Royal Academy Exhibition of 1780

[3] Benjamin West submitted a large number of works including history paintings recounting victories in the Nine Years War almost a century earlier.

[5] Joshua Reynolds, the President of the Royal Academy, demonstrated his versatility with a variety of submissions featuring the young Prince William Frederick and the historian Edward Gibbon.

[7] Other war-themed paintings were Francis Holman's The Moonlight Battle featuring a British naval victory over the Spanish while sailing to relieve the besieged garrison at Gibraltar.

[8] Philip James de Loutherbourg depicted Warley Camp a painting of a military review by George III of troops gathered to resist invasion.

[9] Thomas Gainsborough submitted a number of painters but was disappointed by their placings in the exhibition, a growing issue with the academy which would ultimately lead to his boycotting it.