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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Royal Academy
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(London W1)
Institution founded in 1768, with the active support of George III, for varied purposes – to dignify the profession of the artist, to provide space for the display and sale of members' work, and to give free training to talented newcomers. The academy's first established home was in *Somerset House; from 1837 it shared the *National Gallery's building in Trafalgar Square; and since 1868 it has been at *Burlington House.
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The first president was *Reynolds and until the late 19C the academy was acknowledged as representing the best in British art. During the mid-20C it adopted a reactionary stance, with the result that leading artists in the modern tradition ceased to be academicians – a split which has been healed in recent years, with the Academy even exhibiting highly controversial modern British art in the very successful show Sensation in the 1990s.
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The summer exhibition, offering for sale paintings and prints selected from thousands submitted by the public, has long been a popular annual event in London. And in recent decades the academy's spacious rooms, extended in the 1990s by Norman *Foster's Sackler Galleries, have presented an outstanding series of loan exhibitions.
The academy's own collection has included two Renaissance masterpieces, the *Leonardo cartoon (now in the National Gallery) and Michelangelo's marble tondo of the Madonna and Child, on permanent show in the Sackler Galleries.
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