Royal Academy Exhibition of 1870

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1870 was the 102nd annual Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts. It was held from 2 May to 30 July 1870 at Burlington House in Piccadilly, the second time it took place there following a move from the National Gallery the previous year.^[1]

The annual dinner that opened the exhibition was presided over by the President of the Royal Academy Francis Grant and ws attended by both the Prime Minister William Gladstone and the Princes of Wales. This was also the first year that a winter exhibition was held to sell classic paintings, leading to feeds that contemporary art might by overshadowed by major works of the precious century such as those produced by Joshua Reynolds.^[2]

John Everett Millais was notable amongst the artists submitting work. His The Boyhood of Raleigh, featured a patriotic scene of the Tudor era adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh in childhood.^[3] Millais also showed off a scene of Medieval chivalry The Knight Errant, his only attempt to feature a nude women, with reviews focusing on his naturalistic style compared to equivalent French works.^[4] The celebrated animal painter Edwin Landseer displayed a portrait of the racehorse Voltigeur. Edward Matthew Ward's Judge Jeffreys and Richard Baxter depicted a scene from the reign of James II.

The Irish artist Daniel Maclise died shortly before the exhibition opened and his history painting The Earls of Desmond and Ormond was exhibited posthumously.^[5] The French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme displayed his painting Jerusalem which had already appeared at the Salon of 1868 in Paris. After viewing it at the Academy the writer Thomas Hardy described it as "a fine conception".^[6] Gérôme also displayed The Execution of Marshal Ney, depicting a scene from the Napoleonic Wars. James McNeill Whistler submitted The Balcony but this made less of an impact than he had hoped and gained mixed reviews.^[7]

The Winter Exhibition was held from 3 January to 12 March 1870. Amongst the paintings on display were significant retrospectives featuring the works of Charles Robert Leslie and Clarkson Stanfield.