TheRoyal Academy Exhibition of 1851 was the eighty third annualSummer Exhibition of the BritishRoyal Academy. It was held at theNational Gallery inLondon between 5 May and 16 August 1851 during theVictorian era. It faced strong competition in public interest from theGreat Exhibition being held inHyde Park at the same time.^[1]

The exhibition marked the high point of critical attacks on the young artists of thePre-Raphaelite movement, although they were staunchly defended by theart historianJohn Ruskin.J.M.W. Turner, who had first appeared at theExhibition of 1790, was too ill to produce any paintings but attended the varnishing day where he was sketched byJohn Everett Millais. He died in December 1851.^[1]

Amongst the several works submitted byEdwin Landseer wasThe Monarch of the Glen featuring astag, which became one of the iconic images of theScottish Highlands^[2]Daniel Maclise displayed thehistory paintingCaxton Showing the First Specimen of His Printing to King Edward IV depicting a scene from thefifteenth century.^[3]

Francis Grant who had established himself as a leading portraitist of the early Victorian period submitted several pictures ofHigh society figures.Clarkson Stanfield displayed the landscapeTrajan's Arch, Ancona as well as thebattle paintingThe Battle of Roveredo depicting a scene from theFrench Revolutionary Wars.^[4]John Martin displayedThe Valley Of The Thames Viewed From Richmond Hill.^[5]

Amongst Pre-Raphaelite paintings on display wereJohn Everett Millais'The Woodman's Daughter,The Return of the Dove to the Ark andMariana as well asWilliam Holman Hunt'sValentine Rescuing Sylvia from Proteus.^[1]

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  The Highland Lassie byEdwin Landseer
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  The Highlander byEdwin Landseer
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  A Midsummer Night's Dream byEdwin Landseer
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  A Group of Animals, Geneva byEdwin Landseer andDavid Roberts
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  Hogarth Brought Before the Governor of Calais as a Spy byWilliam Powell Frith
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  Interior of the Church of St Anne, Bruges byDavid Roberts
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  Caxton Showing the First Specimen of His Printing to King Edward IV byDaniel Maclise
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  Cromwell at the Battle of Naseby byCharles Landseer
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  The Woodman's Daughter byJohn Everett Millais
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  Trajan's Arch, Ancona byClarkson Stanfield
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  The Battle of Roveredo byClarkson Stanfield
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  Oxwich Bay byClarkson Stanfield
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  Greenwich Hospital from the West Side byJames Holland
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  Mariana byJohn Everett Millais
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  The Return of the Dove to the Ark byJohn Everett Millais
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  Valentine Rescuing Sylvia from Proteus byHolman Hunt
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  Convent Thoughts byCharles Allston Collins
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  John Gilpin, Delayed by his Customers byEdward Matthew Ward
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  Chaucer at the Court of Edward III byFord Madox Brown
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  The Royal Family of France in the Prison of the Temple byEdward Matthew Ward
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  Youth and Age byJohn Callcott Horsley
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  L'Allegro and Il Penseroso byJohn Callcott Horsley
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  The Goths in Italy byPaul Falconer Poole
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  The Martyrdom of Laurence Saunders byCharles West Cope
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  Pepys and Nell Gwynne byAugustus Leopold Egg
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  The Rescue of the Brides of Venice byJames Clarke Hook
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  Raising the Maypole byFrederick Goodall
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  Auld Robin Gray byThomas Faed
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  The First Step byThomas Faed
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  The Evening Drink in the Canterbury Meadows byThomas Sidney Cooper
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  View in Richmond Park byJohn Martin
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  A Highland Stream byFrederick Richard Lee
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  A Fine Day in February byJohn Middleton
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  Macready as Werner byDaniel Maclise
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  The Little Gleaner byWilliam Powell Frith andThomas Creswick
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  The Trial of Sir William Wallace at Westminster byWilliam Bell Scott
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  The Auld Farmer's New Year's Gift byRichard Ansdell
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  The Defeat of Shylock byJames Clarke Hook
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  King Lear and the Fool in the Storm byWilliam Dyce
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  Spring Flowers by George Smith
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  William Gibson Craig byJohn Watson Gordon
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  Portrait of Charles Barry byJohn Prescott Knight
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  Portrait ofWilliam Wordsworth byHenry William Pickersgill
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  John Bird Sumner byEden Upton Eddis
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  John Potter byGeorge Patten
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  Ralph Wardlaw byDaniel Macnee
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  William Bennett byCharles Allston Collins
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  Madame Rachel byEdouard Dubufe
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  Duchess of Aumale with her sonLouis byVictor Mottez
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  Mrs Livesay byFrancis Grant
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  William Erle byFrancis Grant
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  George Stephenson byJohn Lucas
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  Marquess of Anglesey byHenry Richard Graves

• Baetjer, Katharine (2009).British Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1575-1875.Metropolitan Museum of Art.ISBN 978-1-58839-348-7.
• Huckvale, David (11 December 2015).A Dark and Stormy Oeuvre: Crime, Magic and Power in the Novels of Edward Bulwer-Lytton. McFarland.ISBN 978-1-4766-2279-8.

• Stanfield, Clarkson (1979).The Spectacular Career of Clarkson Stanfield, 1793-1867: Seaman, Scene-painter, Royal Academician. Tyne and Wear County Council Museums.ISBN 978-0-905974-03-3.

• 1851 in London
• 1851 in art
• Royal Academy Exhibitions

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata