The Royal Academy at Somerset House

During Jane Austen's time, a trip to London would have most likely included a visit to the great painting exhibitions of the Royal Academy. This august selection of painters, sculptors, and architects moved from their location in Pall Mall to Somerset House in 1768. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first president, presided over forty members.

View of Somerset House from the Thames

The steep curved Nelson Steps in Somerset House took visitors up to the Great Room, a domed area roughly 53 x 43 feet and 32 feet high, where the oil paintings were hung.

Rowlandson, whose satiric illustration of the Nelson Steps was shown on a previous post on this blog, drew a crowd "Viewing Art" in the illustration above. The exhibits increased from 547 paintings and sculptures in 1781, to1,037 in 1801, and 1,165 in 1821. Eventually the paintings were hung from floor to ceiling, and according to the order of "importance," the best were hung nearest the midline of the room.

The purchase of catalogues became mandatory in 1761 in order to view an Academy exhibition. Their cost was one shilling, which would prevent a certain class of visitors from attending academy shows. As with today's audio and visual museum guides, these catalogues would direct museum goers to certain paintings and sculptures, thereby directing the movement of the crowd.

Dr. Samuel Johnson noted in his diary about the first pre-exhibition banquet: The Exhibition! how will you do either to see or not to see? The Exhibition is eminently splendid. There is contour and keeping and grace and expression, and all the varieties of artificial excellence.

The apartments were truly very noble. The pictures for the sake of the skylight are at the top of the house: there we dined and I sat over against the Archbishop of York.

The Academy moved to new quarters in Trafalgar Square, and the last academy exhibition at Somerset House was held in 1836.

• Somerset House

• Eyes on the Metropole: Seeing London and Beyond

• History of the Royal Academy
  

• Davidson Galleries: Antique Prints

The Truth Revealed: What Do Regency Ladies Really Wear Under Those Thin Yet Elegant Empire Dresses?

I found many fascinating facts in the Jane Austen Handbook: A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World. One that most particularly piqued my interest was that ladies generally did not wear drawers in Jane Austen's day. I wondered about that statement. Then I viewed the following hand colored etching attributed to Thomas Rowlandson.

This caricature depicts the staircase leading to the Great Room at Somerset House in Pall Mall, which was where the members of the Royal Academy exhibited their paintings. The stairway to the Great Room was steep and long, and undoubtedly tough to negotiate during crowded days.

Rowlandson's caricature speaks to the popular perception that there were two kinds of viewers who came to Somerset House: Those who wanted to see the paintings and sculptures, and those who came to ogle the ladies whose legs and ankles were exposed walking up those prominent stairs.

In Rowlandson's cartoon, the ladies tumble down in a domino effect, revealing much, much more than a neat turn of ankle. I adore the details in this scene: The rakes ready to take their visual fill of the unfortunate situation, while elegant ladies tumble haplessly, limbs akimbo and tender parts exposed. Interestingly, the ladies are wearing stockings but not much more beneath those gauzy muslins. Rowlandson proves Margaret C. Sullivan right and I am happy for it.

(Thomas Rowlandson, The Exhibition Stare Case (c. 1811, hand-colored etching; etching may be by Rowlandson, although the coloring is not).

The Romantic Cosmopolitanism: The 12th Annual NASSR Conference: "Eyes on the Metropole: Seeing London and Beyond", By Sharon M. Twigg and Theresa M. Kelley