Bryan Appleyard

Some Capital Painters

The Company of Artists: The Origins of the Royal Academy of Arts in London

By

Modern Art Press 192pp £25 order from our bookshop

When Joshua Reynolds was offered the presidency of the new Royal Academy in 1768, he first consulted with his close friends, Samuel Johnson and Edmund Burke. From the perspective of the Olympic-plagued, Boris-bothered London of the 21st century, such information is painful. One wonders at the depth of one’s misfortune at not having been alive in London at a time when career advice could be had from Johnson and Burke; or, more important, when one could have watched the foundation of an institution such as the Royal Academy.

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • 'Since Dylan’s commercial and ideological heyday, the intrusion of sociology, semiology and post-structuralist thou… ,
    • 'One of the reasons for its longevity is that it has virtually nothing to say about science and technology at all,… ,
    • 'The characters in many of these stories are trapped in the obsessive present tense of their own thoughts; in the m… ,
    • 'Libraries, for much of their existence, have embodied in microcosm many of the characteristics of the totalitarian… ,
    • 'Moss and Cynthia buy several properties through which to launder their ill-gotten gains, take lots of drugs, have… ,
    • 'Never mind the imperial cult. This is the cult of Boris. What happened to Rome?' From the LR archive:… ,
    • Thirty-two years ago this month, we published Muriel Spark's short story, 'A Playhouse Called Remarkable' Read it… ,
    Follow Us