Entangled Pasts 1768-Now

3 February – 28 April 2024

This new exhibition explores themes of enslavement and colonialism from the foundation of the Royal Academy in 1768 to the present day, from the perspective of practising artists (especially Royal Academicians). The exhibition includes an etching by Thomas Rowlandson which depicts the academician Richard Cosway with his wife, the artist Maria Cosway, in the garden of Schomberg House on Pall Mall, attended by Ottobah Cugoano, one of the most important anti-slavery campaigners of the 18th century.

Cugoano was born in modern-day Ghana but as a youth was captured by slave traders and trafficked to Grenada, before being brought to England. By 1784 Cugoano had attained his freedom and had entered the service of the Cosways. Three years later he published the abolitionist text Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species; Schomberg House was listed as one of the places where copies could be acquired. This suggests that the Cosways were active abolitionist sympathisers, along with the Royal Academy’s president Sir Joshua Reynolds, who subscribed to the 1791 edition of Cugoano’s text.

Angelica Kauffman

1 March – 30 June 2024

Angelica Kauffman RA was one of the most celebrated artists of the 18th century. This major exhibition traces her trajectory from child prodigy to one of Europe's most sought-after painters. The exhibition includes the loan of Johan Joseph Zoffany, The Academicians of the Royal Academy. As it was regarded as improper for women to attend the Academy’s life drawing classes, Zoffany depicts the two female founding members, Angelica Kauffmann and Mary Moser, as portraits on the wall.