given, and whether more than 
one shall be given. The Prizes shall then be adjudged, by 
ballot, which shall not be opened or declared until December 
10 (the anniversary of the institution of the Royal Academy), 
when the Premiums shall be delivered to the successful 
Candidates. 

23. The Academy reserves to itself the power of withholding 
the Premiums and the Scholarships of £25 altogether, when 
the Works offered in competition shall not be deemed of suf- 
ficient merit. 



SECTION V PRIVILEGES OF STUDENTS. 

1. Students of the Royal Academy shall have free access (for 
the purpose of study) to the Schools to which they have been 
regularly admitted, at all the stated hours, during the space of 
seven years. They shall also have the privilege of attending 
the Lectures of the Professors, the Library, and the Annual 
Exhibition. Those only who shall obtain First-Class Silver 
Medals, or higher Premiums, shall retain the privileges of a 
Student for life ; but although, except in this case, the privileges 
of a Student cease at the expiration of seven years, the Council 
have the discretionary power of granting an admission to 
the Schools, the Library, and Lectures, for one year, to those 
who have been formerly Students : which indulgence may from 
time to time be renewed, provided the attendance has been re- 
gular; but such Annual Students cannot compete for the 
Premiums offered by the Academy. 

2. The names of those Students who have gained Gold 
Medals, or the first Silver Medals, at the Biennial Adjudication, 
for Drawings or Models from the Life, or the first Silver Medal 



APPENDIX VL 451 

for the best Drawing in Architecture, shall be placed in sepai'ate 
Itists, in a conspicuous part of the Academy, with a statement 
of the particular Prizes they have obtained. 

3. The Royal Academy will, in times of peace, enable a 
Student from among those who have obtained Gold Medals, 
to pursue his studies on the Continent for the term of two years. 
He shall be elected from each of the Classes — Painting, Sculp- 
ture, and Architecture, in rotation, and shall be allowed the 
sum of £60 for his journey and return, and the sum of £100 
annually for his expenditure. 

4. In particular cases, to be decided by the Council, the 
Travelling Studentship in Painting or Sculpture may be ex- 
changed for an allowance, to assist the successful Candidate to 
prosecute his studies at home. The sum so allowed to be £100, 
to be granted for one year, renewable by the Council for a 
second year, satisfactory evidence being produced that he has 
made good use of the advantages afforded him. 

5. A Travelling Studentship for one year, with an allowance 
of £100, shall be annually offered to all Students in Architec- 
ture, except during the term allotted to the Gold Medal Student 
in Architecture. Candidates to be allowed a limited time to 
produce, in the Academy, an original design ; the subject to be 
selected by the Council. 

6. No Student to be allowed to enter this competition unless 
he shall have attended a Course of Lectures in Architecture, 
and a Course of Lessons in the Class of Perspective. 



SECTION VI. — GENERAL REGULATIONS. 

Students of the Royal Academy shall implicitly observe the 
following Regulations : — 

1. Each Student, immediately after his admission, shall 
declare his place of residence to the Keeper of the Royal 
Academy, and also whenever he removes, so that it may at all 
times be known. 

o a 2 



45? HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY 

2. When a Student is admitted^ he shall receive an Ivory 
Ticket, marked with his name and the date of his admission. 
When he attends the Schools, the Lectures, or the Exhibition 
he shall produce his Ticket to the Doorkeeper, or to any of the 
Officers of the Academy who may require it, to identify him as 
a Student 

3. Each Student in the Antique shall write his name in the 
Book placed in the Hall every time he attends ; and the Students 
attending the School of the Living Model, Painting School, 
Perspective Class, Library, and Lectures, shall write their 
names in books placed in the respective rooms. 

4. The Students shall at all times, within the Royal Academy, 
behave with that respect which is due to an Institution subsist- 
ing under the gracious protection of the Sovereign, and particu- 
larly towards those who have the office of instruction, or who 
are entrusted with the care and direction of its concerns. 

5. At the Public Lectures, Students shall place themselves 
only on those seats appropriated to the Class to which they im- 
mediately belong, viz., the seats of the Antique School, the 
Living Models or those of the Permanent Students. Those 
who have obtained Gold Medals, shall be entitled to the first 
seats in this Class. Students in Architecture, who have not 
been admitted into the School of the Living Model and who 
have not gained a Premium, shall be classed with those of the 
Antique School. 

6. Every Student shall carefully observe silence during the 
Lectures, and refrain from giving any public mark of approba- 
tion or disapprobation, and shall, on no occasion whatever^ come 
within the space allotted to the Members and Visitors. 

7. Any Student who shall take away, wantonly or inten- 
tionally deface, or otherwise damage, the Casts, Books, or any 
other part of the property of the Royal Academy, shall be liable 
for the value of the same, or may be expelled from the 
Academy. 

8. No Student shall introduce any person whatever into the 
Schools of the Royal Academy, or any part thereof. 



APPENDIX VI. 458 

9. No Student, unless he have been regularly admitted into 
the School of the Living Model, shall be permitted to enter 
that School. 

10. Each Travelling Student, on his return, will be required 
to submit to the Council a specimen or specimens, showing the 
result of his studies while abroad. 

11. Before the expiration of the term allowed to any Student 
sent abroad by the Academy, notice shall be given to the 
Students qualified in the succeeding Class, that if they desire to 
become Candidates, they must, within four months, deliver to 
the Keeper a recent and attested specimen of their abilities 
which specimens will be submitted to the Greneral Assembly, and 
the election take place one month previous to the departure of 
the successful Candidate. 

12. Any Student sent abroad who may be guilty of immoral 
or disgraceful conduct, suflBcient evidence thereof being laid 
before the Council, shall, with the concurrence of the General 
Assembly and the sanction of Her Majesty, be immediately 
recalled and his Pension discontinued. 

13. In case of the death of a Student on the Continent, or of 
his being recalled on account of improper conduct, a successor 
shall be immediately appointed from the succeeding Class, in the 
manner above prescribed. 

14. The List of the Students shall be laid before the Council 
at the end of every year, with a Eeport by the Keeper of the 
attendance of each Student, taken from the Books placed in the 
several Schools for that purpose. His application will be the 
subject of a regular and strict enquiry ; and unless a suflScient 
apology or explanation be made to the Council through the 
Keeper, the names of all who shall be found to neglect the 
advantages offered to them by this Institution shall be erased 
from the List of Students. 

15. If any Student be guilty of improper conduct within the 
Academy, or do not punctually comply with the Eules and 
Orders established, it is in the power of the Council to reprimand, 
suspend, or expel him. And further, if any Student conduct 



454 HISTORY OF TIIE ROYAL ACADEMY 

hiiTiRelf in a dishonourable manner out of the Academy, so as to 
dis^rrace the character of a Student of this Soyal Establishment 
and the profession of the Arts, the Council, on satisfactory 
evidence being produced, will strike his name from the List of 
Students ; in which case he shall not afterwards be readmitted. 



SECTION VII.— VACATIONS. 

There shall be three Vacations in the year. The firsts of a 
fortnight, at Christmas. The second, to commence some time in 
the month of March, and terminate as will be annually deter- 
mined by the Council. The third, to commence on September 1, 
and end on the Feast of St. Michael. 



INDEX. 



ACA 

** ACADEMIC Annals," by Prince 
J\. Hoare, i. 269-70 

Academies of art in England: early 
guilds of art, i. 18 ; "Musi^umMinerree/' 
founded by Charles I., 18 ; Evelyn's 
plan for an Academy (1662), 19- 
21 ; priyate academies founded by 
Kneller and Thornhill, 21; « St. 
Martin's Lane" Academy, 22-7, 
41 ; plans for, by Dilettanti Society, 
24-5, 30; and by Nesbitt, 28-9; 
Duke of Richmond's Gallery at White- 
hall, 31 

— various opinions as to utility o^ i. 
68-70, ii. 86, 87, 92 

— foreign, ancient, i. 5 ; modem, 64 
Academicians (Koyal), number of, i. 49, ii. 

