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Taken from a rare mezzotint from the Society's collection. At 20 years of age Lawrie received a bounty of 30 guineas in 1776 from the Society for 'disclosing his method of printing mezzotint in colour'. Lawrie copied the bird form one brought back by Captain Cook in the previous year at the conclusion of his second great voyage of discovery.

Mermaid Street, Rye, one of the most beautiful and well known thoroughfares in England, is in the heart of the citadel of Rye, an area of cobbled streets which has been a Conservation Area since the Civic Amenities Act of 1967. In 1985, as a result of representations by the Rye Conservation Society to the East Sussex County Council and the ministry of Transport, the parking of cars was prohibited in the street and the need for unsightly yellow lines waived. 29,500 copies sold.

Second painting in a series entitled 'The Progress of Human Knowledge and Culture', displayed in the Great Room. This picture commemorates the votive rites 'established by the doctrinal songs of Orpheus. Barry describes the scene as follows 'In the foreground are young men and women dancing round a double terminal figure of Sylvanus and Pan, the former with his lap filled with the fruits of the earth...in the other corner is...a group of inferior rustics...less amiable, more disorderly, and mean...Inthe top of the picture, Ceres, Bacchus, Pan &c., are looking down with benignity and satisfaction, on the innocent festivity of their happy votaries, behind them is a limb of the zodiac, with the signs of Leo, Virgo and Libra, which mark this season of the year. In the distance is a farm house, binding corn, bees &c., male and female employments, courtships, marriage and a number of little children...' an unstated analogy between the birth of the ancient Greek religion and Christianity, in which we can see the child playing with a bird on a string as the infant Jesus, his mother as Mary and companion as the Baptist, makes this painting of especial significance at Christmas time. 25,123 copies sold.

This painting was bequeathed to the Society in 1861 by Lady Brown, widow of Captain Sir Samuel Brown, RN (1776-1852), the engineer of the bridge and for many years a member of the Society. Brown invented an improved method of manufacturing links for chain cables which greatly extended their use in the construction of suspension bridges and landing piers. Brown's bar link was first employed in the Union Bridge, completed in July 1820 and subsequently in the Chain Pier at Brighton. The bridge is 18ft wide, 368ft long and the distance between the points of suspension is 432ft. It was the earliest suspension bridge erected in Great Britain calculated for the passage of loaded carriages. The painting itself was executed before the bridge was built to show the effect it would have on the landscape. The large building discernible on the skyline in the centre of the picture, standing high on the northern bank of the Tweed is Paxton House, built to the designs of James and John Adam in the 1750's, with later additions by Robert Reid. Like the bridge, it still stands in fine condition. 34,191 copies sold.

The aim of Industry Year is to encourage a better understanding of industry, its essential role and its service to the community. Its purpose will also be to foster the pride of those who work in industry in their own achievement and contribution throughout the world for the provision of food, shelter and warmth; for the care of the sick, old and handicapped; for a better quality of life for the individual and for the community as a whole. 35,147 copies sold.

Reproduced from the painting in the Society's collection, attributed to Joseph Nash (1808-1878). The Queen, accompanied by Prince Albert, the Princess Royal and Prince Alfred, together with the King of Portugal, appear in the centre of the picture, amidst a huge throng of spectators. The Great Exhibition of 1851, house in Sir Joseph Paxton's original Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, was set up by the Society of Arts as a showcase for the industry of all nations but especially that of Britain, then nearing its apogee. When the exhibition closed the structure was bought by the Crystal Palace Company, dismantled, and in an enlarged form devised by Paxton, re-erected at Sydenham, a labour of an immensity in keeping with the concept of the exhibition itself and with Victorian ambition and confidence. Until its destruction by Fire in November 1936 the 'new' Crystal Palace was the leisure resort of vast numbers of Londoners and a centre for recreational and cultural activities. Particularly notable for fostering musical appreciation in this country were the series of concerts initiated and organized by Sir George Grove, first Secretary to the Crystal Palace Company and Secretary of the Society of Arts at the time of the Great Exhibition. 70,530 copies sold.

This row of cottages facing St. Mary's Church was restored in 1953-54 by means of a grant made by the Society to the owners, the National Trust. The work used up the balance of the Fund for the Preservation of Ancient Cottages which the Society established after a national campaign in the 1920s and which came to the aid of notable groups of vernacular buildings in various parts of the country. The timber framed Chiddingstone cottages, some of them tile-hung, others partly of brick, date from the 16th and 17th centuries. 80,725 copies sold

Reproduced from the original in the Society's collection. For this work the artist, then aged 15, was awarded the Society's prize of five guineas, the first premium in its class. On the recommendation of the responsible Committee, 'as a further reward for...her Extraordinary Merit' she received a Silver Medal. The flowerpiece was shown in the first ever public exhibition of contemporary British painters and sculptors held in the Great Room of the Society's premises (in Denmark Court, off the Strand) in 1760. Mary Moser (1744-1819) continued to develop her skill and reputation as a flower painter in her later career. The major surviving example of her work in this genre is a room decorated for Queen Charlotte at Frogmore. She was the daughter of the medallist George Michael Moser, who was to become a founder and the first Keeper of the Royal Academy. She was also a foundation member of the Academy and one of the two original women Academicians, the other being Angelica Kauffman. 60,205 copies sold.