The Exhibition Age 1760–1815

George Morland, The Tea Garden  engraved 1790

This small painting shows an affluent family taking tea in a pleasure garden, a popular leisure activity in the 18th century. It perhaps shows Bagnigge Wells or Ranelagh Gardens, both on the outskirts of London. Through the slightly stiff, unsmiling appearance of the adults, George Morland may have been playing upon current humour about keeping up public appearances. Morland likely painted it with the print trade in mind: the image was first engraved in 1790, to considerable success. Morland’s work was widely reproduced in print, providing the artist with a steady income and raising his public profile.

Gallery label, February 2024

Richard Westall, The Reconciliation of Helen and Paris after his Defeat by Menelaus  exhibited 1805

This painting is inspired by Greek legend: Helen was married to Menelaus, king of Sparta. Her affair with the Trojan prince, Paris, led to the Trojan War. Richard Westall painted this scene for Thomas Hope, a wealthy collector. His London home had rooms designed and furnished in the different styles of the ancient world – Egypt, India, Greece and Rome. Westall modelled the figure of Helen on a Greek statue in Hope’s collection. In the 1790s Westall’s Royal Academy exhibits were the talk of the town. His flashy paint effects divided opinion, however, and many thought his work was too stylised and unnatural.

Gallery label, February 2024

George Stubbs, Mares and Foals in a River Landscape  c.1763–8

This painting seems to have been used as an ‘overdoor’, hung with two other pictures by Stubbs above the doors in the dining room of George Brodrick, 3rd Viscount Midleton, MP (1730–65). Reflecting the ornamental use to which this painting was to be put, it seems that Stubbs, the premier animal painter of his day, did not set out to be especially original. The figures of the horses are the same as those appearing in another painting, a commission for Lord Rockingham representing specific horses owned by him, although the colour of one has been changed from brown to grey.

Gallery label, February 2016

Thomas Gainsborough, Sir Henry Bate-Dudley, Bart.  c.1780

The Reverend Henry Bate-Dudley was one of London’s most notorious newspaper editors. He first rose to fame through his journalistic writing in the Morning Post, before establishing the best-selling paper, the Morning Herald in 1780, which was renowned for its social gossip and political attacks. Thomas Gainsborough was close friends with Bate-Dudley. Here, Gainsborough conveys Bate-Dudley’s self-assurance and perhaps his loyalty through including his adoring dog. For Gainsborough, their friendship guaranteed he was championed in the press. Such public support was invaluable in the competitive art world. That Bate-Dudley divided public opinion, however, is apparent in one critic’s pun about this portrait, remarking that ‘the man wanted execution’.

Gallery label, February 2024

Edward Penny, The Gossiping Blacksmith  exhibited 1769

Edward Penny was the first Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy (founded in 1768). This painting was displayed in the Academy’s first exhibition the following year. It illustrates lines from Shakespeare’s King John, which were also printed in the exhibition catalogue: ‘I saw a smith stand with his hammer thus, The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool, With open mouth swallow a taylor’s news.’ Paintings with Shakesperian themes were increasingly popular in the 18th Century. They appealed to a sense of national pride for many of the people who flocked to attend art exhibitions.

Gallery label, October 2023

George Dawe, Imogen Found in the Cave of Belarius  exhibited 1809

George Dawe depicts a scene from Shakespeare’s play Cymbeline. Imogen – the heroine and daughter of Cymbeline, the ancient king of Britain – escapes court and disguises herself as a young man. Here, Dawe shows the moment when the character Belarius (left) and Imogen’s two long-lost brothers (right) discover her in a cave. They believe she is dead, but she has actually just drunk a sleeping potion. Dawe mainly painted portraits, but here ventures into ‘history painting’ (images of biblical, mythological, literary or historical subjects). This was regarded as the highest genre of painting at the time and indicates Dawe’s ambitions as an artist. With its high-minded literary theme and dramatic lighting, this painting was meant to stand out when it was first exhibited at the British Institution in 1809.

Gallery label, October 2023

Angelica Kauffman, Portrait of a Lady  c.1775

Angelica Kauffman was hugely successful – by the 1770s, her work was so popular that one contemporary quipped, ‘the whole World is Angelica-mad’. In portraits like this, Kauffman helped establish and promote an image of feminine creativity and intellect. While we do not know the sitter’s identity, the writing instruments she holds emphasise her learning, perhaps even signalling literary ambitions. The book and statue of Minerva (the Roman goddess of wisdom) on the table, further underline this. Dressed in classicising robes, she looks confidently out at the viewer. Such images also reflect the strong network of women – patrons, fellow artists, intellectuals, and professionals – that Kauffman relied upon throughout her career.

