Royal Academy Exhibition of 1797

Portrait of Princess Amelia by William Beechey

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1797 was an art exhibition held at Somerset House in London between 1 May and 17 June 1797. It was the twenty-ninth annual Summer Exhibition of the British Royal Academy of Arts. It was the largest exhibition to have been staged so far.[1]

In portraiture William Beechey displayed his Portrait of Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III.[2] In addition Beechey produced a portrait of the couple's youngest child Princess Amelia along with several of her sisters. While Thomas Lawrence had made his name by producing elegant, Romantic portraits he branched out this year by exhibiting a history painting Satan Summoning His Legions based on a passage in John Milton's Paradise Lost. It was not well-received by critics, although Lawrence himself felt the work was a success. In addition he submitted five portraits while his rival John Hoppner showed thirteen.[3]

The President of the Royal Academy Benjamin West hung a joint portrait of his two sons.[4] In addition his history painting Cicero Discovering the Tomb of Archimedes drew some criticism. The unusual colouring of this and other paintings by have been partly due to a scam "the Venetian secret" in which top painters were convinced that a seceret formula could show them to paint in the style of Titian and the Venetian School.[5]

J.M.W. Turner exhibited a landscape Moonlight, a Study at Millbank as well as his now-lost Fishermen Coming Ashore at Sunset, Previous to a Gale (also known as the Mildmay Sea-Piece). John Opie displayed the historical scenes The Death of Archbishop Sharpe and The Coronation of Henry VI in Paris. Johan Zoffany, then nearing the end of his active career, showed a genre painting A Beggar's Family.[6]

See also

References

Bibliography

  • Bailey, Anthony. J.M.W. Turner: Standing in the Sun. Tate Enterprises, 2013.
  • Levey, Michael. Sir Thomas Lawrence. Yale University Press, 2005.
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