Society of Artists of Great Britain

[3] The following year the breakaways staged the Exhibition of 1761, their innaugaral exhibition at Christopher Cock's Auction Rooms in Spring Gardens, Charing Cross,[3] and "In a conspicuous gesture they called themselves the Society of Artists of Great Britain to emphasise their identity with the 'nation' and to announce a clear split with Shipley's faction.

"[1] Some 13,000 people bought a copy of the catalogue for the 1761 exhibition which featured a frontispiece designed by William Hogarth depicting Britannia watering three trees marked Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

[1] Reynolds would later be a founder of the Royal Academy of Arts, after an unseemly leadership dispute between two leading architects, Sir William Chambers and James Paine had split the Society.

In May June 1769 the Society responded by expelling 33 leading artists who had exhibited with the Royal Academy.

His leadership was undermined by further defections to the Royal Academy and the financially unwise decision of his predecessor the architect James Paine to construct large new premises in the Strand.