1.
George Henry Harlow
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George Henry Harlow, was a highly regarded English portrait painter. Harlow was sent when quite young to Dr. Barrows classical school in Soho Square and he was for a short time at Westminster School, but having shown a predilection for painting, he was placed under Henry De Cort, the landscape-painter. He next worked under Samuel Drummond, A. R. A, the portrait-painter, but after about a year entered the studio of Sir Thomas Lawrence. Harlow paid Lawrence handsomely for his admission and the right to copy, Harlow decided to devote himself to painting, and refused an offer of a writership in the East India trade made by his fathers friends. He spent about eighteen months in Lawrences studio, copying his pictures, Harlow henceforth pursued an original system of art education. He inveighed strongly against all rules and principles. Young, headstrong, and impatient of restraint, with a person and amiable disposition. His foibles led his friends to nickname him Clarissa Harlowe and he worked, however, with industry and enthusiasm in his art. Though openly opposed to the Royal Academy, he was a candidate for academician and he exhibited for the first time at the Academy in 1804, showing a portrait of Dr. Thornton. In later years he exhibited many other portraits and his practice in this line was extensive. His portraits are well conceived, and, though much in the manner and his portraits of ladies were always graceful and pleasing. He was less successful, owing to his artistic education, in historical painting. His first exhibited pictures were Queen Elizabeth striking the Earl of Essex, at the Royal Academy,1807. In 1815 he painted Hubert and Prince Arthur for William Leader, in 1814 he painted a set of portraits of the actor Charles Mathews in various characters, which attracted general attention. It was engraved by W. Greatbach for Yates Life of Mathews, early in his career Harlow had made sketches of performers in the theatre, notably of the actress Sarah Siddons, who retired in 1812. A commission from the music teacher Thomas Welsh to paint Siddons as Queen Katharine in Shakespeares Henry VIII and this was begun from memory, but subsequently the actress, at Welshs request, gave the painter a sitting. While painting the portrait, Harlow decided to expand the picture into the Trial Scene from the play, introducing portraits of the various members of the Kemble family. Welsh, though not consulted by Harlow concerning this change of plan, the picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1817, and excited great public interest
2.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
3.
Kingdom of Great Britain
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The Kingdom of Great Britain, officially Great Britain, was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 31 December 1800. It did not include Ireland, which remained a separate realm, the unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government that was based in Westminster. Also after the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714, the early years of the unified kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings which ended in defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. On 1 January 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom, the name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Edward IV of Englands daughter Cecily and James III of Scotlands son James. The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be United into one Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain. However, both the Acts and the Treaty also refer numerous times to the United Kingdom and the longer form, other publications refer to the country as the United Kingdom after 1707 as well. The websites of the UK parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, additionally, the term United Kingdom was found in informal use during the 18th century to describe the state. The new state created in 1707 included the island of Great Britain, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century, were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a union in 1603. Each of the three kingdoms maintained its own parliament and laws and this disposition changed dramatically when the Acts of Union 1707 came into force, with a single unified Crown of Great Britain and a single unified parliament. Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the Acts of Union 1800, legislative power was vested in the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In practice it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the location in Westminster. Newly created peers in the Peerage of Great Britain were given the right to sit in the Lords. Despite the end of a parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws. As a result of Poynings Law of 1495, the Parliament of Ireland was subordinate to the Parliament of England, the Act was repealed by the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782. The same year, the Irish constitution of 1782 produced a period of legislative freedom, the 18th century saw England, and after 1707 Great Britain, rise to become the worlds dominant colonial power, with France its main rival on the imperial stage
4.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a sovereign state on 1 January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish War of Independence, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, and the state was consequently renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain financed the European coalition that defeated France in 1815 in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire thereby became the foremost world power for the next century. The Crimean War with Russia and the Boer wars were relatively small operations in a largely peaceful century, rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the states formation continued up until the mid-19th century. A devastating famine, exacerbated by government inaction in the century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland. It was an era of economic modernization and growth of industry, trade and finance. Outward migration was heavy to the colonies and to the United States. Britain also built up a large British Empire in Africa and Asia, India, by far the most important possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In foreign policy Britain favoured free trade, which enabled its financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Britain formed no permanent military alliances until the early 20th century, when it began to cooperate with Japan, France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States. A brief period of limited independence for Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the British governments fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801, however, King George III was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his governments attempts to introduce it. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized, in May 1803, war was declared again. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental System and this policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. Frances population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the British Isles, Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from the European mainland would end its economic hegemony. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent, after Napoleons surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once, simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes, arming hostile Indians and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. The war was little noticed in Britain, which could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, American frigates inflicted a series of defeats on the Royal Navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe
5.
