John Gibson RA
A British Sculptor in Rome
8 September — 18 December 2016
John Gibson RA
To mark the 150th anniversary of his death, this exhibition highlights the sculpture of John Gibson RA.
John Gibson (1790–1866) was the most successful British sculptor of his generation. Born in Conwy, Wales, he moved to Italy in 1817 and settled in Rome where he studied with the famous neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova before setting up his own studio in the city. By the time he made his first return visit to the UK in 1844, ‘Gibson of Rome’ was a famous artist and soon became one of Prince Albert’s favourite sculptors, producing several portraits of Queen Victoria.
Timed to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Gibson’s death, this display presents a selection of more than 30 works from Gibson’s important bequest to the Royal Academy. These include marble sculptures like his Narcissus, plaster reliefs such as The Meeting of Hero and Leander as well as drawings from his studio. Despite the status that Gibson enjoyed during his lifetime, his reputation faded during the 20th century and this will be the first temporary exhibition to focus solely on his work.
8 September — 18 December 2016
Tuesday – Friday, 10am–4pm
Saturday and Sunday, 10am–6pm
Closed Monday
Tennant Gallery and Council Room
Complimentary entry with a valid Royal Academy exhibition ticket or £3 General Admission ticket. Friends of the RA and under 16s go free.
Book now
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Gallery
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![Sir Edwin Landseer RA, Portrait of John Gibson RA]()
Sir Edwin Landseer RA, Portrait of John Gibson RA, ca. 1850.
![John Gibson RA, Cupid pursuing Psyche]()
John Gibson RA, Cupid pursuing Psyche, Before 1843.
![John Gibson RA, Psyche borne by a Zephyr]()
John Gibson RA, Psyche borne by a Zephyr.
![John Gibson RA, The Meeting of Hero and Leander]()
John Gibson RA, The Meeting of Hero and Leander, ca. 1842.
![John Gibson RA, Narcissus]()
John Gibson RA, Narcissus, 1838.
![John Gibson RA, Sleeping Shepherd Boy]()
John Gibson RA, Sleeping Shepherd Boy, 1818.
![John Gibson RA, The Marriage of Psyche and Celestial Love]()
John Gibson RA, The Marriage of Psyche and Celestial Love, ca. 1844.
![John Gibson RA, Monument to Lady Leicester: Angel carrying infant and leading mother to heaven]()
John Gibson RA, Monument to Lady Leicester: Angel carrying infant and leading mother to heaven, ca.1844.
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The Gibson Trail
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![John Gibson: A British Sculptor in Rome Softback]()
John Gibson: A British Sculptor in Rome
This timely publication sheds lights on the sculptor John Gibson RA, one of the Victorian era’s most celebrated though often overlooked artists.
John Gibson: A British Sculptor in Rome uses letters, plaster reliefs, marbles, drawings, notebooks and objects he bequeathed to the Royal Academy – some reproduced here for the first time – to present a comprehensive account of Gibson and his time in the workshop of Canova, the greatest of Neoclassical artists.
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!['Charles Stewart: Black and White Gothic']()
About the Tennant Gallery
The Tennant Gallery is one of the RA’s hidden treasures: a space in the original part of Burlington House dedicated to displays based on our historic and diverse Collection. Its changing programme highlights the life and work of Royal Academicians from 1768 to today, with past exhibitions including Dream, Draw, Work: Architectural Drawings by Norman Shaw RA, Charles Stewart: Black and White Gothic, and Hide and Seek: Drawings by Eileen Cooper RA.
Tennant Gallery displays are free to enter with a valid Royal Academy exhibition ticket, for Friends of the RA and for under-16s.
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Our Collection
> 3 years ago
Object of the month: October 2014
Originally cast in 1776 from the corpse of a smuggler fresh from execution, ‘Smugglerius’ was commissioned to improve the teaching of anatomy in the RA Schools.
