TheRoyal Academy Exhibition of 1784 was anart exhibition held atSomerset House inLondon between 26 April and 3 June 1784. It was the sixteenth annualSummer Exhibition of theRoyal Academy of Arts.[1]
The exhibition was marked by disputes and the absence of many of the leading painters of the era.George Stubbs andJoseph Wright of Derby had both been denied membership of the Academy. The latter responded by hosting his own successful private show. Most significantly, when the hanging committee refused to hang his royal portraitThe Three Eldest Princesses to his satisfaction,Thomas Gainsborough withdrew it and all the other works he had planned to exhibit that year.[2] This marked the second and final time he had withdrawn from the Academy and he submitted no further works for the remainder of his career.[3]
Gainsborough's rival thepresident of the Royal Academy displayed seventeen paintings including a number of portraits ofGeorge, Prince of Wales andCharles James Fox. HisSarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse featuring the popularWest End actress was one of the most acclaimed works on display. A number of paintings featured British naval victories against France during the recentAmerican War of Independence. Two paintings byJohn Webber andJohann Heinrich Ramberg depicted exploratory travels andDeath of James Cook inHawaii five years earlier.[4]
The AmericanartistJohn Singleton Copley chose to displayThe Death of Major Pierson his popular painting of a scene from American War of Independence at a private exhibition rather than at the Royal Academy.[5]His fellow AmericanJohn Trumbull submitted a portrait ofJohn Temple, who had provided assistance to him when he has been imprisoned during the recent war. A second Trumbull work, ahistory painting featured theAncient RomanCincinnatus, is now lost.[6]ThePennsylvania-bornBenjamin West displayed the largebiblical paintingMoses Receiving the Law on Mount Sinai which dominated the east wall of the Great Room and was praised for it's"great taste and sublimity".[7]
The French-born British artistPhilip James de Loutherbourg displayed a group oflandscapes ofDerbyshire andWestmoreland in a proto-romantic style. The German artistJohann Zoffany submitted several portraits.Francis Wheatley sent in several scenes fromIreland, notablyThe Salmon Leap, Lexlip.John Opie displayedThe Schoolmistress.
_-_The_Three_Eldest_Princesses%2c_Charlotte%2c_Princess_Royal_(1766-1828)%2c_Augusta_(1768-1840)_and_Elizabeth_(1770-1840)_-_RCIN_400206_-_Royal_Collection.jpg)
%2c_circa_1784%2c_by_Thomas_Gainsborough%2c_RA.jpg)
_-_Caroline_Conolly_(c.1755%25E2%2580%25931817)%2c_Countess_of_Buckinghamshire_-_355540_-_National_Trust.jpg)
_-_Dovedale_in_Derbyshire_-_YORAG_%2c_995_-_York_Art_Gallery.jpg)
_-_A_Cottage_in_Patterdale%2c_Westmoreland_-_2525_-_Government_Art_Collection.jpg)
_-_Skiddaw%2c_Cumberland%2c_a_Summer_Evening_with_a_Stage_Coach_-_2524_-_Government_Art_Collection.jpg)
.jpg)
_-_Sir_Barnard_Turner_(1742%25E2%2580%25931784)%2c_MP_-_1151381_-_National_Trust.jpg)
.jpg)
.png)