Royal Academy Exhibition of 1780

{{Short description|1780 art exhibition in London}}

File:Benjamin West, The Battle of La Hogue, c. 1778, NGA 45885.jpg by Benjamin West]]

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1780 was an art exhibition staged in London by the Royal Academy of Arts. Held between 1 May and 3 June 1780 it was the first to take place at the academy's new headquarters at Somerset House. 489 exhibits were on display and the event attracted more than 61,000 visitors.{{Cite web |title=1780 Trouble with the Tribuna at the "Temple of Priapus" |url=https://chronicle250.com/1780 |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=chronicle250.com}}

Since the 1769 debut all Summer Exhibitions had taken place in a rented room in Pall Mall. The architect William Chambers designed the new purpose-built headquarters.McIntrye p.364-66 It took place during the American War of Independence and in which the country faced a growing coalition of enemies. The previous year Britain had been threatened with invasion from a Franco-Spanish Armada. A number of the submissions made reference to the ongoing conflict.

Notable amongst the works on display was Johan Zoffany's The Tribuna of the Uffizi, a royal commission from Queen Charlotte which he had travelled to Florence to produce.Webster p.59 Benjamin West submitted a large number of works including history paintings recounting victories in the Nine Years War almost a century earlier. He also showed a range of portraits of the royal family including George III, Charlotte and a joint picture of their sons William, Duke of Clarence and Edward, Duke of Kent. His fellow American John Singleton Copley submitted a full-length depiction of the Highland soldier Hugh Montgomerie.McIntyre p.366 His more limited offering thay year was because he was working on his large The Death of the Earl of Chatham.Kamensky p.396-97

Joshua Reynolds, the President of the Royal Academy, demonstrated his versatility with a variety of submissions featuring the young Prince William Frederick and the historian Edward Gibbon. He also showed Justice part of his series featuring the four cardinal virtues.McIntrye p.356 He also produced his own portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte to hang on the walls of the new academy. His Portrait of Lady Worsley featured a fashionable aristocratic wearing a costume inspired by the militia uniform of her husband's regiment.McCreery p.165 Other war-themed paintings were Francis Holman's The Moonlight Battle featuring a British naval victory over the Spanish while sailing to relieve the besieged garrison at Gibraltar.{{Cite web |title=The Moonlight Battle off Cape St Vincent, 16 January 1780 {{!}} Royal Museums Greenwich |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-11919 |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=www.rmg.co.uk}} Philip James de Loutherbourg depicted Warley Camp a painting of a military review by George III of troops gathered to resist invasion.Blunt p.81

Thomas Gainsborough submitted a number of painters but was disappointed by their placings in the exhibition, a growing issue with the academy which would ultimately lead to his boycotting it.Hamilton p.304 His work on display included six landscapes and several portraits including his friend Henry Bate Dudley and the actor John Henderson.McIntryre p.366 He also presented a portrait of the German musician Johann Christian Fischer, who was briefly his son-in-law.Hamilton p.303