Lost Society of Artists charter found

November 8 2015

Image of Lost Society of Artists charter found

Picture: Burlington

Staff at the Royal Academy have discovered, whilst clearing out some vaults, the long lost charter for the Society of Artists (the first such society in London, which preceded the Royal Academy). Charles Saumarez Smith, in Apollo, reveals that the names of those who left the Society to establish the grander Royal Academy in 1768, such as Reynolds and Gainsborough, were pointedly crossed out. 

Update - more photos here on Charles' excellent blog.

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