Georgian era
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The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century, The Century of Philosophy. In France, the doctrines of les Lumières were individual liberty and religious tolerance in opposition to an absolute monarchy. French historians traditionally place the Enlightenment between 1715, the year that Louis XIV died, and 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution, some recent historians begin the period in the 1620s, with the start of the scientific revolution. Les philosophes of the widely circulated their ideas through meetings at scientific academies, Masonic lodges, literary salons, coffee houses. The ideas of the Enlightenment undermined the authority of the monarchy and the Church, a variety of 19th-century movements, including liberalism and neo-classicism, trace their intellectual heritage back to the Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment was preceded by and closely associated with the scientific revolution, earlier philosophers whose work influenced the Enlightenment included Francis Bacon, René Descartes, John Locke, and Baruch Spinoza. The major figures of the Enlightenment included Cesare Beccaria, Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin visited Europe repeatedly and contributed actively to the scientific and political debates there and brought the newest ideas back to Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson closely followed European ideas and later incorporated some of the ideals of the Enlightenment into the Declaration of Independence, others like James Madison incorporated them into the Constitution in 1787. The most influential publication of the Enlightenment was the Encyclopédie, the ideas of the Enlightenment played a major role in inspiring the French Revolution, which began in 1789. After the Revolution, the Enlightenment was followed by an intellectual movement known as Romanticism. René Descartes rationalist philosophy laid the foundation for enlightenment thinking and his attempt to construct the sciences on a secure metaphysical foundation was not as successful as his method of doubt applied in philosophic areas leading to a dualistic doctrine of mind and matter. His skepticism was refined by John Lockes 1690 Essay Concerning Human Understanding and his dualism was challenged by Spinozas uncompromising assertion of the unity of matter in his Tractatus and Ethics. Both lines of thought were opposed by a conservative Counter-Enlightenment. In the mid-18th century, Paris became the center of an explosion of philosophic and scientific activity challenging traditional doctrines, the political philosopher Montesquieu introduced the idea of a separation of powers in a government, a concept which was enthusiastically adopted by the authors of the United States Constitution. Francis Hutcheson, a philosopher, described the utilitarian and consequentialist principle that virtue is that which provides, in his words. Much of what is incorporated in the method and some modern attitudes towards the relationship between science and religion were developed by his protégés David Hume and Adam Smith. Hume became a figure in the skeptical philosophical and empiricist traditions of philosophy. Immanuel Kant tried to reconcile rationalism and religious belief, individual freedom and political authority, as well as map out a view of the sphere through private
6.
City of London
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The City of London is a city and county within London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, the City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. Administratively, it one of the 33 local authority districts of Greater London, however, the City of London is not a London borough. The City of London is widely referred to simply as the City and is colloquially known as the Square Mile. Both of these terms are often used as metonyms for the United Kingdoms trading and financial services industries. The name London is now used for a far wider area than just the City. London most often denotes the sprawling London metropolis, or the 32 London boroughs and this wider usage of London is documented as far back as 1888, when the County of London was created. The local authority for the City, namely the City of London Corporation, is unique in the UK and has some unusual responsibilities for a local council and it is also unusual in having responsibilities and ownerships beyond its boundaries. The Corporation is headed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, the current Lord Mayor, as of November 2016, is Andrew Parmley. The City is a business and financial centre. Throughout the 19th century, the City was the primary business centre. London came top in the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index, published in 2008, the insurance industry is focused around the eastern side of the City, around Lloyds building. A secondary financial district exists outside of the City, at Canary Wharf,2.5 miles to the east, the City has a resident population of about 7,000 but over 300,000 people commute to and work there, mainly in the financial services sector. It used to be held that Londinium was first established by merchants as a trading port on the tidal Thames in around 47 AD. However, this date is only supposition, many historians now believe London was founded some time before the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD. They base this notion on evidence provided by both archaeology and Welsh literary legend, archaeologists have claimed that as much as half of the best British Iron Age art and metalwork discovered in Britain has been found in the London area. One of the most prominent examples is the famously horned Waterloo Helmet dredged from the Thames in the early 1860s and now exhibited at the British Museum. Also, according to an ancient Welsh legend, a king named Lud son of Heli substantially enlarged and improved a pre-existing settlement at London which afterwards came to be renamed after him, the same tradition relates how this Lud son of Heli was later buried at Ludgate
7.
