Royal Academy Exhibition of 1878

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1878 was the an art exhibition held at Burlington House in Piccadilly. The annual Summer Exhibition of the British Royal Academy of Arts, it ran from 6 May to 5 August and attracted more than 300,000 spectators. The exhibition was in completion with one run by the new Grosvenor Gallery, with the writer Henry James preferring the latter.

Major attractions included William Powell Frith's The Road to Ruin, a series of five paintings in homage to William Hogarth and William Frederick Yeames' history painting, When Did You Last See Your Father?. John Everett Millais displayed his own historical scene The Princes in the Tower, but it was his depiction of the celebrated actress Lillie Langtry in his portrait A Jersey Lily that drew huge crowds. Edward Poynter, who would later succeed Millais as President of the Royal Academy, submitted his own portrait featuring Langtry.

Poynter's other painting Zenobia Captive earned enthusiastic praise from critics. The American artist Winslow Homer's The Cotton Pickers was displayed by its owner.

Gallery

<Gallery Mode="packed" Heights="200"> File:The Princes in the Tower by John Everett Millais (1878).png|The Princes in the Tower by John Everett Millais File:Lillie Langtry by Millais.jpg|A Jersey Lily by John Everett Millais File:Charles Edward Perugini - Girl Reading (p 1878).jpg|Girl Reading by Charles Edward Perugini File:Edward John Poynter (1836-1919) - Mrs Langtry (1853–1929) - SJA-0000-00037 - Jersey Museum and Art Gallery.jpg|Lillie Langtry by Edward Poynter File:Zenobia Captive.jpeg|Zenobia Captive by Edward Poynter File:The Hour (Pettie).png|The Hour by John Pettie File:Claude Andrew Calthrop (1845-1893) - Meeting of Scottish Jacobites - N01921 - National Gallery.jpg|Meeting of Scottish Jacobites by Claude Andrew Calthrop File:Winslow Homer - The Cotton Pickers - Google Art Project.jpg|The Cotton Pickers by Winslow Homer File:Lord Frederic Leighton - Winding the skein - Google Art ProjectFXD.jpg|Winding the Skein by Frederic Leighton File:1878 Frederick Leighton - Nausicaa.jpg|Nausicaa by Frederic Leighton File:A Sculptors Model by Lawrence Alma-Tadema.jpg|A Sculptor's Model by Lawrence Alma-Tadema File:Henry William Banks Davis (1833-1914) - Afternoon on the Cliffs - 1917.222 - Manchester Art Gallery.jpg|Afternoon on the Cliffs by Henry William Banks Davis File:Henry William Banks Davis (1833-1914) - Evening Light - KINCM-2005.4855 - Ferens Art Gallery.jpg|Evening Light by Henry William Banks Davis File:Edward William Cooke (1811-1880) - A Dutch Galliot Aground on a Sandbank on the Biesbosch, The Netherlands - 1953.150 - The Wilson.jpg|A Dutch Galliot Aground on a Sandbank on the Biesbosch by Edward William Cooke File:Edward William Cooke (1811-1880) - The 'Cleopatra' Cylinder Vessel - 1294-1886 - Victoria and Albert Museum.jpg|The Cleopatra in the Bay of Biscay by Edward William Cooke File:Marcus C. Stone (1840-1921) - The Post Bag - 1891.31, P.15 - Wednesbury Museum and Art Gallery.jpg|The Post Bag by Marcus Stone File:George Henry Boughton - The Waning Honeymoon - Walters 37129.jpg|The Waning Honeymoon by George Henry Boughton File:John Macallan Swan - Dante and the Leopard.webp|Dante and the Leopard by John Macallan Swan File:Arthur Melville - A Cabbage Garden - Google Art Project.jpg|A Cabbage Garden by Arthur Melville File:John Alden and Priscilla.png|John Alden and Priscilla by Alfred Elmore File:Ernest Crofts (1847-1911) - Wellington's March from Quatre Bras to Waterloo - VIS.1614 - Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust.jpg|Wellington's March from Quatre Bras to Waterloo by Ernest Crofts File:Benjamin Williams Leader (1831-1923) - Autumn in Switzerland - 1985.2559 - Kirklees Museums and Galleries.jpg|Autumn in Switzerland by Benjamin Williams Leader File:John Everett Millais, L'été de la Saint-Martin.jpg|Saint Martin's Summer by John Everett Millais File:Charles Poingdestre (1825-1905) - Wine Cart, the Roman Campagna - H-1-1977-81 - Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery.jpg|Wine Cart, the Roman Campagna by Charles H. Poingdestre File:After an Entomological Sale by Edward Armitage, 1878.jpg|After an Entomological Sale by Edward Armitage File:Edward Armitage (1817-1896) - The Cities of the Plain - TWCMS , C9998 - Laing Art Gallery.jpg|The Cities of the Plain by Edward Armitage File:John Rogers Herbert - David, the Future King of Israel, While a Shepherd at Bethlehem.jpg|David, the Future King of Israel, While a Shepherd at Bethlehem by John Rogers Herbert File:Peter Graham - Wandering Shadows - Google