Royal Academy
The Royal Academy (RA),[1] is an art institution based in Burlington House, Piccadilly, London. It is a club for top painters and sculptors. They elect their own members, and give regular exhibitions of art works.
The Royal Academy was formed to rival the Society of Artists after an leadership dispute between two leading architects, Sir William Chambers and James Paine. Paine won, but Chambers used his strong connections with King George III to create the Royal Academy, in 1768. It was formally launched the following year.
Membership of the Royal Academy is up to 80 practising artists, each elected by ballot of the General Assembly of the Royal Academy. They are known as Royal Academicians (RA, or more traditionally as R.A.). The Royal Academy is governed by these Royal Academicians.
Sir Joshua Reynolds was its first president,[2] and Benjamin West its second.
Royal Academy Media
Satirical drawing of Sir William Chambers, one of the founders, trying to slay the 8-headed hydra of the Incorporated Society of Artists
A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881 by William Powell Frith, depicting Oscar Wilde and other Victorian worthies at a private view of the 1881 exhibition
Christopher Le Brun, President of the RA, on "Varnishing Day", or the artists' opening of the Summer Exhibition, 2015
The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John
Life at the Royal Academy of Arts, from Microcosm of London, c. 1808
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Related pages
References
- ↑ RA is an acronym. RA stands for Royal Academy.
- ↑ Sir Joshua Reynolds, National Portrait Gallery, London, accessed September 2009
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