359, 417 ; list of, nominated by George 
III., i. 50 ; all afterwards to be elected, 
50 (see Elections) \ limit to number 
of, 61-3, ii. 92, 378 ; pensions obtain- 
able by, i. 255-7, ii. 434-5 ; meet Asso- 
ciates in Council (1803), 269; allow- 
ances made to, ii. 97 ; public services 
rendered by, 107-8; period for elec- 
tion of, 246; retirement of, 376- 
7 ; list of past and present, 393-8 ; 
living (1862), 279; works of, pos- 
sessed by the Academy, 405-10 

Engravers, ii. 246, 279 

Addresses from the Royal Academicians 
to George III., i. 46-7, 265-7, 277, ii. 
2; to George IV., 2; to William IV., 
98-9; to Queen Victoria, 277-8 

Albert, H.R.H. the Prince Consort, 
address by, at the Royal Academy din- 
ner, ii. 227, 231-3 ; planned the Great 
Exhibition of 1851, 229; his efforts 
to promote art, 231 ; classified cata- 
logue of schools of art prepared by, 
241-2; memorial of, 277 ; address to 
the Queen on death of, 277-8 

Allan, Sir Wm., b.a., ii. 152-7 



ASS 

AUston, Wash., a.b.a., i. 399-400 
Anatomy, professors of, i. 87, ii. 274-5, 
361, 403 

demonstrations on, ii. 275 

Angelo, Michael, bas-relief by, ii. 103 
Angerstein collection, ii. 6, 9 
Ansdell, R., A.R.A., ii. 290, 346-8 
Antique, school for the study of the. See 

Schools and Students 
Antwerp, congress of artists at^ ii. 272 
Architects, Royal Institute of British, ii. 

84 
Architecture, special advantages offered 

to students of, ii. 273 
Amald, George, A.B.A., i. 397 
Art : influence of a national taste for, i. 1, 
15-16 ; traces of in England in Saxon 
and Norman periods, and subsequently 
till the reign of Elizabeth, 3, 4 ; from 
time of Charles I. to George II., 7- 
10; advantages of the study of, 17; 
the ancient guilds of, 18; efforts 
made by the Royal Academy to advance 
the cause of, ii. 91, 92, 93 ; results at- 
tained by, 386-9 

works of, possessed by the Academy, 

ii. 405-10 
Artists, Societies of See Societies 
and their families, assistance ren- 
dered by Royal Academy to. See 
Grants 

Fund, ii. 14, 15 

General Benevolent Fund, ii. 14 

social position attained by, ii, 

388-9 
Associates of the Royal Academy: re- 
striction as to number of, i. 63 ; regu- 
lations for the election of, 133-4, ii. 
96, 359, 417 ; form of diploma for, i. 
134-5 ; obligation to be signed by, 
135; elections of, 135-6 (see Elec- 
tions) ; pensions assigned to, 255-7 ; 
met Academicians in Council (1803), 



456 



INDEX 



ASS - 

269 ; rejection of G. H. Harlowe sa 

a candidate for, 280-1 ; George 

Clint's resignation of his diploma as, ii. 

67-8; periods for election of altered, 

246 ; advancoment of to higher rank, 

376 ; complete list of; 399-401 ; living 

(1862), 279 
Associate-Engravers: establishment of a 

class of members, so-called, i. 127-8, ii. 

359 ; regulations for the election of, i. 

1 34, 41 7 ; form of diploma and obligation 

for, 134-5 ; elections of (see EUctunus) ; 

complete list o^ ii. 399-401 ; living 

(1862), 279 
Attacks upon the Royal Academy by 

pamphlets and satires, i. 150-1, 161-2 ; 

by members of parliament, ii. 80-3 ; by 

artists, 85-9; by Mr. Hume and 

others, 105-18, 126-8 
Auditors of the Royal Academy, special 

report by, i. 275-6 ; duties of, ii. 360, 

424 



BAILY, Edward H., b,a., ii. 57-9 
Bacon, John, b.a., i. 143, 220-4 
Baker, John, r.a., i. 113 
Banks, Thomas, b.a., i. 224-6 
Baretti, Joseph, i. 137 and Note 
Barret, George, b.a., i. 100-1, 310 
Barry, James (formerly b.a.), i. 148-9, 

182-7; expulsion of from the Academy, 

268-61 

Sir Charles, b.a., ii. 203-9 

E. M., A.B.A., ii. 354 

Bartolozzi, F., b,a., memoir of, i, 88-91 ; 

engraving of diploma by, 138 ; ii. 393 
Beechey, Sir William, b,a., i. 311-13 
Bequests made to the Royal Academy : 

under the will of J. M. W. Turner, i. 

322-4 ; by Sir F. Chantrey, 387 
Bigg, W. R., B.A., i. 349-50 
Bird, E., b.a., i. 352-5 
Bone, Henry, b.a., i. 343-5 
Bonomi, Joseph, A.B.A., i. 166, 246-7 
Bourgeois, Sir F., B.A., i. 265-67, 300-3 
Boxall, William, A.B.A., ii. 326-7 
Boydell, Alderman, and the Shakespeare 

Gallery', i. 165, 200 
Briggs, H. P., B.A., ii. 146-7 
British Institution founded, i. 272, ii. 

94 ; premiums awarded by, i. 278 ; the 

"Commemoration of Reynolds'* by, 

278-9 ; exhibition of the works of 

Lawrence at, ii. 17 ; of those of three 

deceased Presidents, 83-4 ; plan for 

promoting high art, 91 
Bromley, Rev. W., " History of the Fine 

Arts '* by, i. 252 



CON 

Bromley, William, a.e., i. 404 

Burch, Edward, b.a.. i. 216-7 

Burke, Edmund, i. 170-1 

Burlington House, proposal to a.ssign 

portion of, as a site for a new Royal 

Academy, ii. 257-9, 262-5 



CALLCOTT, Sir A. W., r.A-, i. 334-6 
Canot, P. C, A.B., i. 232 

Canova, the sculptor, gift of a cast by, i. 
270; dinner given to, 280 

Carliui, A., B.A., i. 123 

Carlisle, Sir A., Professor of Anatomy, 
ii. 18 

Catalogues of first exhibition of pictures, 
sale of, i. 33-4 ; Dr. Johnson's preface 
to that of 1762, 37-8 

of Royal Academy Exhibitions, ad- 
vertisement to the first, i. 130-1; key 
to early, 142; alterations in, 257; 
increase of price of, 276 

Catton, Charles, b.a., i. 101-2 

Ceilings, painters of, i. 13 

Chalon, Alfred Edward, B.A., i. 358-9 

John James, B.A., ii. 167-9 

Chambers, Sir W., b.A-, i. 43, 45-6, 48, 
ii. 89; memoir of, i. 115-17 

Chambers, Thos. a.b., i. 233 

Chamberlin, Mason, b.a., i. 97 

Chantrey, Sir Francis, B.A., i. 383-8 ; ii. 7o 

Chaplains, Honorary, to the Royal Aca- 
demy, 1, 173, 287, ii. 131 ; list of, 403 

Charge for admission to Exhibitions, i. 
33-38, ii. 106-9 

Charles I., patronage of art by, i. 7-8 ; 
school of art established by, 18 

Chemical properties of colours, ii. 387 

Cipriani, G. B., B.A., i. 31 ; memoir of, 
91-2; drawing of diploma by, 138, 
276 ; engraved, ii. 393 

Clarke, Theophilus, A.B.A., i. 396 

Clint, George, formerly ab.a., ii. 66-8; 
gives evidence against the Academy, 86 

Coc-kerell, C. R., B.A., ii. 84, 89, 199-201 

Coinage, Committee on, formed by Royal 
Academicians, i. 257 

Collins, Wm., b.a. , i. 365-9 

CoUyer, Joseph, ab., i. 235 

" Commemoration of Reynolds," i. 279 

Committee (Parliamentary) on Arts and 
Institutions of Art, ii. 84-98 

Connoisseurship, i. 11 

Constable, John, B.A., ii. 54-7 

Constitution and Laws of the Royal Aca- 
demy, summary of, ii. 359-64 ; abstract 
of, 417-39 

Conversazione for exhibitors at Royal 
Academy, ii. 233, 240, 249, 266, 270, 384 



INDEX 



457 



coo 

Cook, Kichard, 11.A., ii. 34 
Cooke, E. W., A.B.A., ii. 327-8 
Cooper, Abraham, B.A., i. 369-70 

Thomas S., a.h.a., ii. 216-9 

Cope, Charles W., B.A., ii. 181-3 
Copley, J. S., B.A., i. 189-91 ; suspension 

of, as a member of Council, 265-7 
Copyright in art, ii. 249 
Correspondence with foreign academies, 

i. 269-70 ; ii. 267-8 
Cosway, Richard, r.a., i. 179-82 
Cotes, Francis, B.A., i. 45 ; memoir of, 95-6 
Council of the Royal Academy, i, 60-1 ; 
dispute as to rotation of, 267-8; con- 
troversy between, and the General As- 
sembly, 265-7; special report by, ii. 
269 ; duties of, 369-60, 418-21 
Council-room, ii. 103 
Cousins, Saml, b.a., ii. 246, 322-3 
Creswick, Thomas, b.a., ii. 289-90, 294 
Crystal Palace, Sydenham, ii. 246 
Curators of the schools, i. 396-7; ii. 235 
Custom House, works of artists passed 
freely through when certified by Royal 
Academicians, ii. 86 