Gallery label, February 2024

Francis Holman, A Dockyard at Wapping  c.1780–4

Little is known about the artist Francis Holman. He was a painter of seascapes, ship's portraits and dockyard scenes, such as this small private dockyard on the Thames at Wapping. It is recorded that at one time Holman lived at Wapping, so he would have been intimate with the area and well able to execute this topographically accurate scene. He depicts with care the busy action of the dock, with ships in dry dock, and men unloading cargo. Even the sailmaker's firm of Morley, which is inscribed on the sign on the building to the extreme left, is known to have existed, directories listing it in Wapping until 1784.

Gallery label, August 2004

Robert Ladbrooke, Wood Scene  exhibited 1806

William Mulready, The Rattle  exhibited 1808

William Mulready’s painting is quietly intimate and domestic, showing a young boy playing with a baby. This subject may reflect debates at the time about infant education, sparked by the numbers of children seen on the streets. Here, Mulready presents the family home as a place for learning, security and happiness. He exhibited the work at the British Institution in 1808. This was the first genre painting (scenes of everyday life) that he showed to the public and it marked a shift in his art, likely influenced by the popularity of similar narrative subjects by his friend, David Wilkie.

Gallery label, February 2024

Thomas Gainsborough, Giovanna Baccelli  exhibited 1782

This portrait shows the famous Italian dancer Giovanna Zanerini, known on the stage as Baccelli, at the height of her career. Her elaborate costume seems to be adapted from the ballet Les Amants Surpris in which she had recently taken London by storm. Baccelli was the mistress of John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset who commissioned the painting. The rapid brushwork, translucent paint and shimmering light effects are typical of Gainsborough’s style at this time. When the portrait was first exhibited, it was chiefly praised as an excellent likeness; ‘as the Original, light airy and elegant’.

Gallery label, February 2016

George Stubbs, Horse Devoured by a Lion  ?exhibited 1763

This is one of at least 17 works Stubbs made of a lion stalking and attacking a horse. Here he depicts the moment the lion sinks its teeth into the terrified horse, set against the backdrop of Creswell Crags in the Peak District. The painting showcases Stubbs’s anatomical precision, informed by his studies of caged lions at the Tower of London. It also highlights his efforts to raise the status of animal painting by showing its emotional and narrative power. By depicting the dramatic climax of the encounter, Stubbs evokes the awe and terror felt when faced with untamed nature.

Gallery label, December 2020

Thomas Daniell, Sher Shah’s Mausoleum, Sasaram  1810

This painting shows the monumental mausoleum of Sher Shah Suri (ruler of northern India from 1540–45) in Sasaram, a city in north-eastern India. Thomas Daniell and his nephew, William, visited Sasaram in February 1790 while undertaking an extensive tour to sketch sites across northern India. Daniell made this painting after his return to England, exhibiting it at the Royal Academy in London in 1810. Such images of India were popular with British audiences, offering a kind of armchair tourism. Daniell’s art helped shape British perceptions of Indian scenery and architecture.

Gallery label, August 2024

Sir David Wilkie, The Blind Fiddler  1806

David Wilkie suggests the emotional power of music here. He expresses the different reactions to the blind fiddler’s music – one young boy even pretends to play the fire bellows. This was only the second painting Wilkie exhibited publicly and it confirmed his reputation as a rising new star. A large crowd gathered around the picture when it was displayed at the Royal Academy. Exhibition-goers admired his observational skills, his characterisation, and his sympathetic view of everyday domestic life. It was hung next to JMW Turner’s A Country Blacksmith, which had a similarly subject and muted colours. Many contemporaries believed Turner was sparring with the younger artist.

Gallery label, February 2024

John Hill, Interior of the Carpenter’s Shop at Forty Hill, Enfield  ?exhibited 1813

John Hill shows the interior of a small joinery shop that likely belonged to him and his father Thomas. Various tools and stages of production are visible: an axe and saw for cutting the wood in the foreground, and a planer for shaping it in the background. The unglazed window in the far corner of the workshop is large enough for big pieces of wood to pass through. It also provides ventilation and light for the ‘master’ carpenter. He is distinguished from his assistants by his moleskin hat and dark jacket. John likely included himself in the picture, possibly as this master carpenter (although this figure might also be his father). John later described himself as an ‘entirely self-taught' painter. He exhibited this painting at the Royal Academy in 1813. Such representations of craftsmen at work are rare in British art of this period.

