It should be observed, that this fociety owed much of its origin to the fpirited exertions of Mr. Wm. Shipley, brother of Dr. Jonathan Shipley, late Bishop of St. Afaph. That gentleman, who had been educated in art, established a drawing school, upon a more enlarged plan than had before been attempted in this country. This fchool foon rofe into reputation, and many young men were fent thither from diftant parts of the kingdom; and as thefe youths were inftructed in a manner well adapted to the cultivation of art, feveral of them were afterwards taken by able artifts, as pupils and affiftants, fome of whom have fince rifen to confiderable rank in their different profeffions. This fchool, and the fociety, may be confidered as having at their commencement a kind of connexion, for they were for fome time both held under one roof; and the first premium conferred by the Society for the Encouragement of Art, was given to Mr. Richard Cofway, at that time a scholar in Mr. Shipley's fchool, who has by no means difgraced the honourable diftin&tion which he then received.

The exertions of the fociety, which were fo laudably directed towards ftimulating the talents of the rifing generation, received very effential aid from the liberality of an individual nobleman of high rank.

* In the year 1758, the fociety gave their gold medal to Mr. Shipley, with the following compliment, " For his public fpirit, which gave rife to the fociety." This gentleman is faid to have been a pupil of a perfon of the name of Philips, who painted portraits, and refided in Great Queen-ftreet, Lincoln's Inn Fields. There is a mezzotinto print by Faber, of a boy blowing a firebrand, marked with the name of Shipley as the painter. He afterwards retired to Maidstone in Kent, where he married and fettled. He died in 1804, above ninety years of age, juft fifty years after the establishment of the inftitution, of which he might juftly be confidered as the principal promoter.

This

This was the Duke of Richmond, who, foon after his return from his travels, opened an admirable fchool for the ftudy of painting and fculpture, at his own houfe, in Privy Garden, Whitehall. It confifted of a gallery or great room, fitted up with every conveniency requifite for the accommodation of ftudents, and furnished with a number of geffes, or cafts in plafter of Paris, moulded from the moft felect antique and modern figures at that time at Rome and Florence. To this elegant fchool, the young artifts were invited by a public advertisement.

In confequence of this invitation, feveral young artifts of that time attended the room;* and although his Grace did not exactly fulfil the expectations of Mr. Cipriani and Mr. Wilton, yet the ftudents were permitted to draw there for feveral years; and it was in this fchool, that thofe young men acquired a purer tafte in the knowledge of the human form, than had before been cultivated by the artifts in England; which improvement was greatly owing to the precepts of Mr. Cipriani and Mr. Wilton, who for several months attended, although in

The following is a copy of the certificate by which the ftudents were admitted to the gallery:

"This is to certify, that the bearer, E. E. is above twelve years of age; that he is recommended by Mr. Wilton, as a fober, diligent perfon, who is defirous of drawing from the geffes, and has promised to obferve the rules of the room. to be admitted.

He is therefore

To the Porter of the Statue Room

at Richmond House."

"Jos. WILTON."

the

the conclufion, their labour was not productive of any perfonal emolument.

The following is a Lift of the Figures in the Gallery,

2. Apollo de Medicis.

s. Petus et Aria.

4. Gladiator Pugnans.

5. Gladiator Moriens.

6. Meleager of the Capitol.

*7. Bacchus of Michael Angelo. 8. Antinous Capitolinus.

9. Sufanna of Fiamingo.

10. Mercurius.

11. Cupid et Pfyche.

12. Idol.

13. Bacchus of Sanfovino.

14. Venus de Medicis.

15. Venus extracting a thorn from her foot.

22. Camillus.

23. Ganymede of Benevenuto Cellini.

Group, of Sampfon and Philiftines, by J. de Bologna.
Small ditto of Hercules and Antæus, in terra cotta, ditto.

HEADS.

Alexander, Seneca, Ariadne, Juno; the heads from the large group of the Rape of the Sabines, by J. de Bologna, which is at Florence.

BASSO RELIEVOS..

Rape of the Sabines.

Nova Nupta.

Triumph of Ariadne, from Lorenzo Guiberti.

To these were added a great number of cafts from the Trajan Column, and other works of art.

Happily, this valuable collection, the firft of the kind in England, was not injured when his Grace's house was burnt, Dec. 21, 1791.

That this gallery was of the highest advantage to those who attended it, will eafily be conceived, when it is known, that it was the first school opened in this country, where the beauties of the antique could be ftudied. Yet, in spite of all the advantages to be derived from it, in a few years it became almost unknown, (and the foundation of the Royal Academy rendered it useless) although the Chartered Society of Artists, being unwilling to receive favours from the Academicians, folicited and obtained

his

his Grace's permiffion to conduct the fchool for the advantage of their own pupils: but their attention was of fhort duration, and the place is now funk almoft into total oblivion, except with a few artifts who purfued their ftudies in it with the Author of the following Memoirs, who is proud of this opportunity of acknowledging that he there acquired the elements of all the little knowledge which he poffeffes in art.

In tracing the encouragement which the arts received by the public fpirited and patriotic liberality of feveral individuals, it should not be forgotten, that the artists themselves contributed greatly to the advancement and cultivation of their profeffion; and it may with truth be affirmed, that the prefent Royal Academy in a great measure owes its origin to the exertions of thofe artifts who flourished at the commencement

of the laft century. But to trace this inftitution in its regular advancement, from its infantine state to its prefent maturity, it will be neceffary to refer back to a period prior to the establishment of any of the former focieties.

Origin and Foundation of the ROYAL ACADEMY.

AS it is impoffible to acquire any excellence in painting or fculpture without a thorough knowledge of the human form, it has always been found neceffary for artists to apply themselves to the examination and imitation of fome living model, selected for the purpose of defign. But although this study had been long publicly cultivated and encouraged in Italy and France, by national schools or academies, yet in England, during the fame period, fuch feminaries were unknown; and it is therefore exd2 tremely