The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1853 was the eighty fifth annual Summer Exhibition of the British Royal Academy of Arts. It was held at the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square in London between 2 May and 23 July 1853.
The exhibition further cemented the presence of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood as a major force in British art. William Holman Hunt's Our English Coasts, depicting a group of sheep on a clifftop, had taken him six months painting En plein air to complete. He also displayed Claudio and Isabella, inspired by William Shakespeare's play Measure for Measure. Meanwhile John Everett Millais presented two history paintings The Proscribed Royalist, inspired by the War of the Three Kingdoms as The Order of Release, featuring a scene from the aftermath of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion.
Amongst veteran artists who has established their reputations in the pre-Victorian era Edwin Landseer submitted several works. Clarkson Stanfield exhibited his maritime painting The Victory Towed into Gibraltar set during the Napoleonic Wars. The Scottish artist David Roberts's The Inauguration of the Great Exhibition commemorated Queen Victoria's opening of the Crystal Palace two years earlier. Several paintings commemorated the Duke of Wellington who had died the previous year, while Stephen Pearce painted The Arctic Council Planning a Search for Sir John Franklin.
<Gallery Mode="packed" Heights="200"> File:William Holman Hunt - Claudio and Isabella - Google Art Project.jpg|Claudio and Isabella by William Holman Hunt File:Millais Royalist.jpg|The Proscribed Royalist, 1651 by John Everett Millais File:Millais Order of Release.jpg|The Order of Release, 1746 by John Everett Millais File:Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (1793-1867) - The 'Victory' Towed into Gibraltar - 734 - Guildhall Art Gallery.jpg|The Victory Towed into Gibraltar by Clarkson Stanfield File:David Roberts (1796-1864) - Interior of the Cathedral of St Stephen, Vienna - 1937P742 - Birmingham Museums Trust.jpg|Interior or the Cathedral or St Stephen, Vienna by David Roberts File:David Roberts (1796-1864) - The Inauguration of the Great Exhibition, 1 May 1851 - RCIN 407143 - Royal Collection.jpg|The Inauguration of the Great Exhibition by David Roberts File:David Roberts (1796-1864) - The Doge's Palace, Venice, from the Bacino di San Marco - PD.18-1997 - Fitzwilliam Museum.jpg|Venice by David Roberts File:Edward William Cooke (1811-1880) - San Giorgio Maggiore and the Salute, Venice, with Fishing Craft of Chioggia and the Lagoon - 1230225 - National Trust.jpg|San Giorgio Maggiore and the Salute, Venice by Edward William Cooke File:Edward William Cooke The pier and bay of st. ives, cornwall.jpg|The Pier and Bay of St. Ives by Edward William Cooke File:Vinegia, Vinegia, chi non te vede, ei non te pregia.jpeg|Love's Labour's Lost by Edward William Cooke File:Edward Matthew Ward (1816-1879) - The Execution of the Marquis of Montrose - 1877-12 - Salford Museum and Art Gallery.jpg|The Execution of the Marquis of Montrose by Edward Matthew Ward File:Josephine Signing the Act of her Divorce.png|Josephine Signing the Act of Her Divorce by Edward Matthew Ward File:Barker, Wellington at Sorauren, c1853.jpg|Wellington at Sorauren by Thomas Jones Barker File:Night (Landseer).png|Night (Two Stags Battling by Moonlight) by Edwin Landseer File:Morning (Landseer).png|Morning by Edwin Landseer File:The Village Post Office.png|The Village Post Office by William Frederick Witherington File:William Dyce - The meeting of Jacob and Rachel.jpg|The Meeting of Jacob and Rachel by William Dyce File:Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865) - Boaz and Ruth - TWCMS , F9373 - Shipley Art Gallery.jpg|Boaz and Ruth by Charles Lock Eastlake File:The Lost Path (Redgrave).png|The Lost Path by Richard Redgrave File:Alfred Hichens Corbould (1821-74) - Caspar