Royal Academy Exhibition of 1795

Plundering of the King's Cellar at Paris by Johan Zoffany

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1795 was the twenty seventh annual exhibition held by the British Royal Academy of Arts It was held at Somerset House in London from 4 May to 13 June, attracting over 40,000 visitors. [1] It featured many of the leading painters, sculptors and architects of the later Georgian era.

Britain and the French Republic were fighting in the French Revolutionary Wars and the artworks displayed reflected this. These included paintings depicting the naval victory at the Glorious First of June.[2] Johann Zoffany featured the anti-revolutionary scenes the Plundering the King's Cellar at Paris.[3]The Anglo-American President of the Royal Academy Benjamin West showed several history paintings including The Treaty of Allahabad, which he was to exhibit again later in his career. He also displayed the genre painting Gentlemen Fishing featuring himself and friends on the River Thames east of Greenwich.

The young portraitist Thomas Lawrence again drew critical and public interest for his works, with his Portrait of Lord Mountstuart being widely discussed. In addition Pinkie, which became one of his best-known paintings, featured at the exhibition.[4] Another younger artist Richard Westall attracted attention for his watercolour paintings[5] as did J.M.W. Turner who featured scenes from around Britain including Tintern Abbey.[6]

References

Bibliography

  • Bailey, Anthony. J.M.W. Turner: Standing in the Sun. Tate Enterprises, 2013.
  • Levey, Michael. Sir Thomas Lawrence. Yale University Press, 2005.
  • Pressly, William L. The French Revolution as Blasphemy: Johan Zoffany's Paintings of the Massacre at Paris, August 10, 1792. University of California Press, 2023.
  • Wark, Robert R. The Revolution in Eighteenth-century Art: Ten British Pictures, 1740-1840. Huntington Library, 2001.
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