Gallery label, October 2023

Charles Reuben Ryley, Oscar Bringing Back Annir’s Daughter  1785

Scotland’s legendary past, as told by the ancient Gaelic bard, Ossian, inspired this painting. It shows the famed warrior Oscar (in red), returning triumphant from battle to Annir, the elderly King of Inis-Thona. Oscar's victory reunites the king with his daughter. Ossian’s epic poem was published in 1765 and inspired many artists and writers. Nearly 60 Ossian subjects were exhibited in London between 1771-1830, including five pictures by Charles Reuben Ryley. However, the authenticity of the poem was soon questioned. The publisher, James Macpherson, had, in fact, invented the saga by blending Gaelic mythology with other sources and his own writing.

Gallery label, February 2024

Richard Wilson, On Hounslow Heath  ?exhibited 1770

The view shows the watermeadows beside the River Crane. This area of Hounslow Heath was not known for its beauty or cultural significance. Instead, the attraction of this picture lies in the beauty of the sky and the reflections in the water. In this it is an example of a new type of landscape view, designed to bring a vision of a rural idyll into the city dweller's home. The picture was commissioned by Tom Davies, who was a Bloomsbury bookseller, and one of a growing number of middle-class urban patrons of English landscape subjects.

Gallery label, September 2004

Richard Wilson, Llyn-y-Cau, Cader Idris  ?exhibited 1774

Richard Wilson paints Llyn Cau, a lake near the summit of Cadair Idris in North Wales. He heightened the precipice and included imagined landscape features to create a balanced, more ordered composition. The tiny people underscore the monumental scale of the scenery. Wilson suggests we are looking at an untouched paradise, ideal for contemplating nature. The figure with a telescope may reflect the fashionable enthusiasm for such remote scenery. The Welsh countryside particularly appealed to Wilson’s contemporaries because of the new taste for sublime awe-inspiring landscapes and the growing interest in Welsh history and culture.

Gallery label, February 2024

Johan Zoffany, The Bradshaw Family  exhibited 1769

Small-scale group portraits like this, known as ‘conversation pieces’, projected an idealised vision of family life. This picture employs a pyramidal arrangement of the figures to express the structure of the family. Thomas Bradshaw (1733–74), a senior civil servant and politician, is shown at the apex of the pyramid. His family is arranged below him. The two women are Bradshaw’s wife, Elizabeth on the right, and, on the left, probably his sister. The two oldest sons are shown at the far left and right of the group. Their position in the composition serves to associate them both with the sheltered space of the family unit, and the outside world.

Gallery label, February 2016

Sir Thomas Lawrence, Philadelphia Hannah, 1st Viscountess Cremorne  exhibited 1789

Lady Cremorne is shown standing confidently, gazing directly out at the viewer. This seems apt given her high social standing: she was lady-in-waiting to Queen Charlotte and her grandfather was William Penn, who established the British colonial settlement in Pennsylvania, America. Thomas Lawrence was only 19 when he painted this imposing portrait, and it was his first full-length painting. He included it among his exhibits at the Royal Academy in 1789, where it caught the press’s attention. Lawrence was heralded as the successor to the aging Joshua Reynolds. Soon after this, Lawrence painted Queen Charlotte, a prestigious commission perhaps suggested by Lady Cremorne herself.

Gallery label, February 2024

Francis Cotes, Anna Maria Astley, Aged Seven, and her Brother Edward, Aged Five and a Half  1767

The children in this portrait were the offspring of wealthy baronet and landowner Sir Edward Astley and his second wife Anne Milles. They are depicted at play on a classical terrace, reminiscent of the family’s grand estate at Melton Constable, Norfolk. Anna Maria, who waves her brother’s plumed hat above her head, died in childhood, the year after this portrait was painted. Edward, whose elder half-brother was to inherit his father’s title, lived to carve out a successful career as a soldier in the British army. It is thought that the portrait was commissioned by the children’s maternal grandfather.

Gallery label, February 2010

Francesco Zuccarelli, A Landscape with the Story of Cadmus Killing the Dragon  exhibited 1765

This painting illustrates the story of Cadmus, founder of the ancient city of Thebes, as told in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Cadmus is slaying the dragon that has killed his companions. They have died trying to collect spring water from the dragon’s cave, not knowing that it is sacred to the god Mars. Cadmus is protected by a lion-skin and armed with a javelin. The Italian painter Zuccarelli left Venice for London in 1752, his mythological landscapes popular with British patrons. In 1768 he was commissioned to produce works for George III, and was a founding member of The Royal Academy.

Gallery label, February 2016

Richard Cosway, Portrait of a Gentleman, his Wife and Sister, in the Character of Fortitude introducing Hope as the Companion to Distress (‘The Witts Family Group’)  1770

Although principally a portrait miniaturist (see cabinet 2: The Portrait Miniature in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries), Richard Cosway also produced some larger-scale works in oil. This allegorical portrait was painted following the death of a young London linen draper, Broome Witts, in 1769. Witts is shown here in the role of Fortitude, introducing his sister Sarah in the guise of Hope (left) to his wife Elizabeth, depicted as Distress. This memorial image was presumably commissioned by one or both of these ladies.

