The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly in London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education and debate.
Pompeo Girolamo Batoni was an Italian painter who displayed a solid technical knowledge in his portrait work and in his numerous allegorical and mythological pictures. The high number of foreign visitors travelling throughout Italy and reaching Rome during their "Grand Tour" led the artist to specialize in portraits.
Benjamin West was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as The Death of Nelson, The Death of General Wolfe, the Treaty of Paris, and Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky.
Mary Thornycroft was a British sculptor who sculpted many different busts, fragments and statues. She frequently choose infants and children as her subjects and was commissioned by Queen Victoria to create a number of statues and portraits of her children and other members of the royal family. Several of these are now in the British Royal Collection.
Charles-Louis Clérisseau was a French architect, draughtsman, antiquary, and artist who became a leading authority on ancient Roman architecture and Roman ruins in Italy and France. With his influence extending to Russia, England, and the United States, and clients including Catherine the Great and Thomas Jefferson, Clérisseau played a key role in the genesis of neoclassical architecture during the second half of the 18th century.
The Royal Family Order of George IV is an honour that was bestowed as a mark of personal esteem on female members of the British royal family by King George IV. It was the first Royal Family Order issued in the United Kingdom. Prior to George IV's accession in 1820, both ladies and gentlemen of the Court, as well as female members of the royal family, had worn the Sovereign's portrait set in a jewelled frame. George IV formalised the order.
The Punica is a Latin epic poem in seventeen books in dactylic hexameter written by Silius Italicus, comprising some twelve thousand lines. It is the longest surviving Latin poem from antiquity. Its theme is the Second Punic War and the conflict between the two great generals Hannibal and Scipio Africanus. The poem was re-discovered in either 1416 or 1417 by the Italian humanist and scholar Poggio Bracciolini.
Agostino Brunias was an Italian painter who was primarily active in the West Indies. Born in Rome around 1730, Brunias spent his early career as a painter after graduating from the Accademia di San Luca. After he befriended prominent Scottish architect Robert Adam and accompanied him back to Britain, Brunias left for the British West Indies to continue his career in painting under the tutelage of Sir William Young. Although he was primarily commissioned to paint the various planter families and their plantations in the West Indies, he also painted several scenes featuring free people of colour and cultural life in the West Indies. Brunias spent most of his West Indian career on the island of Dominica, where he would die in 1796. Historians have made disparate assessments of Brunias's works; some praised his subversive depiction of West Indian culture, while others claimed it romanticised the harshness of plantation life. Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture was a prominent admirer of his work.
Frederick Charles Maisey (1825–1892) was an English army officer, archaeological surveyor and painter, active in India. His main painting technique was pen and ink, and watercolour.
An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745 is an oil painting painted by Swiss-born artist David Morier sometime between 1746 and 1765. It is currently part of the art collection of the British royal family. The painting depicts a scene during the 1746 Battle of Culloden, in which a group of Jacobite Army troops charge against a line of government soldiers.
George III is an 1809 portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence depicting the British monarch George III. It is an oil painting on canvas depicting the King in his robes for the State Opening of Parliament. It was commissioned by George as a gift for the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Henry Addington. George had reigned since 1760, but he was troubled by occasional bouts of mental instability. In 1810, shortly after celebrating the Golden Jubilee on the throne, George was overcome by a more lasting loss of control and his eldest son George was declared Prince Regent. The image by Lawrence continued to be used to represent the King throughout the remainder of his reign.
Sir Walter Scott is a portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence of the Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott. Begun in 1820, it was completed in 1826 and exhibited at the 1827 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Lawrence was Britain's foremost society portraitist of the Regency era and was commissioned by George IV, a regular patron of the artist for whom he supplied various paintings for the Waterloo Chamber, to depict Scott for a fee of three hundred guineas.
The Marquess of Wellesley is a portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence of the Irish statesman Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley. Wellesley was a senior politician in Britain where he served as Foreign Secretary from 1809 to 1812 and was regarded as a potential future Prime Minister. Lawrence was the leading portraitist of the Regency era, depicting prominent figures from Britain and it's European Allies during the Napoleonic Wars. It is also known as the Portrait of Lord Wellesley.
The Battle of La Houge is a 1778 painting by the Anglo-American artist Benjamin West depicting the 1692 Battle of La Hogue. Fought off the coast of Normandy the battle was decisive victory for the Royal Navy and its Dutch Allies, thwarting an expected French Invasion of England.
Edward III Crossing the Somme is a 1788 history painting by the Anglo-American artist Benjamin West. It was one of a series of eight paintings by West depicting the life of the medieval King of England Edward III commissioned by George III to decorate the audience room at Windsor Castle.
The Banquet at the Coronation of George IV is a history painting by the English artist George Jones. Completed in 1822, it depicts a scene from the Coronation of George IV on 19 July 1821. During the banquet which took place in Westminster Hall following the ceremony, during which the traditional challenge was offered by the King's Champion.
Coronation Portrait of George III is a portrait painting of 1762 by the Scottish artist Allan Ramsay depicting the British monarch George III in his coronation robes. George's coronation had taken place on 22 September 1761 at Westminster Abbey, where he was crowned alongside his wife Queen Charlotte. The new king had inherited the crown from his grandfather George II in 1760 at the age of twenty-two.
Portrait of the Duke of York is an 1816 portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence. It depicts Frederick, Duke of York, the Commander in Chief of the British Army. A royal duke, he was the second son of George III and younger brother of the Prince Regent. From 1820 to his death in 1827 he was heir presumptive to the British throne.
Portrait of Maria II is an 1829 portrait painting by the British artist Thomas Lawrence depicting the Portuguese queen Maria II. Lawrence was the President of the Royal Academy and Britain's leading portraitist. It was painted between 1828 and 1829 while the young Maria was in exile in England during the Liberal Wars in Portugal. Lawrence depicts her in a white dress and wearing a number of orders represented by stars and ribbons. It was commissioned by George IV for two hundred guineas. It was one of the last works completed by Lawrence before his death in early 1830. It remains in the Royal Collection.
Portrait of the Duke of York is a 1764 portrait painting by the Italian artist Pompeo Batoni depicting Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany. York was the younger brother of George III and had been heir presumptive to the throne from 1760 until the birth of his nephew George, Prince of Wales in 1762. From 1763 to 1764 following the end of the Seven Years War, York went on a Grand Tour around Continental Europe. While in Rome he sat for Batoni, a leading portraitist who specialised in painting visiting Britons. York is shown in the uniform of a Flag officer of the Royal Navy and the Order of the Garter, with the Colosseum visible behind him.