DALL, N. T., A.BA., i. 239 
Dalton, Richard, i. 41, 137, Budnote 
Danby, Francis, A.R.A., ii. 68-71 
Dance, George, B.A., i. 118-9, 276-7 

Nathaniel, B.A., memoir of, i. 99-100 

Daniell, Thomas, B.A., i. 314-5 

William, b a., i. 315, ii. 34-5 

Dawe, George, B.A., i. 346-9 
De Loutherbourg, P. J., B.A., i. 191-3 
Deering, J. P., b.a., ii., 201 
Department of Science and Art^ ii. 234 
Derby, Earl of, proposal made by respecting 

new Royal Academy, ii. 267-9, 263-6 
Dilettanti, Society of: project an aca- 
demy of arts, i. 24 ; proposals made to 
Society of Artists by, 26, 3 J 
Dinner at opening of first Exhibition, i. 
129; on Royal birthdays, 166, 276, 
ii. 384 ; on 26th anniversary, i. 262-3 ; 
on 60th anniversaiy, 283; on 60th 
anniversary of accession of George III., 
277; given to Canova, 280; fare- 
well at Somerset House, ii. 100; to 
members of the Academy at the Man- 
sion House, 246-7 

Annual : description of first (1771), 

i. 140-2 ; occurrences at (1789), 165; 
expenses of, 276 ; Sir W. Scott at, ii. 
16; announcement of intention to re- 
move Academy made at, 77; rules as 
to invitations to, 91, 363-4, 438-9 ; the 
Prince Con8ort*8 speech at (1851), 231- 



ENO 

3 ; proceedings at in 1852, 237-8 ; re- 
ported, 239 ; subsequent ones noticed, 
248, 260, 266 ; charges for, 384 

Diploma of the Academicians and Asso- 
ciates, form of, i. 69, ii. 393. 

Works, exhibited at Somerset House, 

i. 168, 289 ; period for preparing, ii. 
380-1 ; complete list of, 406-9. 

Discourses of the Presidents : Reynolds, i. 
126-7, 133, 138, 143-4, 154, 160, 168- 
70; ii. 5, 11 : West, i. 249-251, 277 ; 
Lawrence, ii. 5-8, 10-12 ; Shee, 76-7, 
124; Eastlake, 228-9, 236, 244-5, 
252-3, 266-7 

Disraeli, Rt. Hon. B., m.p., at the Aca- 
demy dinner, ii. 237-8 

Distinction conferred by the Academy on 
artists, ii. 90, 92, 94, 375-6 

Dobson, W. C. T., a.b.a., ii. 344-6 

Doo, G. T., E.A., ii. 324-5 

Donations made by the Academy. See 
Grants 

Downman, John, a.b.a., i. 895-6 

Drawing, defects in, ii. 386 

Drummond, Saml., A.B.A., i. 397 

Dublin Exhibition of Art, &c., ii. 245 

Dulwich Gallery, pictures &om, copied by 
students, i. 281 ; founded by Sir F. 
Bourgeois, b.a., 302, ii. 235 note 

Duncan, Thomas, A.B.A., ii. 213-5 

Dyce, Willm., B.A., ii. 183-8, 248 



EASTLAKE, Sir C. L., P.B.A., elected 
President, ii. 226-7; the Prince 
Consort's speech respecting, 227 ; his 
addresses, 228, 236, 244-5, 262, 266-7 ; 
appointed Director of National Galleiy, 
247, 286 ; memoir of, 280-87 

Edridge, Henry, a.b.a., ii. 66-6 

Edwanls, E., A.B.A., i. 240-1 

Egg, A. L., B.A., ii. 310-11 

Elections of members as Royal Academi- 
cians, i. 145, 168, 176-7, 290-1, ii. 
33-4, 142, 188, 199, 287, 427-8 

as Associates and Associate-En- 
gravers, i. 136-6, 168, 230 1, 236-7, 
396, ii. 26,66, 210, 326, 429-30 

as Academician-Engravers, ii. 246, 



428 



mode of conducting, ii. 375-8 



Elgin Marbles, opinions of Royal Acade. 
micians requested on the proposed pur- 
chase of, i. 280-1 

Elmer, Stephen, A.B.A., i. 240 

Elmore, Alfred, b.a., ii. 302-4 

England : traces of art in, during times 
of early Britons and Saxons, i. 3 ; sub- 
sequently until the reign of Elizibeth 



458 



INDEX 



ENCf 

3, 4 ; from time of Charles I. to 
George II., 7-10; first public oathibition 
of pictures in, 33 ; foundation of an 
English school of art, 70-1 

Engravers, not eligible originally for 
election into the Royal Academy, i. 16; 
atlmitted as Asj^ociates, 134-6 ; claims 
of, 151 ; efforts made by, to attain 
rank of R.A., 273-4, 402-3; memo- 
rial from, to the Queen, ii. 242-3 ; ques- 
tion discussed in the Academy, 
243-4 ; admitted to the rank of Aca- 
demicians, 246 

Etty, Wm., R.A., ii. 49-64 

Evelyn, John, plan for an Academy for 
the encouragement of art by, i. 19 

Evidence before Select Committee of 
House of Commons respecting the 
Academy, ii. 85-98 

Exhibition of pictures at Foundling Hos- 
pital, i. 32 

first made by artists (1760) at So- 
ciety of Arts, i. 33 ; subsequent exhi- 
bitions there and elsewhere, 34-42 
of the Royal Academy : laws regu- 



lating, i. 53, ii. 368, 373-5, 437-8 ; mem- 
bers restricted to, i. 66, ii. 92, 373 ; dis- 
posal of funds arising from, i. 66-7 ; 
first announcement and opening of, 
128-9 ; contents and receipts of the 
first in Pall Mall, 131-2; second 
138; third, 142-3; fourth and fifth, 
144-5; sixth and seventli, 149; 
eighth to Seventh, 151-3; twelfth 
(and first at Somerset House), 159; 
from 1780 to 1792, 174-5 and note; ex- 
penses of, 276 ; character of, from 
1792 to 1820, 287-9; from 1820 to 
1830, ii. 17-18; from 1830-50, 77, 
129-30; returns furnished to Parlia- 
ment respecting, 81-3 ; hanging of 
the pictures in, 93 ; real attractions 
of, 94, 373 ; exhibition rooms at 
Trafalgar Square, 103-4 ; proposal 
to admit public gratis to, 106, 109 ; 
effect of Hyde Park Exhibition of 1851 
upon, 230-1 ; notices of in subse- 
quent yearfs 239, 244, 245-6, 255, 
266, 269-70, 271,276; proceeds of, 
269-276 ; general remarks on, 373-5, 
383 

— Dr. Johnson's intercession for a 
picture excluded from, i. 163-4 

— of Industry of all Nations (1851), 
grant towards, ii. 125 ; planned by the 
Prince Consort, 229; effects of, 230-3 



GEO 

FAED, Thomas, ▲.r.a., ii. 348-9 
Parington, Joseph, B.A., i. 194-5, 
275-6 

Female artists admitted as students, ii. 
272 

Fine Arts, Royal Commission for the pro- 
motion of, ii. 119-20; Eastlakc as 
secretary of, 226-7, 284 

Fittler, James, a.b., i. 401 

Flaxman, John, S.A., L 277; memoir of, 
371-377; ii. 11, 91 

Foggo, George, evidence of, ii. 86, 436 

Foley, J. H., B.A., ii. 316-17 

Foreign schools of art, ancient, i. 5 

academies, by which the constitu- 
tion of the Royal Academy was regu- 
lated, i. 64 

members of, and the Royal Academy, 

ii. 363, 379-80, 436 

Foreign artists, preference formerly shown 
to in England, i. 4, 7, 9, 10 

Foundation of the Royal Academy, L 49, 
ii. 89-90 

Foundling Hospital, exhibition of pic- 
tures at, i. 32 

France, invitation to English artists to 
exhibit their works in, ii. 267-8 

Free admission to Academy exhibition 
proposed by J. Hume, m.p., ii. 106 

Frith, W. P., B.A., ii. 297-9 

Frost, W. K, A.B.A., ii. 219-21 

Funds of the Royal Academy, appropria- 
tion of, i. 66-7, 150, 159, 174, 254-7, 
262, 275-6, 287, ii. 17, 80-1, 90, 97, 
261, 362 ; general statement respecting, 
381-4 ; laws for disposal of, 430-5 

Fuseli, Henry, ila., i. 68, 114, 166; me- 
moir of, 205-12 



GAINSBOROUGH, Thomas, r.a., me- 
moir of, i. 109-12; noticed, 164-5, 
193, 277-8-9 

