Exhibition of 1761

Two prominent members of the Society of Artists the painter Joshua Reynolds and architect James Paine sought out a new exhibition space, which they found at Spring Gardens close to the Strand.

The exhibition featured works from leading British painters including William Hogarth, Francis Hayman, Richard Wilson, Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds and the sculptor Joseph Nollekens.

[7] Gainsborough, then based in Bath and establishing himself as a fashionable portrait artist, sent a painting of the Irish politician Lord Nugent.

For the one shilling exhibition catalogue Hogarth designed a frontispiece featuring the young George III and Britannia, with a preface by Samuel Johnson.

[10] [11] Later, during the Coronation of George III in September 1761, the Society illuminated the building in Spring Gardens with images associating the new monarch with Britain's naval victories and artistic success.