TO THE MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY. GENTLEMEN, THAT you have ordered the publication of this discourse, is not only very flattering to me, as it implies your approbation of the method of study which I have recommended; but likewise, as this method receives from that act such an additional weight and authority, as demands from the Students that deference and respect, which can be due only to the united sense of so considerable a BODY of ARTISTS. I am, With the greatest esteem and respect, GENTLEMEN, Your most humble, and obedient Servant, JOSHUA REYNOLDS. B DISCOURSE I. [DELIVERED AT THE OPENING OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY JANUARY 2, 1769.] THE ADVANTAGES PROCEEDING FROM THE INSTITUTION OF A ROYAL ACADEMY.HINTS OFFERED TO THE CONSIDERATION OF THE PROFESSORS AND VISITORS;THAT AN IMPLICIT OBEDIENCE TO THE RULES OF ART BE EXACTED FROM THE YOUNG STUDENTS;-THAT A PREMATURE DISPOSITION TO A MASTERLY DEXTERITY BE REPRESSED; THAT DILIGENCE BE CONSTANTLY RECOMMENDED, AND (THAT IT MAY BE EFFECTUAL) DIRECTED TO ITS PROPER OBJECT. GENTLEMEN, AN Academy, in which the Polite Arts may be regularly cultivated, is at last opened among us by Royal Munificence. This must appear an event in the highest degree interesting, not only to the Artist, but to the whole nation. It is indeed difficult to give any other reason, why an empire like that of BRITAIN should so long have wanted an ornament so suitable to its greatness, than that slow progression of things, which naturally makes elegance and refinement the last effect of opulence and power. 'An Institution like this has often been recommended upon considerations merely mercantile; but an Academy, founded upon such principles, 1 The first suggestion of a School of Design in this country is to be found in the formation of the Society for the Promotion of the Arts and Manufactures, now situated in the Adelphi, and which may be justly said to owe its existence to the exertions of Mr. William Shipley, the can never effect even its own narrow purposes. If it has an origin no higher, no taste can ever be formed in manufactures; but if the higher Arts of Design flourish, these inferior ends will be answered of course. We are happy in having a Prince, who has conceived the design of such an Institution, according to its true dignity; and who promotes the brother of the Bishop of St. Asaph. Our first School of Design was an offshoot from this Society, effected at a meeting of Noblemen and Gentlemen, Clergymen and Merchants, held at Rawthmell's Coffee House, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, March 22nd, 1754, when it was proposed, amongst other matters, to give rewards for the best pieces of drawing, "And it being the opinion of all present that the Art of Drawing is absolutely necessary in many employments, trades, and manufactures, and that the encouragement thereof may prove of great utility to the public; it was resolved to bestow premiums on a certain number of boys or girls, under the age of sixteen, who shall produce the best pieces of Drawing, and show themselves most capable when properly examined." Mr. Shipley acting as Secretary. On their next meeting, the following week, an advertisement was ordered to be published offering their first premiums, viz: "for the best Drawings by boys and girls under the age of fourteen years, and proof of their abilities on the 15th day of January, 1755, £15; to be determined that day fortnight: likewise for the best drawings by boys and girls between the age of fourteen and seventeen, with like proof of their abilities on the same day, £15; to be determined that day fortnight." Nor did the Society confine their premiums to youthful candidates only, but extended their patronage to Historical Paintings, and Landscape, Sculpture, and Architecture, without limitation to the age of the candidates; and in the space of twenty years expended the sum of £7,926. 5s., besides ten medals of gold, six of silver, seventeen gold palettes, and eighty-four of silver, given as premiums. In their School of Design where Mr. Shipley superintended, Richard Cosway the celebrated miniature painter, received the first prize. The Society were seconded in their endeavour to foster the rising generation in a knowledge of the Fine Arts by the Duke of Richmond, then returned from Italy with a rich collection of marbles and casts from the antique; his Grace throwing open his collection to the public for the advantages of drawing, under the guidance of Messrs. Wilton and Cipriani, who officiated Arts, as the head of a great, a learned, a polite, and a commercial nation; and I can now congratulate you, Gentlemen, on the accomplishment of your long and ardent wishes. The numberless and ineffectual consultations which I have had with many in this assembly to form plans and concert schemes for an Academy, without a salary. As this was the first public school which was opened where a knowledge of the beauties of the antique were to be learned, it cannot be too highly appreciated, nor can the disinterestedness of the profession in fostering the foundation of a School of Design in England. Mr. Edwards, an associate of the Royal Academy, who not only lived at the period we are noticing, but who, from his adherence at all times to truth, breaks out with the true esprit du corps, in his introduction to his Anecdotes of Painters, "In tracing the encouragement," he says, "which the Arts received by the public spirited and patriotic liberality of several individuals, it should not be forgotten that the Artists themselves contributed greatly to the advancement and cultivation of their profession; and it may with truth be affirmed that the present Royal Academy, in a great measure, owes its origin to the exertions of those artists who flourished at the commencement of the last century." The first attempt towards the establishment of an Academy is mentioned by Walpole in his Anecdotes of Painters, where it is said that Vertue, the engraver, drew in an Acadenty, formed by several artists, with Sir Godfrey Kneller at their head, in the year 1711. Afterwards Sir James Thornhill formed an Academy in his own house in the Piazza, Covent Garden, in the year 1724, having previously proposed to Lord Halifax to obtain the foundation of a Royal Academy at the upper end of the Mews, near where it is now situated. The estimate, even with rooms for the professors, was but £3,139; thus giving a proof, amongst many others, of the apathy the English government have shown at all times to the cultivation of Art and Literature. The next approach towards an Academy, where drawing from the living model was practised, was one founded in a court off Arundel Street, under the superintendence of Michael Moser, afterwards keeper in the Royal Academy: removed in 1739 to St. Martin's Lane, and in 1767 for better accommodation to Pall Mall. The large body of Artists now began to feel their strength, and on the fame which the Exhibition of some of their works within the walls of the Foundling Hospital had brought, started an Exhibition of their own in the great room of the Society of Arts in the Adelphi. The first Exhibition was opened April 21st, 1760: to this the public were admitted gratis, the catalogue being sold at sixpence to those who required them. To this Exhibition Sir Joshua Reynolds sent four pictures. The success of the Exhibition was so great as to induce the artists, the next year, to remove to a great room in Spring Gardens, wishing to have the display of their works entirely under their own control. To indemnify them in their expenses their catalogue was raised to one shilling; but as a catalogue would admit any |