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![John Constable RA, Cloud Study, Hampstead, Tree at Right]()
Our Collection
> 3 years ago
Artist of the month: October 2014
Inspired by nature, John Constable RA brought landscape art into the public eye at a time when portraiture and historical subjects were much more widely esteemed.
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![Works from the RA Collection on show at Tokyo Fuji Art Museum]()
Our Collection
> 3 years ago
The RA Collection on the road in Japan
Two members of the RA Collection team have just returned from Japan where they were transferring an exhibition of works from the RA across the country.
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![LS Lowry RA, Station Approach]()
Our Collection
< 4 years ago
Object of the month: September 2014
Combining several elements of his work, this piece features the crowds common to works by Lowry, who often painted from memory or imagination.
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![David Wilkie Wynfield, John Phillip RA]()
Our Collection
< 4 years ago
Artist of the month: September 2014
A student at the RA schools, John Phillip RA’s association with the Royal Academy began at a young age, stowing away on a ship from Aberdeen to London to visit the Royal Academy Exhibition.
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![Conservators working on the Maclise cartoon]()
Our Collection
< 4 years ago
In pictures: restoring a national treasure
Behind the scenes with the conservators working on our Maclise cartoon.
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![Canadian War Memorials exhibition catalogue cover, 1919]()
Inside the Academy
< 4 years ago
RA exhibitions: reflecting a world at war
As the conflict continued, the Royal Academy adapted its exhibition programme to support the war effort.
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![Unknown photographer, Gallery IX, Burlington House after the explosion of a German bomb in 1917, ca. September 24 1917]()
Inside the Academy
< 4 years ago
Consequences of war
The First World War took a heavy toll on the Royal Academy’s artists, staff and students - and left indelible scars on our building.
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![Gilbert Ledward RA, View of the Italian town of Nonatola near Modena]()
Our Collection
< 4 years ago
Object of the Month: August 2014
Taken from one of the artist’s sketchbooks, this captures the Italian town of Nonantola just prior to the beginnings of the First World War.
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![George Clausen RA, A Farmyard]()
Our Collection
< 4 years ago
Artist of the Month: August 2014
George Clausen is remembered for the range of his remarkable accomplishments, both as an artist and as a dedicated Member of the RA.
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![Models of a World War I Dazzle Camouflage Ship]()
Inside the Academy
< 4 years ago
Dazzle ships and the Royal Academy
How the RA played a role in the development of a dazzling new form of camouflage.
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![United Arts Volunteers Rifles on parade in the courtyard of Burlington House, 1914]()
Inside the Academy
< 4 years ago
The Royal Academy joins the war effort
With volunteers drilling in the courtyard and the Red Cross taking over the galleries, the RA soon found itself at the centre of the war effort.
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![United Arts Volunteers Rifles photographed leaving the courtyard of Burlington House on a route march, 1914]()
Inside the Academy
< 4 years ago
4 August 1914: the declaration of war
A snapshot of the Royal Academy on 4 August 1914, with the country poised on the brink of war.
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![The façade of Burlington House]()
Inside the Academy
< 4 years ago
Lights Out at the RA: commemorating the First World War
We’re joining in with a national moment of reflection on Monday 4 August.
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![The RA Library]()
Our Collection
< 4 years ago
James Ward RA’s ‘Defence of the Beard’
A small pamphlet, discovered deep within our archives, shows that the beard as the defining feature of hipster facial fashion has been around longer than you might think.
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![Installation view of 'Love has no reason' by Julie Born Schwartz, RA Schools Show 2014]()
Our Collection
< 4 years ago
RA Collection acquires first film work
The film ‘Love has no reason’ by RA Schools graduate Julie Born Schwartz has been added to the Royal Academy’s historic Collection.
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![Ruskin Spear RA, The Old Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, 1943]()
Our Collection
< 4 years ago
Artist of the Month: July 2014
As a flamboyantly self-styled “working-class cockney”, Ruskin Spear RA found subjects for painting in the pubs, snooker halls and streets of Hammersmith, Fulham, Shepherd’s Bush and Chiswick.
