The Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the Royal Irish Academy, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became independent as the Irish Free State in December 1922.

William Ashford (1746–1824) was an English painter who worked exclusively in Ireland, where he lived from the age of 18, having initially gone there to take up a post with the Ordnance Office. His earliest paintings were flower pieces and still lifes, but from 1772 he exhibited landscapes. He became president of the Irish Society of Artists in 1813, and was first elected President of the Royal Hibernian Academy. His works include a set of views in and around Mount Merrion, painted for the 4th Earl FitzWilliam.