The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1829 was the sixty first annual Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. It was held at Somerset House between 4 May and 11 July towards the end of the Regency era. It featured more than 1200 works from painters, sculptors, engravers and architects. [1]
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The main talking point for many reviewers was the return of David Wilkie after three years absence in Continental Europe. He exhibited eight paintings, including genre scenes inspired by his travels as well as a trio of pictures featuring Spanish fighters in the Peninsular War. Many of these works were acquired by George IV for the Royal Collection. The Athenaeum considered William Etty's Benaiah the highlight of the exhibition. [2] Edwin Landseer displayed The Illicit Highland Whisky Still . J.M.W. Turner has been on a recent visit to Italy. Correctly concerned that several of the paintings he had produced in Rome wouldn't arrive in time, he hurried off some works to display including The Loretto Necklace . [3] The President of the Royal Academy Thomas Lawrence displayed several high society portraits including an including a picture of the Duke of Clarence who would the following year succeeded his brother to become William IV. [4] [5]
It was followed by the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1830, the first to be held following Lawrence's unexpected death.
