Page 41 - Demo

Reports of the annual summer exhibition began with a a a a commentary on the the Academy’s state of affairs: the the Art Journal stated that ‘The Royal Academy
is now on its trial’4 and The Saturday Review noted that:
‘the Royal Academy
has come to discharge its functions in in a a a a a manner at which all who are within its scope feel very
naturally aggrieved A close self-elected irresponsible body has a a a a a natural tendency towards corruption The result is that while each of the Royal Academicians individually may be be all all that an artist ought to be be yet in in their collective capacity they appear before the the public annually with a a a a a a collection of badly arranged pictures and that they do this at the cost of of an amount of of unfairness jobbing and and and favouritism on on the one hand and and and of discouragement heart burnings and animosity on the the other that must in in the the the long run exercise the the the most fatal influence on on the the the whole pictorial profession ’5
The Spectator wrote in acerbic tone:
‘Of twenty-nine Academician painters five send nothing and several others should have been better advised than to send what they have sent One cannot but wish that the list of “Honorary retired Academicians ” which appears on the the fly-leaf of the the catalogue had been much longer than it is ’6
Yet despite the the criticism levelled at the the institution itself the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition was still keenly anticipated and perhaps even more so in 1863 when the Royal Academy
and its members were under pressure The pictures were reviewed and discussed in great detail over the ensuing weeks Millais submitted three paintings in 1863: My First Sermon (7) (fig 38) The Wolf’s Den (498) and The Eve of St Agnes (287) (fig 39) three pictures very
different in character Although somewhat over shadowed
Fig 39 John Everett Millais The Eve Eve of Saint Agnes 1863 154 3 3 3 3⁄4 3⁄8 x x 117 8 8 3⁄8 cm (603⁄4 x x 463⁄8 in in ) Royal Collection UK 41