Qualla: Royal Academy of Arts https://qualla.com/royal-academy-of-arts en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/royal-academy-of-arts-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Royal Academy of Arts https://qualla.com/royal-academy-of-arts Royal Academy of Arts: Introduction https://qualla.com/royal-academy-of-arts/ Photo credit Paolo Gamba from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0. On 10 December 1768, King George III signed an instrument founding the Royal Academy of Arts with the mission to "establish a school or academy of design for the use of students in the arts" with an annual exhibition. The first document named 34 founder members. Among them: Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, and Angelica Kauffman. It was ambitious from the start.

Read more: Royal Academy of Arts on Qualla

Image: Paolo Gamba from Paris, France | CC BY 2.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/royal-academy-of-arts-wp/gcpv-royal-academy-of-arts-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Royal Academy of Arts: The Founding https://qualla.com/royal-academy-of-arts/ Photo credit Anthony O'Neil, CC BY-SA 2.0. The idea had been circulating for over a decade before it succeeded. In 1755, the sculptor Henry Cheere had attempted to establish an autonomous academy through the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. That attempt failed. When the Royal Academy was f...

Read more: Royal Academy of Arts on Qualla

Image: Anthony O'Neil | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/royal-academy-of-arts-wp/gcpv-royal-academy-of-arts-the-founding.mp3 0:06 2 full Royal Academy of Arts: From Pall Mall to Burlington House https://qualla.com/royal-academy-of-arts/ Photo credit Public domain. The Academy's early decades were spent in borrowed and inadequate quarters. It opened in cramped Pall Mall premises, moved to Somerset House in 1771, and was installed in purpose-built apartments in New Somerset House in 1780. In 1837, it moved again to Trafalgar Square, sharing ...

Read more: Royal Academy of Arts on Qualla

Image: Public domain

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/royal-academy-of-arts-wp/gcpv-royal-academy-of-arts-from-pall-mall-to-burlington-house.mp3 0:06 3 full Royal Academy of Arts: What Hangs Here https://qualla.com/royal-academy-of-arts/ Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Ham II assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 2.5. The Royal Academy's most prized possession is Michelangelo's Taddei Tondo, carved in Florence between 1504 and 1506 and left to the Academy by Sir George Beaumont. It is the only marble by Michelangelo in the United Kingdom and depicts the Virgin Mary and child with the infant St...

Read more: Royal Academy of Arts on Qualla

Image: No machine-readable author provided. Ham II assumed (based on copyright claims). | CC BY-SA 2.5

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/royal-academy-of-arts-wp/gcpv-royal-academy-of-arts-what-hangs-here.mp3 0:06 4 full Royal Academy of Arts: Education and Controversy https://qualla.com/royal-academy-of-arts/ Photo credit Emmelyelgersma, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Royal Academy Schools form the oldest art school in Britain and are free of charge to those admitted — a principle maintained since the founding. Their alumni include J. M. W. Turner, John Constable, William Blake, Thomas Rowlandson, and John Soane. The first woman enrolled i...

Read more: Royal Academy of Arts on Qualla

Image: Emmelyelgersma | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/royal-academy-of-arts-wp/gcpv-royal-academy-of-arts-education-and-controversy.mp3 0:06 5 full