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![Installation view of David Hockney RA's 'Double Study for "A Closer Grand Canyon"', 1998 in the front hall of the RA]()
Our Collection
< 4 years ago
Object of the month: July 2014
These two canvases are a study for a panoramic work, ‘A Closer Grand Canyon’, which was made up of 96 individual canvases and painted in 1998.
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![Art Club]()
Inside the Academy
< 4 years ago
Community Art Club: forging a connection
For many homeless and marginalised people, art-making can seem a closed-off world. Our learning team tell us how the RA is trying to change that.
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![W.R. Lethaby in the office of R. Norman Shaw, R.A., Design for Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland; perspective of drawing-room chimney piece]()
Our Collection
4 years ago
Artist of the Month: June 2014
The works of the architect, and subject of our ‘Dream, Draw, Work’ exhibition, recall the now rare traditional skills and techniques of architectural design, from working drawings to beautiful ink drawings.
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![Attributed to Rosso Fiorentino after Michelangelo, Leda and the Swan]()
Our Collection
4 years ago
Object of the month: June 2014
One of the treasures of the Royal Academy Collection is now on display in a new exhibition about Michelangelo at the Capitoline Museum in Rome.
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![Norman Shaw RA, Design for organ case, Church of the Holy Trinity, Bingley, Yorkshire: plans, sections and elevation (recto)]()
RA Exhibitions
4 years ago
Tasting architectural drawings
Neil Bingham, curator of the RA exhibition ‘Dream Draw Work: Architectural Drawings of Norman Shaw RA’ confesses to a curatorial crime.
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![Walter Sickert RA, Santa Maria della Salute, Venice (detail)]()
Our Collection
4 years ago
Object of the Month: May 2014
One of the most influential figures in twentieth-century British art, Sickert’s Diploma work uses an impasto style to depict the ornate Baroque decorations of the Santa Maria della Salute in Venice.
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![Angelica Kauffman RA, Self-portrait]()
Our Collection
4 years ago
Artist of the Month: May 2014
Child prodigy Angelica Kauffman went on to be a founder-member of the Royal Academy. Her paintings and drawings were widely reproduced and were particularly popular in England, often being used in interior decorations.
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![J.S. Sargent RA, Detail of the portrait of Henry James O.M. after being damaged by a suffragette, May 1914]()
Our Collection
4 years ago
‘Deeds not words’: Suffragettes and the Summer Exhibition
On the 100 year anniversary of Mary Wood’s attack on Sargent’s portrait of Henry James, we delve into the Royal Academy’s archive to find out how the Academy, and the public, reacted.
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![Printmaking materials in the studio of Norman Ackroyd RA]()
Our Collection
4 years ago
From aquatints to woodcuts: a visual glossary of original prints
We take a look at the main printmaking techniques and some of the terminology you’ll encounter when looking at original prints.
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![Craigie Aitchison RA, Crucifixion 1988/89 (detail)]()
Our Collection
4 years ago
Object of the Month: April 2014
The influence of Aitchison’s travels to Italy is evident in this representation of the Crucifixion, presented to the Academy on his election.
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![John Raphael Smith after John Francis Rigaud RA, Agostino Carlini, Francesco Bartolozzi and Giovanni Battista Cipriani]()
Our Collection
4 years ago
Artist of the Month: April 2014
Born in Florence, Italy, the son of a goldsmith, Bartolozzi trained with his father before enrolling at the Florentine academy in 1742.
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![William Kent, The Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche]()
Inside the Academy
4 years ago
With William Kent at Burlington House
As the V&A celebrates the highly influential artist and designer, we reveal how William Kent’s career came to life with his work for Burlington House – now the home of the Royal Academy.
