The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1852 was the eighty forth annual Summer Exhibition of the British Royal Academy of Arts. It was held at the National Gallery in London from 3 May to 24 July 1852 during the Victorian era.
It was the first exhibition to be held since the death of J.M.W. Turner, which was noted in several reviews. To some extent 1852 marked a changing of the guard, with the deaths of Turner and William Etty and the absence of established figures such as the President of the Royal Academy Charles Lock Eastlake and Edwin Landseer openining the way for younger painters, although the prominent Irish artist Daniel Maclise exhibited a large history painting featuring Alfred the Great. This led to the growing prominence of artists associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais and Ford Madox Brown, several of whose paintings had been painted outdoors in a major departure from standard practice.
Holman Hunt produced The Hireling Shepherd while Millais enjoyed success with Ophelia and A Huguenot while Madox Brown The Pretty Baa-Lambs/ Millais also submitted a portrait of Emily Augusta Patmore. Other portraits on display included Francis Grant's Portrait of the Young Disraeli.
<Gallery Mode="packed" Heights="200"> File:Huguenot lovers on St. Bartholomew's Day.jpg|A Huguenot by John Everett Millais File:William Holman Hunt - The Hireling Shepherd.jpg|The Hireling Shepherd by William Holman Hunt File:Ford Madox Brown - Pretty Baa-Lambs - Google Art Project.jpg|The Pretty Baa-Lambs by Ford Madox Brown File:Franz Xaver Winterhalter Florinda.jpg|Florinda by Franz Xaver Winterhalter File:Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (1793-1867) - The Harbour of La Rochelle - WAG 2654 - Walker Art Gallery.jpg|The Harbour of La Rochelle by Clarkson Stanfield File:Antwerp, 1852.png|Antwerp by David Roberts File:David Roberts (1796-1864) - Interior of the Cathedral of St Stephen, Vienna - 1937P742 - Birmingham Museums Trust.jpg|Cathedral of St Stephen, Vienna by David Roberts File:William Frith - Pope Makes Love To Lady Mary Wortley Montagu - Google Art Project.jpg|Pope Makes Love To Lady Mary Wortley Montagu by William Powell Frith File:Alfred Elmore (1815-1881) - The Novice - 0058-1901 - Bury Art Museum.jpg|The Novice by Alfred Elmore File:Alfred Vickers (1786-1868) - In the Vale of Neath - OP52 - Wolverhampton Art Gallery.jpg|In the Vale of Neath by Alfred Vickers File:William Mulready (1786-1863) - Blackheath Park - FA.137(O) - Victoria and Albert Museum.jpg|Blackheath Park by William Mulready File:Charles Allston Collins (1828-1873) - May, in the Regent's Park - T03025 - Tate.jpg|May, in the Regent's Park by Charles Allston Collins File:Edward William Cooke Venezia 1851.jpg|Venice by Edward William Cooke File:Frederic Leighton (1830-1896) - The Death of Brunelleschi - LH0373 - Leighton House.jpg|The Death of Brunelleschi by Frederic Leighton File:Daniel Maclise (1806-1870) - Alfred the Saxon King, Disguised as a Minstrel, in the Tent of Guthrum the Dane - TWCMS , B8138 - Laing Art Gallery.jpg|Alfred the Saxon King, Disguised as a Minstrel, in the Tent of Guthrum the Dane by Daniel Maclise File:George Jones (1786-1869) - The Battle of Meeanee, 17 February 1843 - 1640.96 - Cheshire Military Museum.jpg|The Battle of Meeanee by George Jones File:John Martin - Sodom and Gomorrah.jpg|The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by John Martin File:George Bernard O'Neill (1828-1917) - The Foundling - N00618 - National Gallery.jpg|The Foundling by George Bernard O'Neill File:John Callcott Horsley (1817-1903) - A Madrigal - 0073-1901 - Bury Art Museum.jpg|A Madrigal by John Callcott Horsley File:Thomas George Webster (1800-1886) - A Letter from the Colonies - T00046 - Tate.jpg|A Letter from the Colonies by Thomas Webster File:Thomas Falcon Marshall - Emigration - the parting day "Good Heaven! what sorrows gloom'd that parting day etc" Goldsmith - Google Art Project.jpg|Emigration by Thomas Falcon Marshall File:Robert Braithwaite Martineau (1826-1869) - Kit's Writing Lesson - T00011 - Tate.jpg|Kit's Writing Lesson by Robert Braithwaite Martineau File:Charles Robert Leslie (1794-1859) (attributed to) - A Lady Contemplating Suicide (Juliet from William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', Act IV, sc. 3) - 485172 - National Trust.jpg|Juliet by Charles Robert Leslie File:Francis Grant (1803-1878) - Benjamin Disraeli (1804âÂÂ1881), Earl of Beaconsfield, PC, FRS, KG, as a Young Man - 428984 - National Trust.jpg|Portrait of Benjamin Disraeli by Francis Grant File:Sir francis grant pra portrait of louisa madeleine keith-falconer2024 CKS 22681 0043 000(121443).jpg|Portrait of Countess Kintore by Francis Grant File:John Everett Millais (1829-1896) - Mrs Coventry Patmore - 1010 - Fitzwilliam Museum.jpg|Portrait of Emily Augusta Patmore by John Everett Millais File:John Bird Sumner by Margaret Sarah Carpenter (née Geddes).jpg|Portrait of John Bird Sumner by Margaret Sarah Carpenter File:John Prescott Knight (1803-1881) - Henry Philpotts (1778âÂÂ1869), Fellow (1795âÂÂ1828), Bishop of Exeter (1831âÂÂ1869) - P0239 - Magdalen College.jpg|Portrait of Henry Philpotts by John Prescott Knight File:John Prescott Knight (1803-1881) - Sir John Musgrave, Bt, Lord Mayor of London (1851) - 257 - Guildhall Art Gallery.jpg|Portrait of John Musgrave by John Prescott Knight File:William Hopkins (Pickersgill).jpg|Portrait of William Hopkins by Henry William Pickersgill File:George Patten (1801-1865) - William Benjamin Watkins - THP030001 - Manchester Town Hall.jpg|Portrait of William Benjamin Watkins by George Patten </gallery>