The Great Spectacle: 250 Years of the Summer Exhibition

Are you ready for your close up, Mr. Wilde? Detail of Frith's A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881.

2018 marks the 250th anniversary of the Royal Academy of Arts. Since 1769 the academy has staged a Summer Exhibition, an annual show in which artists from all over the UK exhibit their newest work.

To mark 250 (uninterrupted!) years of summer exhibitions, this year the academy assembled a kind of "greatest hits" show, featuring many of the most famous works that had their debut in the rooms of Burlington House, Piccadilly. Chief amongst these works was William Powell Frith's, A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881.

I annotated Frith's picture because, let's be honest, nobody is going to recognise Sir William Harcourt.

Frith was renowned for his crowd paintings, and here we encounter many of the great and good of late Victorian England: artists, scientists, politicians, and "professional beauties". Of course, I am most interested in the picture because it depicts Wilde. In fact, the central drama of the painting revolves around the young Irish poet, who can be seen edifying his aesthetically dressed female companions, much to the chagrin of journalist George Augustus Sala, recognisable from his trademark white waistcoat.

Photography was not permitted at the exhibition but, like Wilde, "I am a born trespasser"!

Me in front of Frith's picture. There's no need to inform the security guard of my misdemeanour because he already knows and gave me a stern reprimand, which I justly deserved.