Society of Artists of Great Britain

The new society organised their first exhibition in April 1760 and over one thousand visitors per day attended.

[3] The following year they held their second 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.

Paine won, but Chambers used his strong connections with George III to create the new body – the Royal Academy of Arts was formally launched in 1769.