Royal Academy of Arts
London, United Kingdom
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution in London, founded in 1768 under the patronage of King George III to promote the visual arts through exhibition and education. Its first president was the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, and it is led and governed by its membership of practising artists and architects, known as Royal Academicians. Since 1868 it has occupied Burlington House on Piccadilly.
The Academy is privately funded and best known for its annual Summer Exhibition, an open-submission show held since 1769, as well as for its major loan exhibitions and the Royal Academy Schools, Britain's oldest art school.