The Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts was established in 1858, and was based in the architectural galleries and offices at 9 Conduit Street, Mayfair, London. [1] [2] Meetings were held at various galleries to increase technical knowledge. [3]
The society's 9 Conduit Street location was the former town residence of the Earl of Macclesfield, and was shared by the society with several other organisations, including the Architectural Association, the Architectural Publication Society, the Architectural Union Company, the District Surveyors' Association, the Royal Photographic Society, the Provident Institution of Builders' Foremen and Clerks of Works, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Society of Biblical Archaeology, the Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, and access to the Museum of Building Appliances. [2]
Those who were officers of the society included: the Earl of Carlisle (President 1858–1859); [1] the Earl of Ellesmere (President from 1859); [1] Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe (President in 1871); [4] the Duke of Manchester (President in 1873); [5] George Charles Haité (vice-president since 1881); [6] and the Lord Mayor of London (vice-president in 1882). [7]
Election to the membership was by means of a council ballot, with women being eligible. [8] [9]
Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton,, known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subject matter in an academic style. His paintings were enormously popular, and expensive, during his lifetime, but fell out of critical favour for many decades in the early 20th century.
The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group.
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The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1805 and is the first and oldest art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum is internationally known for its collections of 19th- and 20th-century American paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. Its archives house important materials for the study of American art history, museums, and art training. It offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts, certificate programs, and continuing education.
The Royal Manchester Institution (RMI) was an English learned society founded on 1 October 1823 at a public meeting held in the Exchange Room by Manchester merchants, local artists and others keen to dispel the image of Manchester as a city lacking in culture and taste.
Edward Armitage was an English Victorian-era painter whose work focused on historical, classical and biblical subjects.
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George Wallis (1811–1891) was an artist, museum curator and art educator. He was the first Keeper of Fine Art Collection at South Kensington Museum in London.
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The Society of Women Artists (SWA) is a British art body dedicated to celebrating and promoting fine art created by women. It was founded as the Society of Female Artists (SFA) in about 1855, offering women artists the opportunity to exhibit and sell their works. Annual exhibitions have been held in London since 1857, with some wartime interruptions.
John Hutchison was a Scottish sculptor based in Edinburgh. He was the son of an unnamed builder, and his artistic life began as a thirteen-year-old woodcarving apprentice. He attended art school in the evenings, then later became a student at the Trustees Academy. and attracted the patronage of its owner, Patrick Allan Fraser, who gave him commissions to fund his study in Rome. Although after Rome he continued to enjoy ancient Roman sculptural themes, he remained in Edinburgh for the rest of his life, working in wood, clay and marble, and concentrating on portraiture of Scottish people, and images of Scottish myth and history. He created the bust of Sir Walter Scott in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. He was a successful artist who received commissions from Queen Victoria.
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Barnett Samuel Marks R.C.A. was a Welsh-Jewish portrait painter who was also noted for his social realism paintings.
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The Willson Group of artists was an English Quaker family of about seven landscape, portrait and caricature painters. Members included John Joseph Willson, his sister Hannah Willson, his wife Emilie Dorothy Hilliard, and their four children, Michael Anthony Hilliard Willson, twins Margaret Willson and E. Dorothy Willson, and Mary Hilliard Willson.
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