The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1857 was the eighty ninth annual Summer Exhibition of the British Royal Academy of Arts. It was held at the National Gallery in London between 4 May and 25 July 1857. It coincided with the large Manchester Art Treasures exhibition, while several major artists were too busy working on the redecoration of the rebuilt Houses of Parliament to produce paintings for the Royal Academy, although Daniel Maclise submitted Peter the Great at Deptford Dockyard.
The Pre-Raphaelite John Everett Millais exhibited three works including News from Home, a scene from the Crimean War. His imagined history painting Sir Isumbras at the Ford divided critical opinion with his former supporter John Ruskin describing it as a "catastrophe". David Roberts submitted several cityscapes including The Piazza Navona at Rome. Clarkson Stanfield's maritime and landscape paintings included views of Saint-Jean-de-Luz in France and the Giant's Causeway in Ireland as well as Calm, in the Gulf of Salerno. William Powell Frith was working on his epic The Derby Day and displayed two smaller works A London Flower Girl and Kate Nickleby at Madame Mantalini's, based on the novel Nicholas Nickleby by his friend Charles Dickens.
Emily Mary Osborn attracted interest for her genre painting Nameless and Friendless showing a struggling young female artist trying to sell her work. The American artist Jasper Francis Cropsey, part of the Hudson River School, displayed An Indian Summer Morning in the White Mountains. In portraiture, Margaret Sarah Carpenter's Portrait of John Gibson featured the well-known sculptor. The future President of the Royal Academy Francis Grant sent in Portrait of Daisy Grant depicted his daughter against a snow-covered background.
<Gallery Mode="packed" Heights="200"> File:Emily Mary Osborn - Nameless and Friendless. "The rich man's wealth is his strong city, etc." - Proverbs, x, 15 - Google Art Project.jpg|Nameless and Friendless by Emily Mary Osborn File:Titian Preparing to make his First Essay in Colouring - William Dyce - ABDAG003211.jpeg|Titian Preparing to make his First Essay in Colouring by William Dyce File:John Everett Millais - News from Home - Walters 3785.jpg|News from Home by John Everett Millais File:John Everett Millais - Sir Isumbras at the Ford (1857).jpg|Sir Isumbras at the Ford by John Everett Millais File:John Everett Millais's La huida de una hereje, 1559.jpg|The Escape of a Heretic, 1559 by John Everett Millais File:David Roberts (1796-1864) - Interior of the Duomo, Milan - 1228 - Government Art Collection.jpg|Interior of the Duomo, Milan by David Roberts File:Kate Nickleby at Madame Mantalini's.jpeg|Kate Nickleby at Madame Mantalini's by William Powell Frith File:John Frederick Lewis (1804-1876) - A Syrian Sheik, Egypt - 468 - Fitzwilliam Museum.jpg|A Syrian Sheik by John Frederick Lewis File:John Phillip (1817-1867) - The Prison Window - N01908 - National Gallery.jpg|The Prison Window by John Phillip File:John ("Spanish") Phillip - Charity - 1998-238 - Princeton University Art Museum.jpg|Charity by John Phillip File:Henry Wallis (1830-1916) - A Sculptor's Workshop, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1617 - STRPG-A, 1993.113 - Royal Shakespeare Theatre.jpg|A Sculptor's Workshop, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1617 by Henry Wallis File:Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873) - Uncle Tom - N01533 - National Gallery.jpg|Uncle Tom by Edwin Landseer File:Abraham Solomon (1824-1862) - Waiting for the Verdict - T03614 - Tate.jpg|Waiting for the Verdict by Abraham Solomon File:Morning After a Heavy Gale.png|Morning After a Heavy Gale by Edward William Cooke File:Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (1793-1867) - Calais Fishermen Taking In their Nets â Squall Coming On - 1506 - Glasgow Museums Resource Centre.jpg|Calais Fishermen Taking In their Nets by Clarkson Stanfield File:An Indian Summer Morning in the White Mountains.png|An Indian Summer Morning in the White Mountains by Jasper Francis Cropsey File:Philip Hermogenes Calderon - Broken Vows - Tate Britain.jpg|Broken Vows by Philip Hermogenes Calderon File:A Picnic (O'Neil).png|A Picnic by Henry Nelson O'Neil File:Orsino and viola Frederick Richard Pickersgill.jpg|Orsino and Viola by Frederick Richard Pickersgill File:Slender's Wooing of Ann Page ).jpg|Slender's Wooing of Ann Page by Adolphus M. Madot File:John Callcott Horsley (1817-1903) - Youth and Age - NCM 1934-128 - Nottingham Museums.jpg|Youth and Age by John Callcott Horsley File:Charles West Cope - Breakfast Time, Morning Games.jpg|Breakfast Time, Morning Games by Charles West Cope