The Private View at the Royal Academy in 1881

This artwork depicts crowds of distinguished Victorians who have been invited to a private view of the Royal Academy’s 1881 Summer Exhibition. The crowd includes actors Lillie Langtry and Ellen Terry, as well as the writer Oscar Wilde.

The artist, William Powell Frith, said of his painting: "Beyond the desire of recording for posterity the aesthetic craze as regards dress, I wished to hit the folly of listening to self-elected critics in matters of taste, whether in dress or art. I therefore planned a group, consisting of a well-known apostle of the beautiful, with a herd of eager worshippers surrounding him."

The Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition (or ‘The Exhibition’ in earlier days) is an open-submission art show that has been held every year since 1769. The works on show are selected and arranged by Royal Academicians, who also enter their works into the exhibition, creating an eclectic mix of work by established artists alongside emerging talent and first-time exhibitors.

In the 18th- and 18th-century Summer Exhibitions, paintings were hung floor to ceiling, very close together, tipped towards the viewer and arranged symmetrically. History painting and swagger portraits by the celebrated artists of the day sat pride of place “on the line”, so that the bottom edge of the artwork was eight foot from the ground. Smaller pieces sat below, and works by lesser-known artists were “skied” – hung near the ceiling where it was difficult to see them.