Private View, Royal Academy, 1881, (2 February 1885). Creator: Unknown. # 3046383

3-046-383 - Royal Academy of Arts, London/Heritage Images

A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881, (2 February 1885). Photogravure after a painting by William Powell Frith, depicting the opening of the Royal Academy 1881 Summer Exhibition at Burlington House in London. Frith wrote: "Beyond the desire of recording for posterity the aesthetic craze as regards dress, I wished to hit the folly of listening to self-elected critics in matters of taste, whether in dress or art. I therefore planned a group, consisting of a well-known apostle of the beautiful [ie Oscar Wilde], with a herd of eager worshippers surrounding him". Apart from Wilde, other famous figures include writers, artists, actors, clerics and politicians: Angela Burdett-Coutts, Philip Calderon, Henry Stacy Marks, Joseph Boehm, G.A. Sala, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, Frederick A. Eaton, Lillie Langtry, William Agnew, Sir John Coleridge, Frederic Leighton, Gwladys Robinson, Sir Henry Thompson, Lady Diana de Vere Beauclerk, John Walker Huddleston, Robert Browning, Thomas Henry Huxley, Anthony Trollope, George du Maurier, John Tenniel, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Julius Benedict, William Ewart Gladstone, Sir Stafford Northcote, Sir William Harcourt, John Bright, John Everett Millais and Archbishop of York William Thomson.

Image Details

People Information

Creator

Unknown, attributed to: :

After

William Powell Frith: British; English: Artist, painter

Subject

Oscar Wilde: Irish: Author, poet, playwright, wit, dramatist
Angela Burdett-Coutts: British: Philanthropist, heiress
Philip Hermogenes Calderon: British, English, Spanish: Artist, painter, printmaker
Henry Stacy Marks: British; English: Painter, artist, printmaker
Joseph Edgar Boehm: British: Sculptor, medallist, artist
George Augustus Sala: English, British, Italian: Journalist, author, writer
Sir Henry Irving: British: Actor, theatre manager
Ellen Terry: British; English: Actress, actor
Frederick A. Eaton: British: writer and editor
William Thomson: British: Archbishop of York, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol
William Agnew: British: politician and art dealer
John Coleridge: British: Lawyer, judge, politician
Frederic Leighton: British; English: Artist, painter, sculptor
Gwladys Robinson, Marchioness of Ripon: British: patron of the arts
Henry Thompson: British: Surgeon, collector, polymath
Diana de Vere Beauclerk: British: Writer
John Walker Huddleston: British: judge, Baron of the Exchequer, lawyer
Robert Browning: British, English: Poet, photographer
Thomas Henry Huxley: British: Scientist, biologist, anthropologist
Anthony Trollope: British: Writer, author, novelist, post-office official
George du Maurier: French; British; English: Artist, illustrator, writer
John Tenniel: British: Artist, illustrator, painter
Mary Elizabeth Braddon: British: Writer, novelist
Sir Julius Benedict: German-born, British: composer, conductor, musician
William Ewart Gladstone: British; English: Prime Minister of Great Britain, politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
Stafford Northcote: British: Politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
William Vernon Harcourt: British: Politician, lawyer, journalist
John Bright: British: Orator, statesman, politician
John Everett Millais: British; English: Artist, painter