The Royal Family at the Royal Academy

Object Type
This print was made by a combination of techniques: engraving, etching and stipple etching. Engraved lines are made by gouging them into the surface of a flat piece of metal (the 'plate'). The etched lines and stipple marks (dots and short flicks) are produced by biting into the metal with acid. The plate is then inked and pressed onto a sheet of paper, thus transferring the ink held in the lines and marks.

Subject Depicted
This print shows the Royal Family viewing the annual exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts at Somerset House, London, in 1788. George III and Queen Charlotte are shown in the Exhibition Room, surrounded by their numerous children and attendants.

From its foundation in 1768 the Royal Academy was the most prestigious institution in Britain for teaching and exhibiting art. It held an annual exhibition of paintings, sculptures and designs, which it decreed 'shall be open to all Artists of distinguished merit'. Aspiring artists submitted their works, and a selection were chosen by the committee for exhibition. So many pictures were submitted that they had to be hung almost from floor to ceiling and with the frames touching each other. The Exhibition Room at Somerset House shown here was 'undoubtedly at that date the finest gallery for displaying pictures so far built', according to one contemporary commentator.

People
The American-born painter Benjamin West (1738-1820), one of the founder members of the Royal Academy of Arts, can be seen in this print leaning against the wall at the left with some of the younger princes.