The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1778 was an art exhibition held in London from 24 April to 30 May 1778. It was the tenth annual Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts and was staged Pall Mall. It featured submissions from leading painters, sculptors and architects of the period. It was generally deemed a success, attracting a number of artists who had previously exhibited at the rival Society of Artists including George Stubbs, John Hamilton Mortimer, Joseph Wright of Derby and Francis Wheatley. It took place against the backdrop of the American War of Independence taking place a few months after the Treaty of Alliance was signed that led to French's entry into the war against Britain later in the year.
One of the most celebrated works was the American artist John Singleton Copley's Watson and the Shark which depicted an incident that took place in Havana in which Brook Watson was attacked by a shark. He also displayed a group portrait of the American loyalist William Pepperrell and his family. Watson and the Shark was a public success and marked Singleton Copley's breakthrough. He was elected to full membership of the Academy the following year. His fellow American Benjamin West displayed a history painting featuring a scene from the historian John Leland's Itinerary. The painting, now destroyed, was commissioned by the Duke of Rutland who claimed descent from William De Albanac and chose to illustrate a probably apocryphal scene in which he presented his three daughters naked to the King of Mercia for him to choose one as his wife. West also submitted a dual portrait of George, Princes of Wales and his younger brother Frederick, later Duke of York.
The Exhibition continued the ongoing rivalry between the President of the Royal Academy Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. Gainsborough displayed two landscape paintings and eleven portraits. These included Portrait of James Christie, featuring the well-known auctioneer and Portrait of Philip James de Loutherbourg which depicted the French-born painter and set designer. He also displayed the Portrait of the Countess of Chesterfield as well as a companion piece featuring her husband. Reynolds sent in fewer submissions but attracted particular attention for the large group portrait The Marlborough Family produced for Blenheim Palace. John Hamilton Mortimer won praise for his painting of Sir Arthegal from Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene.
<Gallery Mode="packed" Heights="200"> File:Thomas Gainsborough (English - Portrait of James Christie (1730 - 1803) - Google Art Project.jpg|Portrait of James Christie by Thomas Gainsborough File:Gainsborough, Thomas - Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg - Google Art Project.jpg|Portrait of Philip James de Loutherbourg by Thomas Gainsborough File:Gainsborough - Grace Dalrymple Elliott.jpg|Portrait of Grace Elliott by Thomas Gainsborough File:Thomas Gainsborough (English - Portrait of Anne, Countess of Chesterfield - Google Art Project.jpg|Portrait of Anne, Countess of Chesterfield by Thomas Gainsborough File:Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl of Chesterfield (1755-1815) by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788).jpg|Portrait of the Earl of Chesterfield by Thomas Gainsborough File:Reynolds - 4th Duke of Marlborough and Family.jpg|The Marlborough Family by Joshua Reynolds File:John Campbell 1st Lord Cawdor.jpg|Portrait of John Campbell by Joshua Reynolds File:William Markham (Joshua Reynolds).png|Portrait of William Markham by Joshua Reynolds File:Loutherbourg paysage clair lune mba mb.jpg|Moonlight by Philip James de Loutherbourg File:John Hamilton Mortimer - Sir Arthegal, the Knight of Justice, with Talus, the Iron Man (from Spenser's `Faerie Queene') - Google Art Project.jpg|Sir Arthegal, the Knight of Justice, with Talus, the Iron Man by John Hamilton Mortimer File:Sir William Pepperrell and his Family.jpg|The Pepperrell Family by John Singleton Copley File:Alfred the Third, King of Mercia, visiting William d'Albanac (Michel, after West).jpeg|Alfred the Third, King of Mercia, visiting William d'Albanac an engraving by Jean-Baptiste Michel after the original painting by Benjamin West File:Benjamin West - Portrait of George, Prince of Wales, and Prince Frederick, later Duke of York - WGA25554.jpg|Portrait of the Prince of Wales and Prince Frederick by Benjamin West File:Henry Walton (1746-1813) - A Girl Buying a Ballad - T07594 - Tate.jpg|A Girl Buying a Ballad by Henry Walton File:View of Bath (Garvey).jpg|View of Bath by Edmund Garvey File:Richard Wilson (1713-1714-1782) - View in Windsor Great Park - NMW A 71 - National Museum Cardiff.jpg|View in Windsor Great Park by Richard Wilson File:William Hodges (1744-1797) - Ludlow Castle, Shropshire - 43-1880 - Victoria and Albert Museum.jpg|Ludlow Castle, Shropshire by William Hodges File:A View of the Island of New Caledonia in the South.jpg|A View of the Island of New Caledonia in the South by William Hodges File:Joseph Wright The Captive 1775 7.jpg|The Captive by Joseph Wright of Derby File:Joseph Wright of Derby - Grotto by the Seaside in the Kingdom of Naples with Banditti, Sunset - Google Art Project.jpg|Grotto by the Seaside in the Kingdom of Naples with Banditti, Sunset by Joseph Wright of Derby File:Joseph Wright (of Derby) - The Annual Girandola at the Castel SantâÂÂAngelo, Rome - Google Art Project.jpg|The Annual Girandola at the Castel SantâÂÂAngelo by Joseph Wright of Derby File:Woman Playing a Harp.jpg|Woman Playing a Harp by Angelica Kauffman </gallery>