Gallery label, August 2004

George Dawe, Naomi and her Daughters  exhibited 1804

This scene is from the Old Testament: Naomi, in the centre, encourages her two widowed daughters-in-law to return to their people rather than accompany her to Bethlehem. George Dawe shows the moment when Orpah (left) leaves weeping, but Ruth (right) clings to Naomi and refuses to go. This was the first painting Dawe exhibited at the Royal Academy. By demonstrating his ability to paint emotive and high-minded subjects, Dawe likely hoped the painting would help him stand out as a talented newcomer. The restrained colours, sculptural style and idealised figures were popular with painters at the time.

Gallery label, February 2024

Henry Monro, The Disgrace of Wolsey  exhibited 1814

Henry VIII stands commandingly on the left, handing papers to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. This signals Wolsey’s downfall – as the King’s chief adviser he failed to secure the annulment of Henry VIII’s first marriage, ultimately leading to his arrest for treason. While a historical subject, Henry Monro drew his inspiration from Shakespeare’s play Henry VIII. He worked on the painting over 5 months in late 1813, employing ‘Ben’ from the local workhouse to model as Wolsey. Monro had been an ambitious young artist, and when the painting was exhibited at the British Institution in 1814 after his early death in March that year, it secured Monro’s celebrity.

Gallery label, February 2024

Henry Walton, A Girl Buying a Ballad  exhibited 1778

This painting shows a fashionable young woman approaching an old ballad-seller on the street, whose printed wares are pinned up behind him. Henry Walton exhibited this painting at the Royal Academy in 1778. He likely hoped this imaginative image of city life would appeal to exhibition-goers. But he may also have intended a political reading too. The two portrait prints on the right are recognisable as General William Howe and his brother, Admiral Richard Howe. Their doubts about Britain’s war with Revolutionary America had recently led them to resign from military command. This was highly topical as the war was hugely controversial in Britain.

Gallery label, February 2024

Gilbert Stuart, William Woollett the Engraver  exhibited 1783

This striking portrait depicts the engraver, William Woollett. With a copper plate in front of him and a burin or graver in hand, he looks up as if momentarily distracted from his work. The painting in the background offers the clue to his activity – it is recognisable as the acclaimed Death of General Wolfe by Benjamin West, which Woollett engraved in 1776. This was Woollett’s most commercially successful print. Gilbert Stuart’s portrait not only celebrates the engravers’ achievements, but also an important artistic collaboration. When Stuart exhibited the painting in 1783, it was praised for showing ‘the man himself’.

Gallery label, February 2024

Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin West, P.R.A.  ?exhibited 1781

The American-born painter Benjamin West was one of the most successful artists of his generation. He was one of King George III’s favourite artists, which gave him privileges and wealth that made him the envy of his contemporaries. This polished portrait suggests an affluent and genteel personality.

West’s studio in London was a gathering place for Americans studying art in Europe. Many of these returned home to pursue careers in their newly independent homeland. This portrait is by one of West’s most successful American students, Gilbert Stuart.

Gallery label, August 2004

Sir Joshua Reynolds, The Age of Innocence  ?1788

The identity of Joshua Reynolds’s young model is uncertain. It is perhaps Reynold’s great-niece Theophila Gwatkin, a Miss Anne Fletcher, or a Lady Anne Spencer (the youngest daughter of the 4th Duke of Marlborough). This painting is an example of a ‘fancy’ picture, a type of 18th century painting showing figures, particularly children, playing out various roles. It was painted over one of Reynolds’s existing paintings, titled A Strawberry Girl. He altered all elements of the girl’s figure except for her hands. The Age of Innocence was one of Reynolds’s most popular images – more than 323 full-scale copies were made of it between 1856 and 1893.

Gallery label, October 2023

Julius Caesar Ibbetson, Sand Quarry at Alum Bay  ?exhibited 1792

Julius Caesar Ibbetson visited the Isle of Wight in 1791, which inspired him to paint many views of the coves and cliffs. This picture shows the local scenery at Alum Bay, with a group of men quarrying sand in the foreground. The famous Needles – a row of chalk stacks in the sea – are visible in the distance. This is probably one of the several coastal scenes of the Isle of Wight that Ibbetson exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1792 and 1796. Throughout his career, Ibbetson travelled widely, including to China and the island of Java in Indonesia (then a Dutch colony). Many of his landscape paintings were inspired by the places he visited.

Gallery label, October 2023