DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66024#0087
THE ROYAL ACADEMY 41
This was the year in which it had been suggested to the Royal Academicians
that they should decorate St. Paul’s Cathedral, and certain plans and
designs were prepared for this work, but it was not carried out. Angelica
was one of the persons who offered to take part in it, in conjunction with
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Nathaniel Dance, Barry and Cipriani, but the scheme
came to nothing, although the artists were all officially selected by the Academy.
It was defeated by the veto of Richard Terrick, then Bishop of London, a
man whose ignorance of art was colossal.
It was at this time also that many artists, including Angelica, with
Reynolds, West, Cipriani, Dance, Mortimer, Barry, Wright, Romney and
Penny, were invited to decorate the Great Room of the Society of Arts when
it moved to its new home in the Adelphi. It is almost startling to notice
that in this list of artists who were invited, Angelica’s name was put first.
She and the first seven artists mentioned were to paint History; Romney and
Penny were to paint Allegory. All of them, including Barry, declined the
proposals, although the latter appears to have been distinctly disappointed,
because in March 1777, three years after the rejection of the project,
Barry offered to carry out the decoration himself, and his proposal was
accepted.1
A long series of works by our artist appeared at the Academies of 1774 and
1775. In 1774 there were five classical subjects and two portraits : “ Calypso
calling heaven and earth to witness her sincere affection to Ulysses, though
she assents to his departure “ Penelope invoking Minerva’s aid for the safe
return of Telemachus ” (Odyssey, Book 4); “ Cupid finding Aglaia asleep,
binds her to a Laurel”; “Ariadne abandoned by Theseus”; and “Paris
and Helen directing Cupid to inflame each other’s hearts with love.” The
two portraits were both of ladies, one declared as a three-quarter length and
the other as a small whole length. On the classical picture Horace Walpole
makes the comment, “ Higher coloured than usual.”
The list of those sent in 1775 is still longer. There is a picture of Sappho,
another of the despair of Achilles on being informed by Antilochus of the
death of Patroclus, which Walpole described as being “ in a good style,” and
in another place as “ very good ”; “ Rinaldo and Armida ” (Tasso, Canto 20);
“ Andromache fainting at the unexpected sight of /Eneas on his arrival in
Epirus ” (Virgil, Book 3); “ The Return of Telemachus ” (Odyssey, Book 17),
against which Walpole has written “ Very ill,” and a Cupid. There are also
two sacred pictures, the Madonna and Child, and a Saint John; and three
portraits, a gentleman, kitcat, a small whole length of a lady in a Turkish
dress, and a kitcat portrait of an artist.
It is said that there was a sensation amongst the Academicians because
so very many pictures were sent in by one painter, and that at first four
or five of them were not hung. Angelica herself was not very particular
concerning the smaller ones, but her father seems to have been distressed on
1 See History of Royal Society of Arts. H. T. Wood, pp. 70-71.
This was the year in which it had been suggested to the Royal Academicians
that they should decorate St. Paul’s Cathedral, and certain plans and
designs were prepared for this work, but it was not carried out. Angelica
was one of the persons who offered to take part in it, in conjunction with
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Nathaniel Dance, Barry and Cipriani, but the scheme
came to nothing, although the artists were all officially selected by the Academy.
It was defeated by the veto of Richard Terrick, then Bishop of London, a
man whose ignorance of art was colossal.
It was at this time also that many artists, including Angelica, with
Reynolds, West, Cipriani, Dance, Mortimer, Barry, Wright, Romney and
Penny, were invited to decorate the Great Room of the Society of Arts when
it moved to its new home in the Adelphi. It is almost startling to notice
that in this list of artists who were invited, Angelica’s name was put first.
She and the first seven artists mentioned were to paint History; Romney and
Penny were to paint Allegory. All of them, including Barry, declined the
proposals, although the latter appears to have been distinctly disappointed,
because in March 1777, three years after the rejection of the project,
Barry offered to carry out the decoration himself, and his proposal was
accepted.1
A long series of works by our artist appeared at the Academies of 1774 and
1775. In 1774 there were five classical subjects and two portraits : “ Calypso
calling heaven and earth to witness her sincere affection to Ulysses, though
she assents to his departure “ Penelope invoking Minerva’s aid for the safe
return of Telemachus ” (Odyssey, Book 4); “ Cupid finding Aglaia asleep,
binds her to a Laurel”; “Ariadne abandoned by Theseus”; and “Paris
and Helen directing Cupid to inflame each other’s hearts with love.” The
two portraits were both of ladies, one declared as a three-quarter length and
the other as a small whole length. On the classical picture Horace Walpole
makes the comment, “ Higher coloured than usual.”
The list of those sent in 1775 is still longer. There is a picture of Sappho,
another of the despair of Achilles on being informed by Antilochus of the
death of Patroclus, which Walpole described as being “ in a good style,” and
in another place as “ very good ”; “ Rinaldo and Armida ” (Tasso, Canto 20);
“ Andromache fainting at the unexpected sight of /Eneas on his arrival in
Epirus ” (Virgil, Book 3); “ The Return of Telemachus ” (Odyssey, Book 17),
against which Walpole has written “ Very ill,” and a Cupid. There are also
two sacred pictures, the Madonna and Child, and a Saint John; and three
portraits, a gentleman, kitcat, a small whole length of a lady in a Turkish
dress, and a kitcat portrait of an artist.
It is said that there was a sensation amongst the Academicians because
so very many pictures were sent in by one painter, and that at first four
or five of them were not hung. Angelica herself was not very particular
concerning the smaller ones, but her father seems to have been distressed on
1 See History of Royal Society of Arts. H. T. Wood, pp. 70-71.