General Assembly minutes, vol. 7
Volume of minutes of the General Assembly, including the following selected entries:
Richard Westmacott’s motion to appoint a committee to consider the duties of the various salaried officers, to see whether their performance could be made more efficient, 18 March 1869;
Charles West Cope’s proposal, seconded by
Leighton, to stage a winter exhibition of a selection of the works of “the old masters, combined with specimens of deceased British artists”, 19 July 1869; minutes of a meeting on the Schools, containing recommendations of the Council and emendations of the General Assembly in parallel columns, 3 January 1870; minutes of the meeting at which the following resolutions were carried: the Council to be increased to the President and twelve members, three Academicians to be appointed annually as Auditors to form a Finance Committee, three Visitors to form a Schools Committee annually, four members of the Council to serve as Inspectors of Property each year and the summer exhibition Committee to consist of five painters (including engravers), one sculptor and one architect, 11 November 1870; approval of Council resolution that the Secretary should no longer be a member of the Royal Academy, and that he should be “a gentleman of good literary attainments, conversant with modern languages, and competent for the conduct of official business”, 25 February 1873; the opposition of the President,
Sir Francis Grant, to the proposal that the Secretary should take over the office of Librarian, 6 May 1873; note of the dissatisfaction of the Auditors and other members that the Treasurer,
Sydney Smirke, had not produced the quarterly accounts at the proper time, 10 July 1873; the ballot at which
Frederick Eaton was elected Secretary, the first to be drawn from outside the membership, 18 July 1873; report of a discussion concerning the cost of the new buildings at Burlington House, 8 August 1873, the enacting of a change to the method of procedure at elections, 1 December 1873 and 15 January 1874; references to the need for strict financial economy in the light of an external financial report, 15 January 1874; approval of a resolution to make the Keeper an ex-officio member of Council, 1 December 1874; meetings relating to the resolution of Council proposing an increase in the number of Associates, 5 - 12 July 1875;
John Callcott Horsley’s motion that in future only artists born in the British dominions or of British parentage abroad should be eligible for membership of the Royal Academy, 1 December 1875 and the motion declared not carried, 21 December 1875; Horsley’s motion (not carried) that the employment of female models to sit naked in the Life Schools be discontinued, 30 May 1876;
John R. Herbert’s motion that the Royal Academy dispossess itself of the cartoon of ‘Jupiter and Leda’ on the grounds of rejecting anything liable to corrupt either art or morals defeated by a large majority, 21 March 1877; confirmation of the resolution to appoint a Surveyor at a salary of £100 per annum [the Treasurer had previously acted as the Royal Academy's architect], 23 June 1879; confirmation of the resolution to appoint a Professor of Chemistry, 8 August 1879; Cope’s motion to make women ineligible for membership, 8 August 1879, and discussion of the report of the Council on the admission of women, 6 - 20 January 1880; approval of resolution to increase the number of Associates to a minimum of thirty, 10 December 1879; and confirmation of the resolution that the tenure of the office of Treasurer should be assimilated to that of the Keeper and Librarian, with the holder to be elected by the General Assembly for a period of five years [the office had previously been a life appointment made by the monarch], 16 April 1880.