Royal Academy Exhibition of 1877

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1877 was the hundred and ninth annual Summer Exhibition staged by the British Royal Academy of Arts. It was held at Burlington House in London from 7 May to 6 August and attracting over 300,000 visitors. It featured submissions from many of the leading artists and architects of the Victorian era, but came at a time when the Academy was facing a challenge from new art exhibitions such as the rival Grosvenor Gallery in Bond Street.^[1]

Edwin Long's Orientalist painting An Egyptian Feast was one of the most discussed and popular works on display. Another work that attracted particular attention was the sculpture An Athlete Wrestling with a Python by Frederic Leighton, better known as a painter who would succeed Francis Grant as President of the Royal Academy the following year.^[2]

John Everett Millais displayed The Yeoman of the Guard featuring a portrait of a veteran Beefeater.^[3] The Dutch artist Lawrence Alma-Tadema exhibited The Seasons, a series of four paintings depicting the seasons.^[4] George Dunlop Leslie showed The Lass of Richmond Hill, which he had recently presented as his diploma work on election to the Royal Academy. Edward Matthew Ward displayed the history paintings William III at Windsor and The Last Interview Between Napoleon and Queen Louisa of Prussia at Tilsit, a scene from the Napoleonic Wars.^[5] The French artist Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux displayed The Battle of Alma, inspired by the Crimean War.