Gandy, Joseph, A.K.A., i. 400 

J. P., B.A. See Veering 

Garrard, George, a.ila., i. 396 

Garvey, Edmund, b.a., i. 193 

Geddes, A., a.r.a., ii. 210 

General Assembly of the Royal Academy, 
i. 54-5 ; controverqr with the Council, 
265-7 ; duties of, if. 360, 422 

George III., founder of the Royal Aca- 
demy, i. 49 ; interest and support 
to it rendered by, 58; supplied all 
deficiencies in its fdnds, 60; trea- 
surer and librarian appointed by, 60 ; 
annual sums towards its expenses 
granted by, 1769-1780, 132, 138, 143 



INDEX 



459 



GEO 

144-5, 149, 152-3, 159-60; assigns 
apartments to it in Old Somerset 
Ilouse, 139-40 ; and subsequently in 
New Somerset House, 154-6 ; deter- 
mines questions as to rotation of 
Council, 257-8, and government of the 
Academy, 265-7 ; effects of his ill- 
ness on West, and the cause of art, 
263; celebration of 50th anniversaiy 
of his accession, 277; his death, ii. 
1-2 ; value of his patronage, ii. 358-9 

George IV. as patron, ii. 2 ; presents gold 
medal and chain to be worn by Presi- 
dent, 4, 140; gives collection of casts 
from antiques, 5 

Gerbier, Sir B., art academy established 
by, L 19 note 

Gibson, John, H.A., ii. 188-92 

Gifts to the Royal Academy (see also 
Bequests), ii. 18, 129 

Gilpin, Sawrey, B.A., i. 310-11 

Girtin, Thomas, i. 271, 317 

Goldsmith, Oliver, Professor of Ancient 
History at the Koyal Academy, i. 137, 
142, 173 

Goodall, Frederick, A.R.A., ii. 331-2 

Gordon, Sir J. W., b.a-, ii. 287-9 

Government of the Royal Academy, mode 
of, ii. 359-60, 418-22 

^— consult Royal Academicians as to 
the coinage, i 257 ; public monuments, 
270; Waterloo memorial, 279; mar- 
bles of the Parthenon, 280 

■ grant towards expenses o^ in 1799, 
i. 261. 

Grant, Francis, b.a., ii. 294-7 

Grants made by the Royal Academy — 

of relief to artists and their &mi- 
lie8,i. 67, 132, 138, 143, 144-5, 
149, 152-3, 159, 251-2, 287, 
ii. 13-14, 81, 90, 98, 262, 363, 
381-3, 436 
of pensions to members or their 
families, i. 150, ii. 90, 262, 
381-2, 434-5 
for special purposes, li. 18, 91, 129, 

276-7 
of aid towards the exigencies of 
the State, 1799, i. 261 ; offer of 
relief to sufferers in the war not 
sanctioned by the King, 261, 
267 

Graves, Robert, ajs., ii. 222-3 

Green, Valentine, a.b., i. 233 

— Mr. J. H., Professor of Anatomy, ii. 
275 

Gui d of Literature and Art, ii. 236-7 

Guilds of Art, ancient, i. 18 

Gwynn, John, b.a., i. 118 



JAM 

HAMILTON, William, B.A., L 204-5 
Haward, F., A.B., i. 235 

Hardwick, P., h.a., ii. 202-3 

Harlowe, G. H., i. 281-2 

Hart, S. A., b,a., ii. 166-7 

Haydon, B. R., evidence of, ii. 87, 89, 91, 
115, 129, 143 

Hayman, F., b.a., i. 42; memoir of, 
94-5 ; appointed librarian, 136 

Heath, James, a.b., i. 236 

Herbert, J. R., b,a., ii. 179-81 

Hibernian Academy, Royal, ii. 12 

Hilton, William, b.a., i. 278; memoir of, 
362-5 

Hoare, William, r.a., i. 178-9 

Prince, " Academic Annals " by, 

i. 269-70 

Hodges, William, B.A., i. 203-4 

Hogarth, William, his style, i. 13 ; 
account of early art-academies by, 
22-4 ; his objections to, 27 ; paints 
pictures for the Foundling Hospital, 
32 ; pension granted by Royal Aca- 
demy to widow of, 262 

Hollins, John, A.Bjk., ii. 212-3 

Hone, Nathaniel, B.A., i. 98 

Horace, a.r.a., i. 244 

Honorary Members of the Royal Aca- 
demy, I 136, 173-4, 287 ; u. 15, 20, 
124, 131, 274, 361 ; complete list of, 
403-4; present^ 278 

Hook, J. C, B.A., ii. 308-10 

Hoppner, John, B.A., i. 308-9 

Horsley, J. C, A.B.A., ii. 335-8 

Howard, Henry, b.a., i. 329-31; evi- 
dence of before Parliamentary Com- 
mittee, ii. 93-7 

Hume, Joseph, m.p., and the Royal Aca- 
demy, ii. 106-13, 115-8 

Humphrey, Ozias, b.a., i. 214-6 

Hunter, D. William, First Professor of 
Anatomy, i. 87, 173 

Hurlstone, Mr., evidence of, ii. 88 



"INCORPORATED Society of Artists 
X of Great Britain." See Society of 

Artists 
Inglis, Sir R. H., Bt., M.P., ii. 115-6, 

131 
Institute of British sculptors, ii. 242, 250 
" Instrument of Institution," i. 49-55, ii. 

260 
International Exhibition of 1862, ii. 278 



JACKSON, John, k.a., i. 359 62 
James, George, a.b.a., i. 237 



460 



INDEX 



JOR 

Johnson, Dr. Samuel, preface to catalogue 
of artists' exhibition (1762) by, i. 36- 
8 ; appointed Professor of Ancient 
Literature at the Royal Academy, 137, 
142 ; appeal by, for th') admission of 
a picture to the Exhibition, 163-4; 
subscription to monument of, 173 

Jones, Grrorge, B.A., ii. 36-9, 124-6 

Joseph, Geo. Fr., ▲.ba., i. 398 



KAUFFMAN, M. A. Angelica C, b.a., 
i. 92-4 
Keepers of the Boyal Academy, i. 51, 
122-3, 173, 211, 286, 300, 326, 364, ii. 
37. 131, 176, 276, 360, 423 ; list o^ 403 
Kneller, Sir Q-., i. 9; academy formed 

by. 21 
Knight, R. P., wiU of, ii. 18, 19 
J. P., B,A., ii. 174-6 



LADIES not elected as members of the 
Academy, ii. 379 

Landseer, John, a.e., i. 273-4, ii. 143 ; 
memoir of, i. 402-3 

Sir Edwin H., b,a., ii. 143-6 

Charles, a. A., ii. 176-7 

Lane, Richard James, A.B., ii. 71-2, 261 

Lawrence, Sir Thomas, P.B.A., noticed, i. 
210-11, 281, 306; elected President, ii. 
2-4 ; addresses by, 6-8, 10-12 ; help ren- 
dered to artists by, 6, 14 ; his death and 
funeral, 16-16; his collection of works 
of art, 16-17 ; memoir of, 21-33 

Laws of the Royal Academy, ii. 417-39 ; 
and of the schools, 440-64 

Lectures by Professors of the Royal 
Academy, commenced, i. 132 ; returns 
to Parliament respecting, ii. 81-3 ; 
notices of, i. 83-7, 119, 186-86, 198, 
209, 241, 314, 318, 330-33, 376, 381, 
ii. 46, 77, 83, 167, 176, 199, 201, 361, 
367,370-1; laws respecting, 426-6; in 
addition to those by Professors, ii. 261 

Lee, F. R., b.a., ii. 169-61 

Leslie, Charles Robert, B.A., ii. 39-47, 
66, 74, 168; on the admission of en- 
gravers to full Academic rank, 243-4 

Lewis, J. F., A.B.A., ii. 339-43 

Librarians of the Royal Academy, i. 64, 
136, 173, 286, ii. 19, 131, 276, 360, 
424 ; list of, 402-3 

Library of the Royal Academy, ii. 96-6, 
102-3, 366-6 

List of present officers and members 
(1862), ii. 278-9 

Living model, study from the. See 
Schools and Students 



f> 



NAT 

Lloyd, Mrs. See Mo»er, Mary 
Loutherbouig, P. J. de, B.A., i. 191-3 
Lowe, picture by, excluded from Exhibi- 
tion, i. 163-4 
Lyndhurst, Lord, speech in the House of 
Lords respecting the Royal Academy, 
ii. 269-3 
"Lyric Odes to the Royal Academicians, 
i. 161-3 



TU ACDOWELL, P., B.A-, ii. 196-7 
iVJ Maclise, Daniel, B.A., ii. 161-4, 

262, 277 
Msgor, Thomas, A.B., i. 231 
Manchester Art Treasures* Exhibition, ii. 