File:William Mulready (1786-1863) - The Young Brother - N00396 - National Gallery.jpg|The Young Brother by William Mulready File:Augustus Leopold Egg (1816-1863) - Esmond Returns after the Battle of Wynendael, Scene from William Thackeray's 'History of Henry Esmond, Esq.' - WAG 909 - Walker Art Gallery.jpg|Esmond Returns after the Battle of Wynendael by Augustus Egg File:Peter the Great at Deptford Dockyard.png|Peter the Great at Deptford Dockyard by Daniel Maclise File:Mules Drinking, Seville.jpeg|Mules Drinking, Seville by Richard Ansdell File:Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902) - Heat Showers in August - 1921.16 - Manchester Art Gallery.jpg|Heat Showers in August by Thomas Sidney Cooper File:Marshall Claxton (1813-1881) - Scene at a Ghaut on the Banks of the Ganges - BOLMG-1978.264 - Bolton Museum.jpg|Scene at a Ghaut on the Banks of the Ganges by Marshall Claxton File:William Linnell (1826-1906) - 'Where the nibbling flocks do stray' - VIS.1595 - Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust.jpg|Where the Nibbling Flocks do Stray by William Linnell File:Joseph Severn - The deserted village - Google Art Project.jpg|The Deserted Village by Joseph Severn File:Charles West Cope, The Pilgrim Fathers. Circa 1856. Oil study..png|The Pilgrim Fathers by Charles West Cope File:George Bernard O'Neill (1828-1917) - The Message - PRSMG , P449 - Harris Museum.jpg|The Message by George Bernard O'Neill File:George Bernard O'Neill (1828-1917) - The Last Day of the Sale - BURGM-paoil48 - Towneley Hall Art Gallery And Museum.jpg|The Last Day of the Sale by George Bernard O'Neill File:James Collinson (1825-1881) - For Sale - NCM 1959-94 - Nottingham Museums.jpg|For Sale by James Collinson File:John Evan Hodgson RA âÂÂThe Arrestâ (1857).jpg|The Arrest by John Evan Hodgson File:Ward-Queen.jpg|God Save the Queen by Henrietta Ward File:John Prescott Knight (1803-1881) - Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (1793âÂÂ1865), RA - 03-1034 - Royal Academy of Arts.jpg|Charles Lock Eastlake by John Prescott Knight File:John Callcott Horsley (1817-1903) - Isambard Kingdom Brunel - NPG 979 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg|Isambard Kingdom Brunel by John Callcott Horsley File:Sir (Francis) Leopold McClintock by Stephen Pearce.jpg|Leopold McClintock by Stephen Pearce File:Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, 1st Bt by Stephen Pearce.jpg|Roderick Murchison by Stephen Pearce File:Sherard Osborn by Stephen Pearce.jpg|Sherard Osborn by Stephen Pearce File:Stephen Pearce (1819-1904) - Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (1774âÂÂ1857) - BHC2541 - Royal Museums Greenwich.jpg|Francis Beaufort by Stephen Pearce File:John Watson Gordon (1788-1864) - Sir John Archibald Murray (1779âÂÂ1859), Lord Murray, Judge - PG 1066 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg|Lord Murray by John Watson Gordon File:Lieutenant General Sir John Bell (1782âÂÂ1876).jpg|John Bell by John Lucas File:John Ewart Robertson (1820-1879) - John Stewart (1791âÂÂ1871), Mayor of Liverpool - WAG 7033 - Walker Art Gallery.jpg|John Stewart, Mayor of Liverpool by John Ewart Robertson File:Thomas Henry Wyatt by George Landseer.jpg|Thomas Henry Wyatt by George Landseer File:Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875) - Lyon Playfair (1818âÂÂ1898), 1st Baron Playfair of St Andrews - EU0440 - University of Edinburgh Art Collection.jpg|Lyon Playfair by Henry William Pickersgill File:Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875) - Charles Herbert Pierrepont, 2nd Earl Manvers - SMH 7652 - Imperial College Healthcare Charity.jpg|Earl Manvers by Henry William Pickersgill File:Margaret Sarah Carpenter (1793-1872) - Sir Henry Ellis (1777âÂÂ1869), Principal Librarian (1827âÂÂ1856) - Painting.31 - British Museum.jpg|Henry Ellis by Margaret Sarah Carpenter File:John Gibson by Margaret Sarah Carpenter (née Geddes).jpg|Portrait of John Gibson by Margaret Sarah Carpenter File:Sir Francis Grant - Anne Emily Sophia Grant (known as 'Daisy' Grant), Mrs William Markham (1836 - 1880) - NG 2783 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg|Portrait of Daisy Grant by Francis Grant File:Francis Grant (1803-1878) - Portrait of a Lady (^ Mrs Edmund Peel) - T06456 - Tate.jpg|Mrs Peel by Francis Grant File:Lieutenant General Sir George Pollock.jpg|Sir George Pollock by Francis Grant File:Edouard Boutibonne (1816-97) - Queen Victoria (1819-1901) - RCIN 405278 - Royal Collection.jpg|Queen Victoria by Charles-ÃÂdouard Boutibonne File:Edouard Boutibonne (1816-97) - Prince Albert (1819-1861) - RCIN 405279 - Royal Collection.jpg|Prince Albert by Charles-ÃÂdouard Boutibonne </gallery>