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Rh the words “I approve of this plan; let it be put into execution.” This document, known as the “ Instrument,” defined under twenty-seven heads the constitution and government of the Royal Academy, and contained the names of the thirty-six original members nominated by the king. Changes and modifications in the laws and regulations laid down in it have of course been made, but none of them without the sanction of the sovereign, and the “Instrument” remains to this day in all essential particulars the Magna Charta of the society. Four days after the signing of this document—on 14th December—twenty-eight of the first nominated members met and drew up the Form of Obligation which is still signed by every academician on receiving his diploma, and also elected a president, keeper, secretary, council, and visitors in the schools; the professors being chosen at a further meeting held on the 17th. No time was lost in establishing the schools, and on 2nd January 1769 they were opened at some rooms in Pall Mall, a little eastward of the site now occupied by the Junior United Service Club, the president, Sir Joshua Reynolds, delivering on that occasion the first of his famous “ discourses.” The opening of the first exhibition at the same place followed on 26th April.

The king when founding the Academy undertook to supply out of his own privy purse any deficiencies between the receipts derived from the exhibitions and the expenditure incurred on the schools, charitable donations for artists, Ac. For twelve years he was called upon to do so, and contributed in all something over £5000, but in 1781 there was a surplus, and no further call has ever been made on the royal purse. George III. also gave the Academy rooms in what was then his own palace of Somerset House, and the schools and offices were removed there in 1771, but the exhibition continued to be held in Pall Mall, till the completion in 1780 of the new Somerset House, when the Academy took possession of the apartments in it which the king, on giving up the palace for Government offices, had expressly stipulated should be provided. Here it remained till 1837, when the Government, requiring the use of these rooms, offered in exchange a portion of the National Gallery, then just erected in Trafalgar Square. The offer, which contained no conditions, was accepted. But it was not long before the necessity for a further removal became imminent. Already in 1850 notice was given by the Government that the rooms occupied by the Academy would be required for the purposes of the National Gallery, and that they proposed to give the Academy £40,000 to provide themselves with a building elsewhere. The matter slumbered, however, till 1858, when the question was raised in the House of Commons as to whether it would not be justifiable to turn the Academy out of the National Gallery without making any provision for it elsewhere. Much discussion followed, and a royal commission was appointed in 1863 “to inquire into the present position of the Royal Academy in relation to the fine arts, and into the circumstances and conditions under which it occupies a portion of the National Gallery, &c.” In their report, which contained a large number of proposals and suggestions, some of them since carried out, the commissioners stated that they had “ come to the clear conclusion that the Royal Academy have no legal, but that they have a moral claim to apartments at the public expense.” Negotiations had been already going on between the Government and the Academy for the appropriation to the latter of a portion of the site occupied by the recently purchased Burlington House, on which the Academy offered to erect suitable buildings at its own expense. The negotiations were renewed in 1866, and in March in the following year a lease of old Burlington House, and of a portion of the garden behind it, was granted to the Academy for 999 years at a peppercorn rent, subject to the condition that “ the premises shall be at all times exclusively devoted to the purpose of the cultivation of the fine arts.” The Academy immediately proceeded to erect, on the garden portion of the site thus acquired, exhibition galleries and schools, which were opened in 1869, further additions being made in 1884. An upper storey was also added to old Burlington House, in which to place the diploma works, the Gibson statuary, and other works of art. Altogether the Academy, out of its accumulated savings, has spent on these buildings more than £160,000. They are its own property, and are maintained entirely at its expense.

The government of the Academy was by the “Instrument” vested in “a president and eight other persons, who shall form a council.” Four of these were to retire every year, and the seats were to go by rotation to every academician. The number was increased in 1870 to twelve, and reduced to ten in 1875. The rules as to retirement and rotation are still in force. Newly-elected academicians begin their two years’ service as soon as they have received their diploma. The council has, to quote the “ Instrument,” “ the entire direction and management of the business ” of the Academy in all its branches; and also the framing of new laws and regulations, but the latter, before coming into force, must be sanctioned by the general assembly and approved by the Sovereign. The general assembly consists of the whole body of academicians, and meets on certain fixed dates and at such other times as the business may require; also at the request to the president of any five members. The principal executive officers of the Academy are the president, the keeper, the treasurer, the librarian, and the secretary, all now elected by the general assembly, subject to the approval of the Sovereign. The president is elected annually on the foundation day, 10th December, but the appointment is virtually for life. No change has ever been made in the conditions attached to this office, with the exception of its being now a salaried instead of an unsalaried post. The treasurership and librarianship, both offices originally held not by election but by direct appointment from the Sovereign, are now elective, the holders being subject to re-election every five years, and the keepership is also held upon the same terms; while the secretaryship, which up to 1873 had always been filled like the other offices by an academician, has since then been held by a layman. Other officers elected by the general assembly are the auditors (three academicians, one of whom retires every year), the visitors in the schools (academicians and associates); and the professors of painting, sculpture, and architecture—who must be members—and of anatomy and chemistry. There are also a registrar, and curators and teachers in the schools, who are appointed by the council.

The thirty-six original academicians were named by George III. Their successors have been elected, up to 1867, by academicians only—since that date by academicians and associates together. The original number was fixed in the “Instrument” at forty, and has so remained. Each academician on his election has to present an approved specimen of his work—called his diploma work—before his diploma is submitted to the Sovereign for signature. On receiving his diploma he signs the Roll of Institution as an academician, and takes his seat in the general assembly. The class of associates, out of whom alone the academicians can be elected, was founded in 1769—they were “to be elected from amongst the exhibitors, and be entitled to every advantage enjoyed by