263-4 
Mannerism in art^ ii. 386 
Marchant^ Nathaniel, b.a., i. 379 
Marochetti, Baron Carlo, ii. 362-3 
Marshall, W. C, B.A., ii. 314-6 
Martin, E., A.B.A., i. 237 

John, evidence of, ii. 87-8 

Medals and premiums, distribution of, i. 

133, 138, 143-4, 164, 160, 249-61, ii. 

4-6, 7, 8, 10-11, 76-77, 124, 130, 228, 

236, 244, 262, 266, 270, 272-73, 366, 

868-69 
— gold, design for reverse o^ by 

Stothard, i. 306 ; list of students who 

have been awarded the, ii. 411-6 

« Turner," ii. 261-2, 277 

Memorial from artists to George III. to 

found Royal Academy, i. 46-7 (see 

Addresses); from Council of Royal 

Academy to William IV. to permit 

removal to Trafalgar Square, ii. 98-9 
Meyer, Jeremiah, B.A., memoir of, i. 96 ; 

proposes establishment of Pension 

Fund, 160 
Millais, J. E., A.B.A., ii. 332-6 
Moon, Lord Mayor, dinner given by to 

Royal Academy, ii. 246-7 
Mortimer, J. H., A.B.A., i. 242-4 
Moser, G. M., b.a., i. 43, 46-6, 122-3 
Mary (afterwards Mrs. Lloyd), b,a., 

i. 113-4 
Mulready, Wm., B.A., i. 366-8 
Munro, Dr., i. 316-7 
"Museum MinervBB," established by 

Charles I., i. 18 



" V'ATIONAL Association for the En- 

iN couragement of Arty" planned by 

West, i. 268 
National Gallery, formation of the, ii. 9, 

10 ; erection of building for, 77-8 ; 

completion o^ 98 ; transfer of Royal 



INDEX 



461 



NAT 

Academy to East Wing of the, 98- 
101 ; contemplated removal of^ 234-6, 

240, 255; proposal of the Prince Con- 
sort to classify the works in, 241-2 ; 
reconstruction of management of, 247 ; 
Sir C. Eastlake appointed Director 
of, 285 

National Portrait Galleiy, founded, ii. 

241, and note 249 

Nesbitt*8 " Essay on the Necessity of a 
Royal Academy" (1766), i. 28-9 

Newton, F. M., B.A-, L 26, 42, 43, 276 ; 
memoir of^ 98-9 

O. S., B.A., ii. 147-9 

Bishop, i. 147-9 

Nixon, James, a.&.a., i. 244 

Nollekens, Joseph, B.A., i. 217-20 

Northcote, James, B.A., i. 199-203 



OBLIGATION signed by Royal Acade- 
micians, i. 56-6 ; and by Associates, 1 36 
Officers '>f the Royal Academy, appoint- 
ment of, i. 66 ; changes among, 172- 
4, 286-7, ii. 19-20, 131, 274 ; sala- 
ries o^ 97 ; complete list of; 402-3 
Oliver, Archer Jas., A.B.A., i. 396 
Opening of Royal Academy, in Pall Mall, 
i. 124-6; in Old Somerset House, 139; 
in New Somerset House, 164-6; in 
Trafalgar Square, byWimamIV.,ii. 101 
Opie, John, B.A., i. 196-199, ii. 91 
O'Neil, Henry N., a.b,a., ii. 343-4 
Owen, Wm,, B.A., i. 327-8 



PAINTING school, formation of, L 281 ; 
Curators in, i. 396-7, ii 285. See 
Schools and Students 

Pall Mall, Rooms occupied by the Royal 
Academy in, i. 126, 131, 163 

Parliamentary proceedings respecting the 
Royal Academy, ii. 78-98, 113-18, 
256-66 

Parliament, New Houses of; art patronage 
in connection with, ii. 119 ; erected by 
Sir C. Barry, b-A., 206-8 

Partridge, Mr. Richard, ii. 275 

Paris Universal Exhibition (1866), Eng- 
lish art, at, iL 248 

Pany, Wm., A.B.A., i. 241-2 

Pars, Wm., A.B.A-, i. 238-9 

Pasquin's Attacks on the Royal Academi- 
cians, i. 263 and note 

Patronage of art^ by goTemment^ absence 
of in former times, i. 11-12 ; recent 
display of, ii. 119, 384-6; injudicious 
public exercise of, i. 11 

Patten, George, a.b.a., ii. 211-2 



PRO 

Peel, Sir Robt., m.p., and the Royal Aca- 
demy, ii. 116-8, 123, 369 

Penny, Edward, B.A., i. 43 ; memoir o( 
83 

Pension Fund of the Royal Academy, 
established, i. 160, 194; rules regu- 
lating the award of, 266-7, 282, ii. 
362, 434-6; first grants to widows, i. 
262 ; subsequent awards, 287, ii. 90, 
130 ; total amount awarded in, 381-2 

Perspective, teacher of, substituted for 
Professor, ii. 274 

Peters, Wm., B.A-, i. 187-9 ; afterwards 
appointed chaplain, 173 

Petition fix}m Royal Academy to House of 
Commons, ii. 114; from artists respect- 
ing, 116-16 

Phillip, John, B.A-, ii. 306-8 

Phillips, Thos., b.a., i. 331-4 

Pickersgill, Heniy Wm., b.a., ii. 47-9 

Fred. RichcL, b,a., ii. 304-6 

Pindar, Peter, " Lyric Odes to the Royal 
Academicians" by, i. 161-3 note, 168 
notSf ii. 25 note 

Plate presented to the Academy by its 
members, ii. 384 

Poole, P. F., B.A., ii. 311-3 

Portrait Gallery, NatiomU, founded, ii. 
241, 249 

Portrait painting, early patronage of in 
England, i. 4, 6-9 ; value of; 172 

Presents made by Royal Academy to its 
members and others, L 119, 194, 276- 
7, 326, ii. 18, 277 

Presidents of the Royal Academy: laws 
respecting, ii. 418; Ret/nMs, i. 48, 
73-81; West, 248-89; Wyatt tempo- 
rarily elected as, 267-8 ; Lawrence, ii. 
1-20 ; Shee, 73-131 ; new mode of ap- 
pointing proposed, 76 ; special pension 
assigned to, 123 ; continuation of annual 
allowance to future, 228; Eastlake, 
226-79 ; list of, 402 

Printing, invention o( connected with de- 
cline of painting, i. 6 

Prizes granted by Royal Academy. See 
Medals and Students 

Proctor, Thomas, the sculptor, case o( i. 
261-2 

Professors, Honorary. See Honorary 
Members 

of the Royal Academy, i. 62-3, ii. 

361, 426-6 ; notices of those appointed, 
i. 83-7, 132, 173, 209. 314; changes 
among, 286-7, ii. 19. 20, 63, 131, 
274-6; salaries o^ 97; returns re- 
specting rendered to Parliament, 81- 
3 ; complete lists of, 403 ; value of 
the services o( 370-1 ; list of living 



462 



INDEX 



PRO 



(1862), 279; Professorship of Sculp- 
ture instituted, i. 277 ; lectures by Flax- 
man, 376; Westmacott, 381 
Professors oif Ancient History, Literature, 
and Antiquities, list of, ii. 404 



71 OYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS :— 
JL t Origin of, i. 43-4 ; memorial from 
the founders of to George III., 46-7 ; 
Royal patronage given to, 46-7, ii. 
357-9, 389; Reynolds chosen to be 
first President, i. 48; the "Instru- 
ment of Institution" approved by the 
King, 49-65, ii. 260; obligation 
signed by members, i. 56; election of 
first officers and professors, 56; first 
announcement of its foundation, 67 ; 
the King's support, 58; the diploma, 
69 ; value of the Royal patronage, 
60 ; limitation of number of members, 
61-3, ii. 92,378-9; regulated by plans 
of foreign academies, i. 64 ; mem- 
bers prohibited from exhibiting their 
works elsewhere, 66, ii. 92; appro- 
priation of proceeds of annual exhi- 
bition, L 66-7 ; distribution of aid to 
artists and their families, 67-8 ; opi- 
nions as to utility of art academies, 
68, 70 ; objects for which the Royal 
Academy was instituted, 70 ; its 
foundation coeval with that of the 
English school, 71 ; notices of the 
foimdation members, 72-123 ; ii. 89- 
90 ; self-supporting, 260 ; works of 
members withdrawn to make room for 
others, 270; summary of the laws, 
369-64 ; abstract of the constitution 
and laws, 417-39; regulations for the 
government of the schools, 364-70, 
440-64 ; the Professors and their lec- 
tures, 371-2; the exhibitions, 373-6; 
the election and retirement of mem- 
bers, 376-9 ; relation to foreign acade- 
mies, 379 80; disposal of its funds, 
381-4 ; its influence on English art 
and artists, 386-9 

