Art The plan of an academy for the better cultivation, improvement and encouragement of painting, sculpture, architecture, and the arts of design in general London 1755
[Art.] The plan of an academy for the better cultivation, improvement and encouragement of painting, sculpture, architecture, and the arts of design in general. The abstract of a royal charter as propos'd for establishing the same; and a short introduction. London: printed in the year, 1755. xv pp. 4to, disbound. First edition. One of many schemes proposed at this period to form a society whose purpose would be the advancement of the fine arts. At the end is a list of 26 members of the committee formed to promote this plan, headed by Francis Hayman as chairman. Also included is Joshua Reynolds, who had first arrived in London in 1752, and had achieved immediate success. The presence of Reynolds' name was not inevitable. "He does not seem to have greatly cultivated the private society of his professional brethren. There was little sympathy between Hogarth and Reynolds, either in character or in opinions upon art, and neither of these two great artists had a right appreciation of the other's powers. Nor did Reynolds fraternise with Wilson, nor with Gainsborough, though this was not his fault. There are, however, records of visits to the Artists' Club at Slaughter's coffee-house, and he was much concerned in the promotion of those schemes for the establishment of an academy of arts which preceded the foundation of the Royal Academy. He is thought by Charles Robert Leslie to have composed the paper in which one such scheme was laid before the Dilettanti Society in 1755." -- DNB. If Leslie's surmise is correct, this plan represents one of Reynolds' first appearances in print. In any event, the foundation of the Royal Academy did not take place until 1768. A very good copy of a very scarce pamphlet. The ESTC (08/06) lists ten locations (L, MRu, O; C-S, CaOHM, CtY, CSmH, ICU, MH-H, NNMM).
£1500
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