Royal Society of Arts including Cheere and William Hogarth, or were involved in small-scale private art academies, such as the St Martin's Lane Academy. Although Cheere's attempt failed, the eventual charter, called an 'Instrument', used to establish the Royal Academy of Arts over a decade later was almost identical to that drawn up by Cheere and the RSA in 1755. The RSA also hosted the first "exhibition of contemporary art" in 1760. Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds were among those who exhibited at this first exhibition, and were subsequently founder members of The Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. The Society was a pioneer
Colin Davidson (artist) Colin Davidson (artist) Colin Davidson (born 1968) is an Irish visual artist, living and working near Belfast, Northern Ireland. An artist who works in themes, his recent large-scale head paintings have been exhibited worldwide. Davidson was born in Belfast in 1968 and attended Methodist College Belfast between 1980 and 1987. He graduated from the University of Ulster in 1991 with a First Class Honours Degree in Design. He worked in the field of design for print until 1999 when he started to paint full-time. Davidson is an Academician of the Royal Ulster Academy and served as President of the Royal