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The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts under the Patronage of His Majesty; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century club in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists. Unlike the Royal Academy
Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London, England. As an academy, it functions to encourage British art, and has a membership of practising artists....
 it admitted only connoisseurs (rather than practicing artists) to its membership. In its gallery in Pall Mall
Pall Mall, London

Pall Mall is a street in the City of Westminster, London, situated in London SW1 and parallel to The Mall , from St. James's Street across Waterloo Place to the Haymarket; while Pall Mall East continues into Trafalgar Square....
 the Institution held the world's first temporary exhibitions of Old Master paintings, which alternated with exhibitions of the work of living artists.






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The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts under the Patronage of His Majesty; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century club in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists. Unlike the Royal Academy
Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London, England. As an academy, it functions to encourage British art, and has a membership of practising artists....
 it admitted only connoisseurs (rather than practicing artists) to its membership. In its gallery in Pall Mall
Pall Mall, London

Pall Mall is a street in the City of Westminster, London, situated in London SW1 and parallel to The Mall , from St. James's Street across Waterloo Place to the Haymarket; while Pall Mall East continues into Trafalgar Square....
 the Institution held the world's first temporary exhibitions of Old Master paintings, which alternated with exhibitions of the work of living artists. From 1807 prizes were given to artists who painted the best companion pieces to works by Old Masters on display at the gallery.

Founding

The British Institution was founded in June 1805 by a group of private subscribers; originally it met in the Thatched House Tavern in London. In September of that year it purchased the lease of the former Boydell Shakespeare Gallery
Boydell Shakespeare Gallery

The Boydell Shakespeare Gallery was a three-part project initiated in November 1786 by engraver and publisher John Boydell in an effort to foster a School of British history painting....
 building at 52 Pall Mall
Pall Mall, London

Pall Mall is a street in the City of Westminster, London, situated in London SW1 and parallel to The Mall , from St. James's Street across Waterloo Place to the Haymarket; while Pall Mall East continues into Trafalgar Square....
.

The gallery building had been commissioned in 1788 by engraver John Boydell
John Boydell

John Boydell was an eighteenth-century British publisher noted for his reproductions of engravings. He helped alter the trade imbalance between Britain and France in engravings and initiated a British tradition of engraving....
 as a showroom for a series of paintings and prints of scenes from works by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
. The architect was George Dance the Younger
George Dance the Younger

George Dance the Younger was an England architect and Surveyor . The fifth and youngest son of George Dance the Elder, he came from a distinguished family of architects, artists and dramatists....
, then the clerk of the city works. The gallery had a monumental, neo-classical stone-built front, and three exhibition rooms on the first floor, with a total of more than of wall space for displaying pictures. Boydell ran up large debts in producing his Shakespeare engravings, and obtained an Act of Parliament in 1804 to dispose of the gallery and other property by lottery
Lottery

A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize. Some governments outlaw it, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national lottery....
. The main prize winner, William Tassie
William Tassie

William Tassie was a gem engraver and cameo modeller of Scottish descent, who worked in London in the early 19th century. He took over the business of his uncle, James Tassie, after James's death in 1799....
, a modeller, then sold the gallery property and contents at auction. When the British Institution took possession, they also retained a sculptural group on the façade by Thomas Banks
Thomas Banks

Thomas Banks , England sculpture, son of a Surveyor who was land steward to the Duke of Beaufort, was born in London. He was taught drawing by his father, and in 1750 was apprenticed to a woodcarver....
, which had been intended to be used as a monument on Boydell's tomb.

Heyday of the Institution

By the time of an 1835 visit by Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle was a Scotland satire writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics the "dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator....
, the gallery had become known colloquially as the Pall Mall Picture Galleries, but was evidently still among the popular society haunts.

Later years


When the gallery building was demolished during 1868-1869, the Banks sculpture from the building's façade was moved to Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, Warwickshire, south east of Birmingham and south west of the county town, Warwick....
 and re-erected in New Place
New Place

New Place is the name given to William Shakespeare's final place of residence in Stratford-upon-Avon during his retirement, and it is where he died in 1616....
 Garden.

Prominent Members


Directors

  • Sir George Beaumont, 7th Baronet
    Sir George Beaumont, 7th Baronet

    Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet , was a British art patron and amateur painter. He played a crucial part in the creation of London's National Gallery, London by making the first bequest of paintings to that institution....


External links

  • (1 April 1808) aquatint by Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson
    Thomas Rowlandson

    Thomas Rowlandson was an English artist and caricaturist....
     from Rudolph Ackermann
    Rudolph Ackermann

    Rudolph Ackermann was an Anglo-German inventor and publisher....
    's Microcosm of London, Volume I