and Duck, the Prince of Wales's Pony, Dog, with Groom - RCIN 405030 - Royal Collection.jpg|Caspar and Duck by Alfred Hitchens Corbould File:Richard Ansdell (1815-1885) - The Sick Lamb - OP397 - Wolverhampton Art Gallery.jpg|The Sick Lamb by Richard Ansdell File:Sophia and Olivia (Faed).jpeg|Sophia and Olivia by Thomas Faed File:Arthur Gilbert - The rising moon.jpg|The Rising Moon by Arthur Gilbert File:Lady Jane Grey and Roger Ascham.png|Lady Jane Grey and Roger Ascham by John Callcott Horsley File:Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902) - Canterbury from Tonford - TWCMS , G10310 - Laing Art Gallery.jpg|Canterbury from Tonford by Thomas Sidney Cooper File:O'Neil Catherine's Dream.jpeg|Catherine's Dream by Henry Nelson O'Neil File:Philip Hermogenes Calderon (1833-1898) - By the Waters of Babylon - N03677 - National Gallery.jpg|By the Waters of Babylon by Philip Hermogenes Calderon File:Under the Hawthorn by John Linnell - John Linnell - ABDAG002316.jpg|Under the Hawthorn by John Linnell File:Thomas Danby - How Shepherds Lose Their Sheep Signed Oil on canvas, 92 x 152cm Also signed and inscribed with the artist's address ('43.jpg|How Shepherds Lose Their Sheep Signed by Thomas Danby File:Robert McInnes - 212cbdc089.jpg|Metastasio as a Child is Discovered by Gravina Singing by Robert McInnes File:Juliet and the Friar Grant.jpg|Juliet and the Friar by William James Grant File:La Perla de Triana - John Phillip - ABDAG004148.jpg|The Pearl of Triana by John Phillip File:James William Glass (1825-1855) - His Last Return from Duty - WM.1562-1948 - Apsley House.jpg|His Last Return from Duty by James William Glass File:Frederick Goodall (1822-1904) - An Episode in the Happier Days of Charles I - 0070-1901 - Bury Art Museum.jpg|An Episode in the Happier Days of Charles I by Frederick Goodall File:44 -Musée d'Art de Nantes - Ulysse et les sirènes - Victor Mottez - Joconde07430004040.jpg|The Sirens by Victor Mottez File:The Arctic Council planning a search for Sir John Franklin by Stephen Pearce.jpg|The Arctic Council Planning a Search for Sir John Franklin by Stephen Pearce File:William Penny by Stephen Pearce.jpg|William Penny by Stephen Pearce File:Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield by Stephen Pearce.jpg|Edward Augustus Inglefield by Stephen Pearce File:John Rae by Stephen Pearce.jpg|John Rae by Stephen Pearce File:John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell of St Andrews by Sir Francis Grant.jpg|Lord Campbell by Francis Grant File:William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland.jpg|Duke of Portland by Francis Grant File:The Marchioness of Londonderry in 1853.jpg|Marchioness of Londonderry by Francis Grant File:Claude Jacquand (1804-1878) - Eliza Horatia Frederica Seymour (1833âÂÂ1896), Viscountess Clifden, Later Lady Stirling - 851736 - National Trust.jpg|Eliza Seymour by Claude Jacquand File:John Prescott Knight (1803-1881) - George Dawson (1821âÂÂ1876) - 1935P146 - Birmingham Museums Trust.jpg|George Dawson by John Prescott Knight File:William Boxall (1800-1879) - Walter Savage Landor (1775âÂÂ1864) - F.3 - Victoria and Albert Museum.jpg|Walter Savage Landor by William Boxall File:Philip Westcott (1815-1878) - Sir John Bent (1793âÂÂ1857) - WAG 3083 - Walker Art Gallery.jpg|Sir John Bent by Philip Westcott File:Elkanah Armitage.jpg|Elkanah Armitage by George Patten File:George Patten (1801-1865) - George Wilson - THP006001 - Manchester Town Hall.jpg|George Wilson by George Patten File:Portrait of William Wills Hooper, Mayor of Exeter 1850-51 and 1851-52 - Richard Augustus Clack - 68 1923 1.jpg|William Wills Hooper by Richard Augustus Clack File:Edwin Williams (1822-1881^) - Lieutenant General Sir Charles Napier (1782âÂÂ1853), and his Arab Charger 'Red Rover' - NAM. 1969-12-16 - National Army Museum.jpg|Charles James Napier by Edwin Williams File:John Robert Dicksee Warren Stormes Hale.jpg|Warren Stormes Hale by John Robert Dicksee </gallery>