History of during the Pregidtncy of 
Sir J, Reynolds (first President, 1768- 
92) : — Opening of the schools in Pall 
Mall, i. 124-6 ; addresses by Rey- 
nolds, 126-7; first exhibition, 128-32; 
inauguration dinner, 129 ; first lec- 
tures and students, 132-3 ; rules for 
election of associates and associate- 
engravers, 133-6; new members, li- 
bnirian, apd honorary appointments, 
136-7; early exhibitions, 1770-9, 138, 
142-6, 149^ 161-3 ; occupation of 



ROY 

apartments in Old Somerset House, 
139 ; first annual dinner, 140-2 ; tra- 
velling studentship established, 143; 
ofiTer by Academicians to decorate gra- 
tuitously St. Paul's cathedral with 
paintings, 146-8; requested to orna- 
ment rooms of Society of Arts, 148 ; 
"Pension Fund" proposed, 150; 
})amphleta published against the Aca- 
demy, 161 ; removal to New Somerset 
House, 164-6; ornamentation of the 
rooms occupied by the Academy, 
166-8 ; funds suppbed by George III. 
to meet the expenses of the Academy 
from the privy purse, 169 ; Reynolds's 
address in 1780, 160; "Pet^r Pindar" 
and other satirical attacks on the 
Academy, 161-3, and note\ Dr.' John- 
son's intercession for an excluded pic- 
ture, 163-4; Royal birthday dinners, 
166-^ ; tender of his resignation of the 
Presidentship by Reynolds after Bo- 
nomi's non- election as R.A., 166-7; 
reconciliation, 167-8; last discouiBe, 
death, and burial, 168-71 ; changes 
by death of original, and election of 
new members, 172-3; succession of offi- 
cers, 173-4; exhibitions, 1781-92, 174-6; 
notices of Royal Academicians elected 
during the Presidency of Reynolds, 
176-229; and of Associates, who did 
not afterwards become R.A.'s, 230-47 

Luring the Presidency of Benjamin 
West (second President, 1792-1820) :— 
West's qualifications for the office, L 
249 ; hia discourses, 249-61 ; case of 
Thomas Proctor, a student, 251-2; 
publication of Bromley's " Histoiy of 
the Fine Arts," 262; celebration of 
25th anniversary, 262-3; Pasquin's 
critical attacks on the exhibitions and 
members, 263-4; Royal warrant ap- 
pointing new treasurer, 264; esta- 
blishment of the '* Pension Fund," 
266-7; alteration in the catalogue, 
267 ; committee on a new coinage, 257 ; 
annual rotation of the Council insisted 
on, 267-8 ; Barry's expulsion from the 
Academy, 258-61 ; grant in aid of the 
exigencies of the state, 261 ; alteration 
in the term of studentship, 262 ; first 
^nts of pensions, 262 ; effect of the 
illness of the King upon the Academy, 
263; attacks upon the President, 264-5; 
dispute between the Council and the 
General Assembly, 266-7; West's re- 
signation of the office of President, 
temporary election of Wyatt^ and re- 
election of West, 267-3 ; his plan tot 



INDEX 



463 



ROY 

a national aiisociation for the encou- 
ragement of art, 268 ; artiste' roluntecr 
corps, 269 ; Prince Hoare's " Academic 
AnnaJfi," 269-70 ; establishment of the 
(Old) Water Colour Society, 271 ; and 
of the British Institution, 272-3 ; John 
Landseer's appeal for Aill academic 
rank for engraTers, 273-4 ; "varnishing 
days" appointed, 274; special report 
on the ftmds of the Academy, 276-6 ; 
complimentary presents made by, 277 ; 
celebration of 50th anniversaiy of ac- 
cession of George III., 277 ; depression 
of the arts caused by the war, 277 ; pre- 
miums awarded by British Institution, 
278; "Commemoration of Reynolds," 
279; plan for a Waterloo memoriaX 
279-80 ; dinner to Canova, 280 ; forma- 
tion of a school of painting, 281 ; 
G-. H, Harlowe refused the rank of As- 
sociate, 281 ; renewal of travelling 
students at the close of the war, 282 ; 
alteration of rules as to pensions, 282-3 ; 
celebration of 50th anniversary, 283; 
death and funeral of West^ 283-5 ; in- 
fluence of, 285; members who died 
during his Presidentship, 285-6 ; suc- 
cession of officers and professors, 286-7 ; 
finances of the Acaaemy during this 
period, 287 ; the exhibitions, 288 ; and 
the diploma pictures, 289; notices of 
Royal Academicians elected during 
West's Presidentship; 290-394, and of 
Associates not afterwards R.A.'s, 395- 
404 

During the Pre»ielency of Sir Thomas 
Lawrence (thirdFTesident, 1820-30): — 
Death of George III., ii. 1 ; patronage 
continued by his successor, 2, 4, 6; 
election of Sir T. Lawrence as Presi- 
dent, 2-4; his addresses to the stu- 
dents, 4-6, 7-8, 10-12. Foundation of 
other art societies : Society of British 
Artists, 6-7 ; Royal Hibernian Aca- 
demy, 12; Royal Scottish Academy, 
13 ; formation of the National Galleiy, 
9, 10; death of Flaxman, 11, 12; 
mode of making grants of relief, 13, 
14 ; the Artists' Fund and the Artists' 
General Benevolent Institution aided 
by President and members of the Aca- 
demy, 14, 15; Sir W. Scott at the 
annual dinner, 15 ; death of Lawrence, 
15-16; his collection of works of art, 
16, 17 ; exhibition of his paintings, 17 ; 
progress of the Academy and its exhi- 
bitions, 17 ; gifts made and received by 
the Academy, 18; R. P. Knight's be- 
quest, 19 ; members deceased, 19 ; 



ROY 

changes among officers, professors, and 
honorary members, 19-20; travelling 
students, 20 ; notices of Royal Acade- 
micians elected during Lawrence's Pre- 
sidentship, 21-64 ; and of Associates 
not afterwards R A.'s, 65-72 

During the Presidency of Sir M. A, 
Shee (fourth* President^ 1830-50):— 
Election of Shee as President^ ii. 74-5 ; 
proposal that all the members should 
hold the office in rotation, 75 ; privilege 
of direct access to the Sovereign, 76 ; 
distribution of medals, addresses, and 
lectures, 76-7 ; erection of a National 
Gallery, and proposed removal of the 
Academy, 78-80 ; attacks answered by 
the President, 80-1 ; returns called 
for by Parliament^ 81-3 ; exhibition of 
works by deceased Presidents, 83; 
foundation of Royal Institute of Bri- 
tish Architects, 84 ; Parliamentary Com- 
mittee on art institutions, 84 ; evidence 
of opponents of the Academy, 85 8 ; 
of its officers and members, 88-98; 
report of Parliamentary Committee on, 
99 ; memorial from the Council to the 
King respecting removal of the Aca- 
demy to Trafalgar Square, 98-9 ; fare- 
well dinner at Somerset House, 100; 
opening of the new Academy, 100-2; 
the apartments appropriated to it> 
102-4 ; the Queen becomes Patron, 105 ; 
Mr. Hume's plan for free exhibitions 
106-9; and his charges against the 
Academy answered, 110-13; further 
Parliamentary proceedings, 114-8 ; 
prizes offered by Royal Commission on 
the Fine Arts, 119-20; Shee's resig- 
nation refused by Academicians, 120-2 ; 
pensions awarded to him, 123-4 ; grant 
towards Great Exhibition of 1851, 125; 
proposed Parliamentaiy vote for new 
Koyal Academy, 126-8 ; special gifts 
made and received by the Academy, 
128-9; the exhibitions, 129-30; tra- 
velling students, 130; members de- 
ceased, 130; changes among officers, 
professors, and honorary members, 131; 
notices of Academicians elected in 
Shee's Presidentship, 132-209; and As- 
sociates not afterwards R.A.'s, 210-24 

During the Presidency of Sir C, L, 
Eastlake (1850 to 1862) :— Choice of 
Eastlake for President, ii. 226 ; testi- 
mony of the Prince Consort as to 
his qualifications, 227 ; continuance 
of pension awarded to late President^ 
228 ; addresses by Sir C. L. Eastlake 
to the students, 228, 236, 244-5, 



