Royal Academy Exhibition of 1848

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1848 was the eightieth annual Summer Exhibition held by the British Royal Academy of Arts. It took place in the National Gallery in London's Trafalgar Square between 1 May and 22 July 1848 and featured submissions from leading artist and architects of the early Victorian era.^[1] It coincided with the Revolutions of 1848 across much of Europe.

Paintings attracting particular attention were Edwin Landseer's A Random Shot and Charles West Cope's Cardinal Wolsey at the Gate of Leicester Abbey. Notable sculptures were Aurora by John Gibson and William Calder Marshall's Dancing Girl Reposing^[2] For the first time since the 1824 exhibition J.M.W. Turner did not submit any works, likely due to illness.^[3] The marine painter Edward William Cooke displayed Dutch Yachting on the Zuider Zee.^[4]

Edward Matthew Ward displayed his history painting Highgate Fields during the Great Fire of London, 1666. In portraiture Daniel Maclise showed a Portrait of Catherine Dickens, the wife of the novelist. John Everett Millais, shortly before joining the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, submitted Cymon and Iphigenia, but this was rejected by the hanging committee.^[5]