Richmond, North Yorkshire
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Richmond is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England and the administrative centre of the district of Richmondshire. Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Richmond is the most duplicated UK placename, with 57 occurrences worldwide. The Rough Guide describes the town as an absolute gem, betty James wrote that without any doubt Richmond is the most romantic place in the whole of the North East. Richmond was named UK town of the year in 2009, the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, built in 1788, is the UKs most complete 18th century theatre. The town of Richemont in Normandy was the origin of the placename Richmond, Richmond in North Yorkshire was the eponymous honour of the Earls of Richmond, a dignity normally also held by the Duke of Brittany from 1136 to 1399. Richmond was founded in 1071 by the Breton Alan Rufus, on lands granted to him by William the Conqueror, Richmond Castle, completed in 1086, had a keep and walls encompassing the area now known as the Market Place. Richmond was part of the lands of the earldom of Richmond, when John V, Duke of Brittany died in 1399 Henry IV took possession. In 1453, the earldom was conferred on Edmund Tudor, and was merged with the crown when Edmunds son Henry became king, as Henry VII in 1485. During the English Civil War, the Covenanter Army led by David Leslie, Lord Newark, took over the castle and conflict between local Catholics and Scottish Presbyterians ensued. The prosperity of the town and centre of the Swaledale wool industry greatly increased in the late 17th and 18th centuries with the burgeoning lead mining industry in nearby Arkengarthdale. It is from this period that the towns Georgian architecture originates, one of Europes first gas works was built in the town in 1830. A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of Richmond Barracks in 1877, Richmond Castle in the town centre overlooks the River Swale and is a major tourist attraction. Scollands Hall is the gatehouse and was staffed by the Lords of Bedale, such as Bryan FitzAlan, Lord FitzAlan, other staff residences were Constable Burton and Thornton Steward. Also, Richmond had an extended Wensleydale castlery initially consisting of Middleham Castle, Ravensworth, the Conyers, Wyville, Gascoigne, Stapleton and Lovell families were all notable gentry. The cobbled market place is one of the largest in England, the Green Howards Regimental Museum is in the old Trinity Church in the centre of the towns market place, the town is also home to the Richmondshire Museum. Swale House on Frenchgate, built around 1750, was home to the headmaster and students of the grammar school. For many years, it was the headquarters of Richmondshire District Council, before being closed, the Georgian Theatre Royal, founded in 1788 by the actor Samuel Butler, is off the market place. A decline in the fortunes of theatre led to its closure in 1848, in 1963 the theatre was restored and reopened, with a theatre museum added in 1979
8.
Soho Square
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Soho Square is a square in Soho, London, England, with a park and garden area at its centre that dates back to 1681. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, whose statue stands in the square, at the centre of the garden, there is a distinctive half-timbered gardeners hut. During the summer, Soho Square hosts open-air free concerts, built in the late 1670s, Soho Square was in its early years one of the most fashionable places to live in London. It was originally called Kings Square, for King Charles II, a statue of Charles II was carved by Danish sculptor Caius Gabriel Cibber in 1681 and placed at the centre of the Square. By the early 19th century, the statue was described as being in a most wretched mutilated state, and the inscriptions on the base of the pedestal quite illegible. Goodall placed the statue on an island in his lake at Grims Dyke, where it remained when dramatist W. S. Gilbert purchased the property in 1890, and there it stayed after Gilberts death in 1911. In her will, Lady Gilbert directed that the statue be returned, william Thomas Beckford was born on 29 September 1760 in his familys London home at 22 Soho Square. In the 1770s, the naturalist Joseph Banks who had circumvented the globe with James Cook, in 1778, Banks was elected president of the Royal Society and his home became a kind of scientific salon hosting scientists visiting from around the world. His library and herbarium containing many plants gathered during his travels were open to the general public, between 1778 and 1801 the Square was home to the infamous White House brothel at the Manor House,21 Soho Square. In 1862 the charity House of St Barnabas moved around the corner from Rose Street to 1 Greek Street where it resides today. Wilfrid Voynich had his antiquarian bookshop at no.1 Soho Square from 1902, the publisher Rupert Hart-Davis was at no.36 from about 1947. Fauconberg House was on the side of the square until its demolition in 1924. Two of the houses, nos.10 and 15. At nos.8 and 9 is the French Protestant Church of London, number 22 was home to British Movietone and Kay Film Laboratories, having been re-built to its current form between 1913 and 1914. For almost forty years, beginning in 1955, Soho Square housed the headquarters of animator Richard Williams. In the 1990s Sony Music had an office here and their record label Sony Soho Square has since been renamed S2 Records. The Football Association was headquartered at No 25 from October 2000 until 2009, streets running off the square, counted clockwise from the north, are Soho Street, Sutton Row, Greek Street, Batemans Buildings, Frith Street and Carlisle Street. In the book A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Soho Square is where Lucie and her father, Doctor Manette, in the song Why Cant The English
9.