Art Project.jpg|Wandering Shadows by Peter Graham File:Edwin Long (1829-1891) - The Gods and Their Makers - BURGM-paoil174 - Towneley Hall Art Gallery And Museum.jpg|The Gods and Their Makers by Edwin Long File:Alfred Elmore - Pompeii, A.D. 79 - Google Art Project.jpg|Pompeii, A.D. 79 by Alfred Elmore File:A Social Eddy (or 'Left by the Tide') - Sir William Quiller Orchardson - ABDAG004496.jpg|A Social Eddy by William Quiller Orchardson File:News from the Front.jpeg|News from the Front, by Andrew Carrick Gow File:Francis S. Walker02.jpg|The Convent Garden by Francis S. Walker File:Arthur Hughes Uncertainty 1878.jpg|Uncertainty by Arthur Hughes File:Briton Riviere (1840-1920) - An Anxious Moment - THC0062 - Royal Holloway, University of London.jpg|An Anxious Moment by Briton Riviere File:Briton Riviere (1840-1920) - Sympathy - N01566 - National Gallery.jpg|Sympathy by Briton Riviere File:Frank Holl (1845-1888) - Newgate, Committed for Trial - 185 - Touchstones Rochdale.jpg|Newgate, Committed for Trial by Frank Holl File:Colin Hunter (1841-1904) - Ebbing Tide - 829 - Glasgow Museums Resource Centre.jpg|Ebbing Tide by Colin Hunter File:Tito Conti (1842-1924) - Goodbye - THC007 - Royal Holloway, University of London.jpg|Goodbye by Tito Conti File:George Frederic Watts (1817-1904) - Britomart - 1929P527 - Birmingham Museums Trust.jpg|Britomart and Her Nurse by George Frederic Watts File:Philip Richard Morris (1836-1902) - The First Communion, Dieppe - 1974.646 - Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council.jpg|The First Communion, Dieppe by Philip Richard Morris File:Erskine Nicol (1825-1904) - The Missing Boat - P322-76 - The New Art Gallery Walsall.jpg|The Missing Boat by Erskine Nicol File:Halt of Prince Charles Edward on the Banks of the Nairne.jpeg|Halt of Prince Charles Edward on the Banks of the Nairne by Richard Beavis File:John William Waterhouse, The Remorse of Nero After the Murder of His Mother.jpg|The Remorse of the Emperor Nero after the Murder of his Mother by John William Waterhouse File:Edmund Blair Leighton (1852-1922) - A Flaw in the Title - THC0035 - Royal Holloway, University of London.jpg|A Flaw in the Title by Edmund Leighton File:William Morrison Wyllie (c.1820-1895) - The House of Commons, 1878 - WOA 654 - Parliamentary Art Collection.jpg|The House of Commons by William Morrison Wyllie File:Sir Hubert von Herkomer - Eventide- A Scene at the Westminster Union - Google Art Project.jpg|' by Hubert von Herkomer File:Reaping Time.png|Reaping Time by George Bernard O'Neill File:The Laird by John Pettie, 1878.jpg|The Laird by John Pettie File:The Raid of Ruthven.jpeg|The Raid of Ruthven by William Baxter Collier Fyfe File:Valentine Cameron Prinsep - Martaba, a Kashmiree Nautch girl.jpg|Martaba, a Kashmiree Nautch girl by Valentine Cameron Prinsep File:Stanhope Forbes Florence.jpg|Florence by Stanhope Forbes File:Arthur Hughes (1832-1915) - Mabel and Ruth Orrinsmith - O94 - William Morris Gallery.jpg|Mabel and Ruth Orrinsmith by Arthur Hughes File:Rudolf Lehmann (1819-1905) - Dr Collingwood Bruce (1805–1892) - TWCMS , G1739 - Laing Art Gallery.jpg|John Collingwood Bruce by Rudolf Lehmann File:George Frederic Watts (1817-1904) - Jacques Blumenthal (1829–1908) - PPHC000120 - Royal College of Music.jpg|Jacques Blumenthal by George Frederic Watts File:Portrait of Smith Taylor Whitehead Esq in a costume of the 16th century.jpg|Smith Taylor Whitehead by John Pettie File:Daniel Macnee (1806-1882) - Sir James Bain (1818–1898), Lord Provost of Glasgow (1874–1877) - 495 - Glasgow Museums Resource Centre.jpg|James Bain by Daniel Macnee File:John Hutton Balfour by Daniel Macnee.jpg|John Hutton Balfour by Daniel Macnee File:George Richmond (1809-1896) - Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811–1878) - 03-617 - Royal Academy of Arts.jpg|George Gilbert Scott by George Richmond File:Henry Tanworth Wells (1828-1903) - William Shaen - P0077 - Royal Holloway, University of London.jpg|William Shaen by Henry Tanworth Wells File:Cyrus Johnson (1848-1925) (attributed to) - George Fownes Luttrell (1826–1910) - 726123 - National Trust.jpg|George Fownes-Luttrell by Cyrus Johnson File:John Everett Millais (1829-1896) - Anthony Ashley-Cooper (1801–1885), 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, President of the Bible Society - 8 - Cambridge University Library.jpg|Earl of Shaftesbury by John Everett Millais File:Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury by John Collier.jpg|Earl of Shaftesbury by John Collier File:Henry Irving as Richard, Duke of Gloucester.png|Henry Irving as Richard, Duke of Gloucester by Edwin Long </gallery>