The Royal Academy of Arts is founded…
December 1768 CE
The motive in founding the Academy is twofold: to raise the professional status of the artist by establishing a sound system of training and expert judgement in the arts, and to arrange the exhibition of contemporary works of art attaining an appropriate standard of excellence.
Supporters want to foster a national school of art and to encourage appreciation and interest in the public based on recognized canons of good taste.
It is Sir William Chambers, a prominent architect and head of the British government's architects' department, the Office of Works, who has used his connections with George III to gain royal patronage and financial support of the Academy in 1768.
The painter Joshua Reynolds is made its first president, and Francis Milner Newton is elected the first secretary, a post he will hold for two decades until his resignation in 1788.
The instrument of foundation, signed by George III on December 10, 1768, names thirty-four founder members and allows for a total membership of forty.
The founder members are Reynolds, John Baker, George Barret, Francesco Bartolozzi, Giovanni Battista Cipriani, Augustino Carlini, Charles Catton, Mason Chamberlin, William Chambers, Francis Cotes, George Dance, Nathaniel Dance, Thomas Gainsborough, John Gwynn, Francis Hayman, Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Angelica Kauffman, Jeremiah Meyer, George Michael Moser, Francis Milner Newton, Mary Moser, Edward Penny, John Inigo Richards, Thomas Sandby, Paul Sandby, Dominic Serres, Peter Toms, William Tyler, Samuel Wale, Benjamin West, Richard Wilson, Joseph Wilton, Richard Yeo, and Francesco Zuccarelli.
William Hoare and Johann Zoffany will be added to this list later by the King and are known as nominated members.
Among the founder members are two women, a father and daughter, and two sets of brothers.
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