The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1806 was an art exhibition held at Somerset House in London between 5 May and 21 June 1806. It was the thirty eighth annual Summer Exhibition staged by the Royal Academy of Arts.
It was staged at a turbulent time for the organisation. The previous President of the Royal Academy, the American painter Benjamin West had been outsted and replaced by the architect James Wyatt. West staged his own exhibition featuring the large The Death of Nelson depicting the Battle of Trafalgar which drew over thirty thousand spectators including George III who missed the opening of the academy's exhibition. West would return to the Royal Academy as president later the same year. 1806 also marked the first year of the rival British Institution which held its own exhibition of in Pall Mall at the same time.
The academy's submissions including portrait paintings from Thomas Lawrence who emerged as the leading portraitist of the Regency era. Amongst his works was a painting feature the mistress and son of the Marquess of Abercorn. John Hoppner displayed a picture of the Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger.
The French artist Philip James de Loutherbourg exhibited his landscape paintings The Evening Coach and The River Wye at Tintern Abbey. The young Scottish artist enjoyed his breakthrough with the genre painting The Village Politicians.
<Gallery Mode="packed" Heights="200"> File:Portrait of Joseph Banks (Lawrence).png|Portrait of Joseph Banks by Thomas Lawrence File:Lord-ellenborough.jpg|Portrait of Lord Ellenborough by Thomas Lawrence File:Portrait of William Baker (1743âÂÂ1824) (by Sir Thomas Lawrence).jpg|Portrait of William Baker by Thomas Lawrence File:Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) - Maria Woodley (1772âÂÂ1808), Mrs Walter Riddell - 1257069 - National Trust.jpg|Portrait of Maria Riddell by Thomas Lawrence File:OlderPittThe Younger.jpg|Portrait of William Pitt by John Hoppner File:John Hookham Frere, by John Hoppner 10993444.jpg|Portrait of John Hookham Frere by John Hoppner File:Portrait of the 6th Duke of Devonshire (Archer Shee).png| Portrait of the Marquess of Hartington by Martin Archer Shee File:The Village Politicians (Wilkie).jpg|The Village Politicians by David Wilkie File:An Old Cottage, St Albans.png|An Old Cottage, St Albans by William Mulready File:Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg - The Evening Coach, London in the Distance - Google Art Project.jpg|The Evening Coach by Philip James de Loutherbourg File:Philip James de Loutherbourg (1740-1812) - The River Wye at Tintern Abbey - PD.46-1958 - Fitzwilliam Museum.jpg|The River Wye at Tintern Abbey by Philip James de Loutherbourg File:Sir George Howland Beaumont - Peele Castle in a Storm.jpg|Peele Castle in a Storm by George Beaumont File:Joseph Mallord William Turner - Fall of the Rhine at Schaffhausen - 13.2723 - Museum of Fine Arts.jpg|Fall of the Rhine at Schaffhausen by J.M.W. Turner File:Milton Dictating to His Daughter, 1794, Henry Fuseli - Art Institute of Chicago - DSC09513.JPG|Milton Dictating to His Daughter by Henry Fuseli File:Sleeping Nymph and Cupid Hoppner.jpg|Sleeping Nymph and Cupid by John Hoppner </gallery>