Staged to coincide with the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, this display revisits important moments in the history of the Academy and of its annual show. It explores the inception of the Summer Exhibition as a showcase for grand society portraits and epic history scenes, the role of the exhibition in the fight for women’s suffrage and the impact of two World Wars, and the exhibition’s current status as a platform for both established and unknown contemporary artists. The exhibition includes works by artists from Constable and Millais to Tracey Emin and Cornelia Parker. Find out more about ‘The Great Spectacle’ from the RA’s website.
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Isabella (1849), John Everett Millais. Courtesy National Museums Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery
The Leaping Horse (1825) John Constable. Photo: John Hammond; © Royal Academy of Arts, London
Public and Private Buildings executed by Sir John Soane between 1780 and 1815 (1818), Joseph Michael Gandy. Courtesy Sir John Soane’s Museum, London
A Private View at the Royal Academy (1881), William Powell Frith. Courtesy Martin Beisly
Reconstructing Seurat (Orange) (2004), Michael Craig-Martin. Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian
![Masterpiece [Re]discovery 2022. Photo: Ben Fisher Photography, courtesy of Masterpiece London](http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/MPL2022_4263.jpg)
Has the Fitzwilliam lost the hang of things?