Royal Academy of Arts to that drawn up by Cheere in 1755. It was Sir William Chambers, a prominent architect and head of the British government's architects' department, the Office of Works, who used his connections with George III to gain royal patronage and financial support for the Academy in 1768. The painter Joshua Reynolds was made its first president, and Francis Milner Newton was elected the first secretary, a post he held for two decades until his resignation in 1788. The instrument of foundation, signed by George III on 10 December 1768, named 34 founder members and allowed for a total membership of
Temporary exhibitions at the Royal Academy 1 the Winter Exhibitions programme became far more ambitious and included major surveys of Italian, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, French, Persian and British art. Since 2013, the RA has made digitized catalogues of the pre-1939 exhibitions freely available on its website. Temporary exhibitions at the Royal Academy This page contains a partial list of temporary exhibitions mounted at the Royal Academy (RA) in London. Only major lending exhibitions are listed: shorter-term events such as the London Original Print Fair are not included, nor are the annual Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions. Note: the list is known to be incomplete prior to 1987.