464 



INDEX 



ROT 

252-3, 266-7 ; Exhibition of Industiy 
of all Nations (1851), and its effects 
on English art-manufacture, 229-31 ; 
exhibitions of the Royal Academy, 
1851-62, 230-1, 239, 244, 245-6, 
256, 266, 269-70, 271, 276; Prince 
Consort's speech at Academy dinner, 
1851, 231-3; conversaziones for ex- 
hibitors established, 233; formation 
of Science and Art Department^ 234 ; 
curators in the schools, 235; founda- 
tion of the Ghiild of Literature and 
Art, 236-7 ; speeches at annual 
dinner, 1852, 237-9; report of pro- 
ceedings at, published in the " Times," 
239 ; " Tarnishing days " discontinued, 
240 ; Parliamentary proceedings on 
art, 241-2; establishment of Institute 
of Sculptors, 243, 250; claims of en- 
gravers to higher rank in the Aca- 
demy, 242-4, 246 ; Dublin Exhibition 
of Art and Industry, 245 ; dinner 
given by Lord Mayor Moon to mem- 
bers of the Academy, 246-7 ; President 
appointed Director of National Gal- 
lery, 247 ; Paris Universal Exhibition, 
1855, 248 ; proceedings respecting 
copyright in art, 249 ; additional lec- 
tures to students by members not pro- 
fessors, 251 ; the "Turner" me<lal, 252 ; 
Manchester Art-Treasures' Exhibition, 
1857, 253-4; Sheepshanks Collection, 
254 ; commission on site for National 
Gallery, 255-6 ; and proposed removal 
of Academy to Burlington House, a 
building to be erected at its own cost 
on the site given by the Government, 
256-265 ; Lord Lyndhurst's speech on 
the subject^ 259-63; communication 
between the Academy and the French 
Government, 267-8 ; retirement of Sir 
R. Smirke, e.a., from the Academy, 
268-9; pnnting of a special report 
by the Council, 1860, 269 ; alterations 
in sculpture room, 269-70 ; female ar- 
tists admitted to the schools, 272; 
increased advantages to students under 
new regulations, 273; members de- 
ceased, 274 ; changes among officers, 
professors, and honorary members, 
274-6 ; special items of expenditure, 
276 ; address of condolence to the 
Queen on the death of the Prince Con- 
sort, 277-8; list of linng members 
(1862), 278-9 ; notices of Academicians 
elected during Presidentship of Sir C. 
Eastiake, 280-326, and Associates not 
since R.A.'s, 326-66 

Complete list of Royal Academicians, 



RUd 

ii. 393-8 ; of Associates, 399-401 ; lists 
of officers, professors, and^ honorary 
members, 402-4; diploma works and 
others possessed by the Academy, 
405-10 ; lists of students granted gold 
medals and travelling allowance, 41 1-16 

Raebum, Sir Heniy, B.A., i. 350-2 

Ravenet, S. F., ▲.£., i. 231 

Rebecca, B., ▲.a. a., i. 239 

Redgrave, Richard, B.A., ii. 234, 289-94 

Reformation, the, influence o^ upon Eng- 
lish art^ i. 6, 6 

Registrar of the Royal Academy, duties 
of, ii 360, 433-34 

Reinagle, Philip, B.A., i. 346 

R. R, late b.a., ii 36-6, 89 

Removal of Academy from Trafalgar 
Square proposed, ii. 126-8, 234-6, 256- 
66 

Rennie, George, evidence of^ ii. 86. 

Report from the Council (1860), ii 269 

Resignation and retirement of members^ 
i. 100, 188, 246, ii 67, 268, 376-7 

Returns called for by Parliament^ ii 81— 
83, 111-12, 113-17 

Reynolds, Sir Joshua, p.b.a., elected first 
President, i 48 ; biographical notice of, 
73-81 ; his abilities as an artist, 81-3, 
ii89; mentioned, i 107, 109, 112; 
discourses of, 126-7, 133, 138, 143-4, 
154, 160, 168-70 and note ; pictures 
by, 145, 278 ; tenders resignation of 
I^residentship, 166-7; resumes his office 
in the Academy, 167-8; death ajid 
funeral of| 171; influence o^ 171-2; 
" commemoration " of, 278-9 

Richards, John, B.A., i. 105 

Richmond, Duke of, gratuitous school of 
design formed in his gallery at White- 
hall, i. 31 

— George, A.B.A., ii. 338-9 

Rigaud, J. F., B.A., i. 193-4, 277 

Roberts, David, B.A., ii 169-71 

Robinson, J. H., A.B., ii 366 

Rooker, M. A , a.r.a , i 238 

Ross, Sir W. C, b.a., ii. 171-4 

Rossi, John C. F., R.A-, i. 377-9 

Rotation of Council, i 267-9 

Royal patronage and control of the Aca- 
aemy, nature and value o^ i. 60, ii 
262-3, 367-9, 389 ; relative to rotation 
of Council, i 257-^ ; as exercised by 
fiuccessive Sovereigns, see George UL 
and IV., WiUiam IV. and Victoria 

Royal Hibernian Academy, ii 12 

Scottish Academy, ii. 12-13 

— — Institute of British Architects, ii. 84 
Ruskin*s Notes on Academy Exhibitions, 
ii. 246 



INDEX 



465 



RUS 



Russell, Earl, and the Royal Academy 

ii. 117, 238 
Russell, John, B.A., i. 204 



SALARIES of offioen of the Royal 
Academy, ii. 97, 362, 431.2 
Sandby, Paid, B.A., i. 13, 43, 107, 263, 
271, ii. 89 ; memoir o^ I 102-4 

Thomas, B.A., first Ptofessor of 

Architecture, memoir oi^ L 84-6; no- 
ticed, 107, 168 
Sant, James^ ▲.&▲., u, 860-1 
"St Martin's Lane" Academy, i. 22-7 
St Paul's Cathedral, ofier for the gpratui- 
tous decoration ot, by Royal Academi- 
cians, i. 146-8 
Schools of Art, early Foreign, x. 6 
— Early English, i. 9-16 ; charac- 
terislics of the present English school, 
71, ii. 886 

ofthe Royal Academy. See Students, 

Laws relating to, i. 64-6, 281, iL 364> 
6, 440-64 ; reyised code of regulations, 
273 ; opening of the, i. 124-6 ; num- 
bers in, 133, 143, 163-4, 261, ii. 368- 
70 ; extension of term for students in, 
i. 261-2 ; adTantages offered in, ii. 96, 
261, 366-70, 886-6, 460-1; cost o( 
97, 372, 381 ; present location of, 102; 
curators appointed in, 236 
Scott, Sir Walter, ii. 16, 20, 296 
Scott, G. G., B.A., ii. 261, 320-2 
Scottish Academy, Royal, ii. 12-13 
Sculptors, Institute of British, ii. 242, 260 
Sculpture, Professorship o^ instituted, i. . 
277. See Professors 

Room, improvements in, ii. 270-1 

Secretaries of tne Royal Academy, i. 61, 
99, 106, 173, 286, 330-1, u. 131, 176, 
276, 360, 422-23 ; list of; 402 

for Foreign coirespondence (honor- 

aiyX ii. 404 
Serres, D., B.A., i. 104-5 
Shee, Sir M. A., p.b.a., elected President, 
ii. 74-6 ; knighted, 76 ; addresses of, 
76-7 ; correspondence with Goremment 
respecting removal of Academy, 79-82 ; 
evidence of, before Parliamentajry Com- 
mittee, 89-93 ; letters to Earl Russell 
and Mr. Hume respecting firee exhi- 
bition, &c, 106-113 ; paints portrait of 
the Queen forthe Academy, 119 ; tenders 
resignation of Presidentship, 120-1 ; 
consents to withdraw it, and is awarded 

Elusion from the Academy and Civil 
ist, 122-4; last years of, 124-6; 
memoir of, 132-142 
Sheepshanks collection of pictures, ii. 264 



STA 

Signs, painters o( i. 13-14; exhibition 
o( i« 14 note 

Smirke, Robert, B.A., L 299-300 

Sir Robert; B.A., i. 391-3, n. 268 

Sydney, B.A., iL 261, 318-20 

Smith, Anker, A.B., L 400 

Soane, Sir J., b^, i. 266-7, 802 ; memoir 
o^ 388-91 ; lectures by, ii. 77 

Society for the Encouragement of Arts, 
&a, founded, i. 31 ; prizes offered by, 
82; allow exhibitions of pictures in 
their rooms, 83-6; apply to Royal 
Academicians to decorate their new 
rooms^ 148; which is undertaken by 
James Bai^, 148-9; exhibition of 
works of Mulready at, 867; of the 
Chalons' works, 369 ; of those by Etty, 
ii. 62; and Sir W. C. Ross, 173 