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![Daniel Maclise, 'Waterloo' cartoon]()
Our Collection
4 years ago
Restoring a masterpiece
Thanks to a grant from Arts Council England, Daniel Maclise’s monumental ‘Waterloo’ cartoon is to undergo conservation treatment in time for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in 2015.
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![The Nominations Book]()
Inside the Academy
> 4 years ago
How do Academicians get elected?
Recent years have seen a host of new innovations here at the RA, but the election process for new Academicians has hardly changed in almost 250 years. Here is how it all works.
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![Photo: Helen Valentine]()
Our Collection
> 4 years ago
Special delivery
Helen Valentine, our Senior Curator, and Edwina Mulvany, our Registrar, have just returned from Australia where they were installing the exhibition ‘Genius and Ambition’.
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![Mark Fisher RA, An Orchard in the Spring]()
Our Collection
> 4 years ago
Object of the Month: March 2014
In 1910, C. Lewis Hind in the Art Journal, summarised Mark Fisher’s working practice thus: ‘He just walks out, sees something, feels an irresistible desire to paint it, and proceeds to paint it in the open air.’
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![Richard Norman Shaw RA, design for a biscuit box]()
Our Collection
> 4 years ago
A chance discovery
A recently discovered drawing turns out to be a design by Richard Norman Shaw RA for the biscuit barrel that he presented to the Academy in 1883.
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![John Glover, Mount Wellington and Hobart Town from Kangaroo Point]()
Opinion
> 4 years ago
RA down under
Charles Saumarez Smith, our Secretary and Chief Executive, was recently in Australia to visit ‘Genius and Ambition’, an exhibition of works from our collection on show at Bendigo Art Gallery.
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![Norman Stevens ARA, Black Walnut Tree, 21st October 1987]()
Our Collection
> 4 years ago
Artist of the Month: March 2014
Born in Bradford in 1937, Norman Stevens enrolled at the city’s art school to study painting aged only 15.
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![Detail from 'Assembly of the Gods', 1720, at the RA]()
Inside the Academy
> 4 years ago
The genius of Kent
As the V&A explores the influential career of William Kent this season, we explore three works that testify to the abiding achievements of 18th-century Britain’s most versatile artist and designer.
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![Sir Albert Richardson, PRA, The Starecase at the Royal Academy, preliminary study]()
Our Collection
> 4 years ago
History returns
A slice of history has recently returned to the Royal Academy after over 200 years, in the form of an intriguing drawing by John Flaxman RA.
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![Terry Setch RA, Smoked Out]()
Our Collection
> 4 years ago
Object of the month: February 2014
Terry Setch painted ‘Smoked Out’ for the exhibition Images of Paradise held at Harewood House, Yorkshire, in 1989. The exhibition was organised by Survival International, a group dedicated to protecting the lives, culture, and land of tribal peoples.
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![David Wilkie Wynfield, Portrait of GF Watts RA]()
Our Collection
> 4 years ago
Artist of the month: February 2014
George Frederic Watts RA was an influential and pre-eminent painter during his own lifetime. He became known for his portraiture and his Symbolist allegorical paintings, frequently depicting scenes from mythology, history, literature, and the Bible.
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![Joseph Farquharson RA, When Snow the Pasture Sheets]()
Our Collection
> 4 years ago
Object of the month: January 2014
Joseph Farquharson RA was a landscape painter who was celebrated for his winter scenes, which he infused with a strong sense of atmosphere and mood.
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![Robert Anning Bell RA , The Women Going to the Sepulchre]()
Our Collection
> 4 years ago
Artist of the month: January 2014
Robert Anning Bell presented ‘The Women Going to the Sepulchre’ to the Royal Academy as his diploma work on his election as a Royal Academician in 1922.
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![John Constable RA, The Leaping Horse]()
RA Exhibitions
> 5 years ago
Constable, Gainsborough, Turner and the Making of Landscape
Tracing the emergence of landscape painting as a distinct genre in its own right.
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