Edmund Burke
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Burke criticized British treatment of the American colonies, including through its taxation policies. Burke is remembered for his support for Catholic emancipation, the impeachment of Warren Hastings from the East India Company, in the nineteenth century Burke was praised by both conservatives and liberals. Subsequently, in the century, he became widely regarded as the philosophical founder of modern conservatism. Burke was born in Dublin, Ireland, Burke adhered to his fathers faith and remained a practising Anglican throughout his life, unlike his sister Juliana who was brought up as and remained a Roman Catholic. Although never denying his Irishness, Burke often described himself as an Englishman, according to the historian J. C. D. Clark, this was in an age before Celtic nationalism sought to make Irishness and Englishness incompatible. As a child he spent time away from the unhealthy air of Dublin with his mothers family in the Blackwater Valley in County Cork. He received his education at a Quaker school in Ballitore, County Kildare, some 67 kilometres from Dublin. He remained in correspondence with his schoolmate from there, Mary Leadbeater, in 1744, Burke started at Trinity College Dublin, a Protestant establishment, which up until 1793, did not permit Catholics to take degrees. The minutes of the meetings of Burkes Club remain in the collection of the Historical Society, Burke graduated from Trinity in 1748. Burkes father wanted him to read Law, and with this in mind he went to London in 1750, after eschewing the Law, he pursued a livelihood through writing. The late Lord Bolingbrokes Letters on the Study and Use of History was published in 1752 and this provoked Burke into writing his first published work, A Vindication of Natural Society, A View of the Miseries and Evils Arising to Mankind, appearing in Spring 1756. Burke imitated Bolingbrokes style and ideas in a reductio ad absurdum of his arguments for atheistic rationalism, Burke claimed that Bolingbrokes arguments against revealed religion could apply to all social and civil institutions as well. Lord Chesterfield and Bishop Warburton initially thought that the work was genuinely by Bolingbroke rather than a satire, all the reviews of the work were positive, with critics especially appreciative of Burkes quality of writing. Some reviewers failed to notice the ironic nature of the book, a minority of scholars have taken the position that, in fact, Burke did write the Vindication in earnest, later disowning it only for political reasons. It was his only purely philosophical work, and when asked by Sir Joshua Reynolds and French Laurence to expand it thirty years later and it was to be submitted for publication by Christmas 1758. G. M. Young did not value Burkes history and claimed that it was demonstrably a translation from the French. Lord Acton, on commenting on the story that Burke stopped his history because David Hume published his, Burke remained the chief editor of the publication until at least 1789 and there is no evidence that any other writer contributed to it before 1766. On 12 March 1757, Burke married Jane Mary Nugent, daughter of Dr Christopher Nugent and their son Richard was born on 9 February 1758, an elder son, Christopher, died in infancy
10.
Royal Academy of Arts
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The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. The Royal Academy of Arts was founded through an act of King George III on 10 December 1768 with a mission to promote the arts of design in Britain through education and exhibition. Supporters wanted to foster a national school of art and to encourage appreciation, fashionable taste in 18th-century Britain was based on continental and traditional art forms, providing contemporary British artists little opportunity to sell their works. From 1746 the Foundling Hospital, through the efforts of William Hogarth, the success of this venture led to the formation of the Society of Artists of Great Britain and the Free Society of Artists. Both these groups were primarily exhibiting societies, their success was marred by internal factions among the artists. The combined vision of education and exhibition to establish a school of art set the Royal Academy apart from the other exhibiting societies. It provided the foundation upon which the Royal Academy came to dominate the art scene of the 18th and 19th centuries, supplanting the earlier art societies. Sir William Chambers, a prominent architect, used his connections with George III to gain royal patronage and financial support of the Academy, the painter Joshua Reynolds was made its first president. Francis Milner Newton was elected the first secretary, a post he held for two decades until his resignation in 1788, the instrument of foundation, signed by George III on 10 December 1768, named 34 founder members and allowed for a total membership of 40. William Hoare and Johann Zoffany were added to this list later by the King and are known as nominated members, among the founder members were two women, a father and daughter, and two sets of brothers. The Royal Academy was initially housed in cramped quarters in Pall Mall, although in 1771 it was given temporary accommodation for its library and schools in Old Somerset House, then a royal palace. In 1780 it was installed in purpose-built apartments in the first completed wing of New Somerset House, located in the Strand and designed by Chambers, the Academy moved in 1837 to Trafalgar Square, where it occupied the east wing of the recently completed National Gallery. These premises soon proved too small to house both institutions, in 1868,100 years after the Academys foundation, it moved to Burlington House, Piccadilly, where it remains. Burlington House is owned by the British Government, and used rent-free by the Royal Academy, the first Royal Academy exhibition of contemporary art, open to all artists, opened on 25 April 1769 and ran until 27 May 1769. 136 works of art were shown and this exhibition, now known as the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, has been staged annually without interruption to the present day. In 1870 the Academy expanded its programme to include a temporary annual loan exhibition of Old Masters. The range and frequency of these exhibitions have grown enormously since that time. Britains first public lectures on art were staged by the Royal Academy, led by Reynolds, the first president, a program included lectures by Dr. William Hunter, John Flaxman, James Barry, Sir John Soane, and J. M. W. Turner
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rowlandson, Thomas". Encyclopædia Britannica. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 787.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the 