— of Artists of GFreat Britain, exhi- 
bition of pictures made by in Spring 
Ghirdens, i. 84, 36 ; Br. Johnson's pre- 
fBce to the catalogue for 1762, 37, 38 ; 
incorporation of by Royal charter, 88 ; 
list of members of^ 89, 40 ; arrange the 
plan of an academy, 41 ; strife and dis- 
sension in, 42 ; resignation of directors 
and others, 43, who become the founders 
of the RoTAi. AcADXMT, 46, 46; re- 
maining members petition the King, 
67 ; subsequent history of the Society, 
68 ; publication of a pamphlet against 
the Academicians by, 160-1 

— - of Artists ("Free") exhibit at So- 
ciety of Arts, L 36 ; subsequent decline, 
36 

— of Painters in Water Colours (Old)^ 
founded, i. 271 

of British Artists, founded, iL 6, 7 ; 

petition Parliament for similar Royal 
favour to that bestowed on the Aca- 
demy, 84-6, 88 ; purposes of, 110-11 

Soir6e to exhibitors, iL 233, 384 

Somerset House (Old), apartments assigned 
to Royal Academy in by George III., 
L 139-40, ii. 260, proposed decoration 
of, i. 146 

(New), erected by Sir W. Chambers, 

i. 1 16 ; apartments in assigned to Roval 
Academv, 164-6, ii. 260-1 ; decoration 
of by the members, i. 166-8; insuffi- 
ciency of accommodation at, ii. 78; 
proposal to relinquish for new building 
in Trafalgar Square, 93 ; memorial to 
William IV. respecting, 98-9 ; farewell 
dinner at, 100 ; conditions of transfer, 
261 

Songs composed on the opening of the 
Academy, i. 129-30, note 

Stanileld, Clarkson, b.a., ii. 149-62 



VOL. II. 



H H 



466 



INDEX 



STE 

Steyens, EcL, a.b.a., i. 246 

Stocks, L., ▲.&, ii. 355 

Stone, Frank, A.R.A., ii. 828-30 

Stothard, Thomas, B.A., i. 303-6 

Strange, Sir Robert, and his "Inquiry," 

&c., I 26, 41, 61, 151 
Stubba, George, a.b.a., i. 244-5 
Students of the Royid Academy, number 
of in the first year, i. 133; subse- 
quently, 143, iL 91-2, 368-70 

medials and prizes to, i. 133, 138-9, 

143-4, 164, 160, 249-51, ii. 4-6, 7, 8, 
10-11, 76-7, 124, 130, 228, 236, 244, 
262, 266, 272-3, 366-8, 446-50 
' travelling allowance awarded to, i. 

143, 163, 174, 251, 282, ii. 20, 130, 
367-;8 ; list of recipients, 416 

list of those awarded the gold 



medal, ii. 411-15 

period of study for, i. 261-2, ii. 

365-70; addresses to. See Discourses 
and Lectures 

— mode of obtaining admission to 
schools, ii. 96, 364-5; new code of 
regulations for, 273 ; Uws for, 440-54 

— should be taught how to prepare 
colours, ii. 386-7 

Suspension of five members of the Council, 
i. 265-7 



TERRICE, Bishop, i. 147 
Theed, William, &▲., i. 382-3 

Thomson, Heniy, B.A., i. 326-7 

Thorbum, Bobert, A.B.A., ii. 221-2 

Thomhill, Sir James, i. 13 ; art academy 
planned and opened by, 21-4 

Tomkins, Wm., A.B.A., i. 240 

Toms, Peter, ila., i. 97-8 

Trafalgar Square, transfer of Royal 
Academy to apartments in, ii. 98-101 ; 
description o^ 100-4; proposed re- 
moval from, 126-8, 234-5, 256-65 

" Travelling studentship " founded, i. 143 ; 
artists selected for, 153, 174, 251-2, 
282, ii. 20, 130; alteration in regula- 
tions respecting, 273, 367-8; list of 
recipients of, 416 

Treasurers of the Royal Academy, i. 52 ; 
Royal warrant for appointment of 
second, 254, 287; subsequent appoint- 
ments, 393, ii. 19, 131, 275; duties o^ 
360, 423-4 ; Ust of; 402 

Trosham, Henry, B.A., i. 257-8 ; memoir 
of, 313-14 

Trustees of the Royal Academy, ii. 362, 
430-1 ; list of, 402 

Turner, Charles, a.b., ii. 72 



WES 

Turner, J. M. W., B.A., i. 271, 275, iL 83 ; 

memoir of; i. 316-26 
— ^ Fund, how appropriated by Royal 

Academy, i. 323-4 

" Gift," annual grants of, ii. 252, 276 

Gold Medal awarded for landscape 

painting, i. 326, ii. 251-2 
Tyler, WilUam, ila., i. 120, 277 



TTWINS, Thomas, B.A., ii. 56, 157-9 



VARNISHING Days at the Royal 
Academy, I 274-5, 857, ii. 93, 
239-40 

** Vernon " collection of English pictuzesy 
ii. 125, 128 

Victoria, HM. the Queen, Patron of the 
Academy, it 104; grants its officers 
personal access to the Royal presence, 
104 ; confers honours on its members, 
104-5, 227; passage in the Royal 
speech on art, 241 

"Visitors" of the Royal Academy, L 52, 
ii. 97, 361, 426-7 

Volunteer Corps of artists (I803X i. 269, 
ii. 137 



WAAGEN, Dr., on Art Academies, i. 
69, ii. 85 

Wale, Samuel, &▲., L 86 

War, Peninsular, depressing influence of 
upon art, i. 277 

Ward, E. M., b.a., ii. 299-302 

—^ James, B.A., i. 278 ; memoir o^ 340-3 

WilliMU, A.B., i. 403 

Water Colours (Old), Society o^ founded, 
i. 271-2 

Waterloo, national memorial of the battle 
of; proposed, i. 279-80 

Webber, John, B.A., i. 212-13 

Webster, Thomas, B.A., ii. 177-9 

Weekes, Heniy, ▲.]!.▲., ii. 351-2 

Wellington, F.M. the Duke of, at the 
Academy dinner (1852), ii. 237 

West, Be]\)amin, P.B.A., i. 43, 45, 48, 67 ; 
elected President, 249; discourses o^ 
250^1, 277; George III.'s patronage 
0^ 268^; atta<^ upon, 264-6; 
causes of his resignation and re-elec- 
tion, 267-8; plan for the encourage- 
ment of art by, 268, ii. 91 ; pctuie by, 
i. 278; blan of "Waterloo "monument 
suggested by, 280; last years and 
funeral of; 283-4 ; his influence, 286, 



INDEX 



467 



WES 

ii. 89; memoir of, i. 291-8; exhibi- 
tion of his works, ii. 8 

Westall, Richard, B.A., i. 306-7 

William, ▲.b.jL, i. 897 

Westmaoott^ Sir Bichard, B.A., i. 379-82 

Richard, B.A., ii. 197-9 

Wheatley, F., B.A., i. 213, 214 

Widows of members of the Academy, 
scale of pensions for, i. 255-7, 282, 
434-5 ; first grants to, 262 

Wilkie, Sir David, k,a., i. 836-40, ii. 74-6 

Wilkins, William, B.A., ii. 61-4; em- 
ployed to erect National Grallery, 78-9, 
89 

WilHams £* Anthony Pasquin"), i. 263 

William lY., H.M. King, patronage of 
Royal Academy by, ii. 76; consulted 
on its affiiirs, 82 ; memorial to respect- 
ing removal of, 98-9; opening of 
Academy in Trafidgar Square by, 101 

WiUmore, J. T., A.B., ii. 223-4 

Wilson, Richard, B.A., i. 43, 188 ; memoir 
of; 106-9 

Wilton, J., B.A., i. 31, 43 ; memoir o( 120-2 



2UC 

Witherington, W. F., b.a., ii, 164-6 
Wolcott, Dr. John ("Peter Pindar"), i. 

161-3 note, 168 noU 
Woodforde, Samuel, B.A., i. 328^9 
Womum, Mr. R. N., on Utility of Acade- 
mies of Art> i. 69-70 
Wright) Joseph, A.B.A., i. 246-6 
Wyatt, James, B.A., i. 226-9 ; suspension 
of, as a member of Council, 265-7; 
elected temporarily as President, 267-6 
Wyatville, Sir Jeffrey, ii. 59-61 
Wyon, William, B.A., ii. 192-5 



YENN, John, B.A., i. 229 ; Royal war- 
rant for appointment as Treasurer, 
254; suspension of, as a member of 
Council, 265-7 
Yea, Richard, B.A., i 123 



ZOFFANY, John, b.a., i. 177-8 
Zuccarelli, F., B.A., i. 112-13 
Zucchi, Antonio, i 93 ; memoir of, 237 



THE END. 



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