TheRoyal Academy Exhibition of 1821 was anart exhibition held atSomerset House in London from 7 May to 14 July 1821. It was theSummer Exhibition of theRoyal Academy of Arts. The exhibition featured many prominent painters, sculptors and architects and was open to submissions to non-Academy members and artists from abroad.J.M.W. Turner was a notable absentee, he did not submit any paintings that year.[1] Today the exhibition is remembered forJohn Constable'sThe Hay Wain and the lack of interest it generated.
Theprivate view took place on 4 May and the annual banquet the following day. There was a danger of the event being overshadowed by the huge popularity ofBelshazzar's Feast by John Martin which had been shown at the rivalBritish Institution until shortly before the Exhibition opened. Two paintings that drew particular attention wereWilliam Hilton'sNature Blowing Bubbles for Her Children andWilliam Etty'sThe Triumph of Cleopatra.[2]
Thomas Lawrence who had been electedPresident of the Royal Academy the previous year displayedportrait paintings of theForeign SecretaryLord Castlereagh andPrincess Charlotte.[3] Lawrence also presented hisPortrait of Sir Humphry Davy featuring thePresident of the Royal SocietyHumphry Davy with whom he took part in the ceremony ofCoronation of George IV shortly after the Exhibition closed.[4] The Scottish painterHenry Raeburn exhibited hisPortrait of the Marquess of Bute.[5]John Jackson submitted a portrait of thestage actorWilliam Macready asMacbeth.[6]
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David Wilkie displayed twogenre paintingsNewsmongers andGuess my Name.[7]Andrew Geddes exhibited a now-lost largeRembrandtesque group portraitThe Discovery of the Regalia of Scotland featuringWalter Scott and others discovering theHonours of Scotland inEdinburgh Castle in 1818.[8]William Collins presented a view ofBorrowdale inCumberland.[9] The young specialists in animal paintingsEdwin Landseer also featured at the exhibition.Charles Robert Leslie showed ahistory pieceMay Day in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth whileWilliam Mulready displayed the genre workThe Careless Messenger Detected.
TheSuffolk-bornJohn Constable displayed thelandscape paintingThe Hay Wain under its original title ofLandscape: Noon. It portrays a scene on theRiver Stour nearFlatford Mill in what is now known asConstable Country, but attracted very little attention. This was possibly due to it being hung in an unfavourable location in the Academy School rather than the main room, although Etty'sThe Triumph of Cleopatra was also hanging there and received widespread coverage.[10]
The painting remained unsold at the end of the exhibition and Constable displayed it again at the British Institution the following year where it was bought by the Frenchart dealer John Arrowsmirh who then entered it into theSalon of 1824 inParis to widespread acclaim.
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