Royal Academy of Arts: 250th Anniversary

Lord Tyler Excerpts

Wednesday 12th December 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Tyler (LD)]

My Lords, I express my warmest congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, not just on the superb timing of this debate but on the way in which he introduced this interesting discussion this evening. To avoid repetition of much more erudite and artistically skilled contributors, as an amateur historian I will concentrate on the history—not least because my great-great-great-grandfather was Sir William Chambers. So I want to look at how the Royal Academy came into being. As Members of your Lordships’ House may like to be reminded, Chambers was appointed architectural tutor to the then Prince of Wales in August 1757. The prince became an accomplished architectural draughtsman himself—but, more significantly for this debate, he also became a lifelong admirer and sponsor of his erstwhile tutor.

After 1760, when George ascended to the throne, Chambers enjoyed increasing royal patronage, and the commissions of many of those he encountered at court. As a result his work was wide-ranging, from the design of the state coach for the coronation to the pagoda in Kew Gardens—and of course Somerset House itself. Despite some previous controversy over the abortive “Incorporated Society”, which left the King very dubious about any connection with a new society of artists, Chambers used his special access and influence with him to good effect in November 1768.

The part that Chambers played in those speedy events was acknowledged in the minutes of the general assembly of the Royal Academy that December, as follows:

“That some time towards the latter End of November 1768, Mr Chambers waited upon the King and informed him that many artists of reputation together with himself were very desirous of establishing a Society that should more effectually promote the Arts of Design than any yet established, but that they were sensible their Designs could not be carried into Execution without his majesty’s Patronage, for which they had prevailed upon him to solicit”.


A later minute thanked Chambers,

“for his Active and able Conduct in planning and forming the Royal Academy”.

By 7 December 1768 Chambers was able to take the Instrument of Foundation to the King for his signature and, as we have heard, on 14 December, in Dalton’s Warehouse in Pall Mall, the new Royal Academy held its first meeting and Joshua Reynolds was elected president. Significantly, Chambers was insistent that a painter should be president—although the King had entertained a prejudice against Reynolds—and himself opted to accept the post of treasurer.

Indeed, Chambers drafted the Instrument of Foundation to give the King the prerogative to appoint the treasurer, so that,

“he may have a person in whom he places full confidence, in an office where his interests is concerned”.

A contemporary noted that Reynolds had told him,

“that though he was President, Sir Wm was Viceroy over him”.

In short, it can safely be suggested that Chambers ensured that the new Academy was able to boast the title “Royal” from the very outset. That would also seem to be the conclusion of John Harris, the prime authority on Chambers, with whom I had the great pleasure of working during my time at the RIBA. I am hugely indebted to his scholarship for much of what I know of Chambers and his role in this saga.

As one of the founding fathers of the RA, Chambers can share credit for its initial open attitude to new members. As the excellent Library briefing that we have received for this debate reminds us, of the 36 founding members, four were Italian, one French, one Swiss and one American.

Even more significantly, there were two women founder members. I was especially interested in an item on “Woman’s Hour” last week about those two—Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser. The programme gave a fascinating description of some of the work of Kauffman, but the contributors admitted that Moser had not had enough attention—so I am going to remedy that just a little.

When we can escape from more contemporary absurdities, my daughter and I are currently examining some of our distinguished ancestor’s personal correspondence in the wonderful archives of the Royal Academy. Some of it we donated ourselves, but the archivist, Mark Pomeroy, and his magnificent team have also made available a great deal more.

Among the former is a delightful letter from Chambers to his favourite daughter Charlotte—our ancestor—written when Mary Moser was staying with the family in the summer of August 1784, in which he reported that Mary had been,

“swimming about ever since you left us til within these four days that she has taken with a strong fit of painting, of which the symptoms set all the family in an uproar; Lindgren flew into long Acre for oils and paints; Thomas to St Giles for pallets and brushes; T to Twickenham for straining frame; Miss Moser, George and the buggy, to Richmond in quest of an ivory knife; My Lady & Lavinia in the Coach to Brentford, in search of blew black; but alas no blew black to be found, and soot supplyd its place. The next difficulty was to find a proper painting room, when fortunately for the furniture of the house, the dark garret which holds the smoked bacon was declared to be the finest light in the world for painting. Miss Moser instantly took possession, converted an Old bed-stead into an easle to paint on, and has remained there ever since hard at work in the midst of Poppys, roses, Carnations, myrtle etc. She does not even come down to dinner, but abstains from everything but stewed pruens all the while she paints”.

Mary Moser was clearly a talented artist but also quite a character and I hope that someone will write something more about her contribution to the early days of the Royal Academy.

I do not know whether Chambers was responsible for nominating her, and perhaps Kauffman as well. However, both came from famous artistic families. What I find most fascinating about their founding membership was that there were no other women members, according to the brief from the Library, for 168 years. So Chambers and his colleagues in the age of enlightenment were a great deal more open minded than their Victorian successors. One up to Chambers and his colleagues.

As a footnote to the question of his connection with the King and the Royal Household, I offer one other scrap of evidence from some of the correspondence that I and my family could not quite bring ourselves to leave with the RA. Sir William wrote to his son-in-law, Captain Charles Haward of the 3rd Foot Guards, as follows:

“Dear Capt


Having had occasion to use the Water Closet after you had been there I found that you spoilt it by throwing down such large pieces of paper as will not pass by and by not knowing how to manage it”—


I shall discreetly omit the full details and the elaborate instructions that follow, but the bit at the end is important. It states that,

“if you should find any difficulty in performing the above manoeuvre, I will send for the King’s Sergeant Plumber to be present at two or three operations”.

If any doubts remain in the minds of your Lordships, surely this is abundant evidence of Sir William’s influence in royal circles and his key role in establishing the Royal Academy in such a prestigious position in our national life from its very birth.

I am sad that the noble Lord, Lord Ashton of Hyde, is not able to be with us—I am sure we all send our best wishes to him and his daughter—but it is a happy accident that the noble Earl is with us, because he has been a member of the Royal Household in his official technical title since 2015. I think that he will be able to confirm that being in that particular connection is important, as it clearly was in 1768.

Finally, as perhaps befits this particular evening, I turn to the issue of leadership—of the Royal Academy, of course: nothing else. The Library briefing illustrates so well the effective leadership, partnership, between Chambers and Reynolds at the outset of the foundation of this remarkable institution. Whether they were already close friends, I do not know; it is not terribly apparent. Reynolds painted Chambers’ portrait—it is there in the Library brief—and a very good portrait it is; I wish I owned it. In addition to that, Chambers designed a home for Reynolds. The important point is that they worked so well together.

As has already been said, there are two remarkable individuals at the moment, working in a real partnership, who have carried the Royal Academy through its 250th year with huge success—not by any means sitting back on its laurels but looking firmly to the future. The president and the secretary should be congratulated on the positive path they are charting for the immediate future. This, again, is brilliantly set out in the documents from the Library.

As a regular visitor to Burlington House and now to Burlington Gardens—I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Luce, about the success of that architectural combination—I am enormously appreciative of what that amazing organisation has provided for the nation. The Royal Academy is not satisfied by what has happened before—it is not resting on its laurels, even for this anniversary—and is obviously determined to detain its leadership role in the culture of our country. I am sure that all your Lordships wish the Academy a very happy birthday and very best wishes for the future.