Royal Academy Exhibition of 1847
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The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1847 was an art exhibition held in London. It was the seventy ninth annual Summer Exhibition held by the British Royal Academy of Arts. It took place at the National Gallery between 3 May and 24 July 1847 and featured many of the leading painters, sculptors and architects of the early Victorian era.[1] While Martin Archer Shee was the President of the Royal Academy, he was deputised in the role by J.M.W. Turner. Amongst the works Turner himself displayed was The Hero of a Hundred Fights, a tribute to the Duke of Wellington.
The exhibition reflected the growing prominence of the art group The Clique. Edward Matthew Ward displayed his Hogarthian history painting The South Sea Bubble.[2] Romanticism continued to be strongly represented. Edwin Landseer's The Deer Drive features a scene in the Scottish Highlands.[3] Clarkson Stanfield's French Troops Fording the Magra combined landscape with history by showing a scene from the French Revolutionary Wars.[4] William Etty showed a trilogy of paintings with scenes from the life of Joan of Arc. The future Pre-Raphaelite William Holman Hunt submitted Dr Rochecliffe Performing Divine Service in the Cottage of Joceline Joliffe, a scene from Walter Scott's novel Woodstock.[5] John Everett Millais also entered a single, early work Elgiva Seized by Order of Archbishop Odo.[6] The French artist Paul Delaroche exhibited a version of Napoleon at Fontainebleau.
In portraiture Henry William Pickersgill displayed his Portrait of Robert Vernon, depicting the noted art collector who the same year presented the large Vernon Gift of artworks to the nation including this picture.[7] Francis Grant's Portrait of Sidney Herbert has been described as one of his finest portraits.[8] In addition he exhibited a portrait of the railway tycoon George Hudson.
Gallery
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On the Zuyder Zee by Clarkson Stanfield
West Front of Antwerp Cathedral by David Roberts


Among the Cumberland Mountains by Thomas Sidney Cooper_-_The_Village_Holiday_-_NG450_-_National_Gallery.jpg)
Joan of Arc by William Etty
Una Among the Fauns and Wood Nymphs by William Edward Frost
Neptune Resigning to Britannia the Empire of the Sea by William Dyce_-_James_Ward.jpg)
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The Origin of the Stocking Loom by Alfred Elmore
The Charity Boy's Debut by James Collinson
Warships off Spithead by John Ward
Mated by Frank Stone
The Fair Maid of Perth at the Dungeon Wall by Robert Scott Lauder
Isaac van Amburgh and His Animals by Edwin Landseer
The Combat by Richard Ansdell
The Deserter's Home by Richard Redgrave
Refreshing the Weary by Robert Hannah
The Liberation of Slaves by Henry Le Jeune
The Miller's Boat by Frederick Richard Lee
Elgiva Seized by Order of Archbishop Odo by John Everett Millais
The London Road a Hundred Years Ago by Thomas Creswick
Maiden Meditation by Charles West Cope
The Guardian Angel by Richard Redgrave
Countess of Mount Edgcumbe with Her Two Youngest Children by James Sant
Portrait of Earl of Mount Edgcumbe by James Sant_-_Spencer_Compton_(1790%E2%80%931851)%252C_2nd_Marquess_of_Northampton_-_RS.9702_-_Royal_Society.jpg)
Portrait of Adam Black by John Watson Gordon
Portrait of Earl of Dalhousie by John Watson Gordon
Portrait of John Lee by John Watson Gordon
Portrait of John Bright by John Prescott Knight
Portrait of Thomas Sands by George Patten
Portrait of Joseph Baxendale, print based on the painting by Henry William Pickersgill
Portrait of Thomas Gaisford by Henry William Pickersgill
Portrait of Theobald Mathew by Edward Daniel Leahy
Portrait of Frederick Pollock by Samuel Laurence
Portrait of William Whewell by Samuel Laurence
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Portrait of Henry Dover by Francis Grant
See also
- Salon of 1847, a contemporary art exhibition held in Paris
References
- ↑ "1847 J.B. Bunning and the Coal Exchange Model". chronicle250.com. Retrieved 2026-06-07.
- ↑ "'The South Sea Bubble, a Scene in 'Change Alley in 1720', Edward Matthew Ward, 1847, exhibited 1847". Tate. Retrieved 2026-06-07.
- ↑ "www.rct.uk/collection/403136/the-deer-drive". rct.uk. Retrieved 2026-06-07.
- ↑ "Les Troupes françaises franchissant la Margra. Sarzana et les montagnes de Carrare dans le lointain, en 1796 -". collections.louvre.fr. Retrieved 2026-06-07.
- ↑ Maas p.7
- ↑ Fish p.10
- ↑ "'Robert Vernon', Henry William Pickersgill, 1846, exhibited 1847". Tate. Retrieved 2026-06-07.
- ↑ Wills pp. 48–51
Bibliography
- Bailey, Anthony. J.M.W. Turner: Standing in the Sun. Tate Enterprises Ltd, 2013.
- Donald, Diana. Picturing Animals in Britain, 1750–1850. Yale University Press, 2007.
- Fish, Arthur. John Everett Millais, 1829-1896. Funk & Wagnalls, 1923.
- Hamilton, James. Turner - A Life. Sceptre, 1998.
- Maas, Jeremy. Holman Hunt and the Light of the World. Scolar Press, 1984.
- Marsden, Jonathan. Victoria & Albert: Art & Love. Royal Collection, 2010.
- Wills, Catherine. High Society: The Life and Art of Sir Francis Grant, 1803–1878. National Galleries of Scotland, 2003.