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Royal Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts

Formation	1833
Founder	David Octavius Hill
Type	Arts, Literature & Science

The Royal Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts was an Edinburgh based organisation. The object of this Association was to advance the cause of Art in Scotland, by affording additional encouragement to its artists.

History

A previous organisation to promote the Fine Arts had recently folded in January 1833. The Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland was a short lived organisation, which found difficulty after the Royal Scottish Academy opened in 1826.

With the Academy bedding in, and the old Royal Institution limping to its recent death, it was felt that the promotion of fine arts was still necessary, though a more structured association was more desirable. David Octavius Hill, the painter and activist, who left the Royal Institution to help found the Royal Scottish Academy, ensuring the Royal Institution's demise, became involved in founding a newer association.

The new Royal Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts was founded in 1833. With the help of the sculptor John Steell, a constitution was worked on and this was finalised in 1835. The Association used a lottery, then a novel way, which was introduced to buy and distribute art.

Constitution

The Constitution was printed in the Inverness Courier of Wednesday 18 November 1835. The Honorary Secretary of the Association was based in Inverness.

The Association For The Promotion Of The Fine Arts In Scotland.

The Constitution of the Association is as follows:
I. Every Subscriber of One Guinea shall be a Member of the Association for one year, and the Subscriber of a larger sum will be entitled to the privilege mentioned in Article VIII.
II. The whole amount of Annual Subscriptions snail be devoted exclusively, with the single exception of any deduction for necessary expenses, to the purchase a selection from the works Scottish Artists, exhibited in the Annual Exhibition of the Scottish Academy.
III. A General Meeting of the Members shall held annually in May, when a Committee Management will be appointed for the ensuing year, each Member having equal vote in the appointment of such Committee.
IV. This Committee shall consist of eleven gentlemen who are not Artists,- seven whom will out annually.
V. The Committee shall be entrusted with full powers to employ the Funds of the Association in the purchase of what may appear to them the most deserving works of Scottish Art, exhibited annually at the Scottish Academy.
VI. The purchase of these Works shall take place in the months of Match and April, during the period that the Exhibition is open to the Public; and the first purchase shall be made in March 1835.
VII. Upon the close of the exhibition, the different works purchased for the Association the 11 become, by Lots publicly drawn at the Annual Meeting in May, the property of individual Members.
VIII The Subscriber of One Guinea shall be entitled to one chance; of Two Guineas to two chances, and so on.
IX. The Committee of Management shall annually publish a Report in the month of May, wherein they shall state the principles that guided them in the selection of the Works of Art they may have purchased, and enter into such other details as may appear them proper.

At the First Annual General Meeting, held in the Waterloo Rooms, Edinburgh, the 29ih of May 1835, Lord Meadowbank in the Chair, the following Resolutions, on the motion of Lord Cockburn, seconded by Colonel McDonald of Powderhall, were unanimously adopted :
I. That in addition to the steps which have already been taken in this country to advance the interests ot the' Fine Arts, it is eminently desirable secure the favourable attention of the public at large to any plan by which a subject so intimately connected with the moral and intellectual prosperity Scotland, may be made more generally familiar and attractive to all classes.
II. That the Association recently established well calculated achieve this end, both the facility it affords to the community at large, to act collectively' and little individual expenditure, in raising an Annual Fund for the purposes of Art, and by the encouragement which the judicious distribution of that Fund cannot fail give to the exertions native artists.
III. That the public, therefore, throughout the country, be earnestly invited to become Members of the Association during the ensu year ; and that, for this purpose, honorary secretaries be appointed in all the leading provincial towns.
IV. That the cordial thanks of this Meeting be given to the Committee of Management for the year 1834-35, for the able, zealous, and judicious manner in which they have discharged the important duties entrusted to them.

On the motion of Professor Wilson, seconded by Mr William Jardine, Bart., the following Gentlemen were elected a Committee of Management for the year 1833-6:
Lord Meadowbank. Douglas Sandford, Esq. Lord Cockburn. Advocate. The Dean of Faculty. G. Moir, Esq. Advocate. Robert Bell, Esq., Advo- A. M unto, Binning, Esq. rale. S. Rev. Mr Sham on. D. R. Hay, Esq. Trea- Thomas Allan, Esq. surer. Henry Glassford Bell, Esq. Advocate, Secretary.

Thereafter, the following Pictures, which had been purchased for the Association, were distributed by Ballot, as under:
1. Rembrandt in his Study, Alexander Fraser, £l7o—Henry Westmacott, E.-q. Royal Terrace.
2. II Paradisino, Vallatnbrosa, by Andrew Wilson, £lOO—J. W. M'Kenzie, Esq. Scotland Street.
3. View in Park, near Hamilton, by Horatio M'Culloch, B. Gracie, Esq. George Square.
4. The Conchologist, by William Smellie Watson, Edward Piper, Esq. Hope CTesent.
5. Bnckhaven, by J. F. Williams, £3o—Joseph M‘Lrregor, Esq. Accountant, George Street.
6. View the Water of Eeith, by -Montague Stan, ley, £25— J. R. Stodard, Esq. Drummond Place.
7. View of the Forth, near Alloa, by Alexander Nasmyth, £22—Thomas Mai.land, Esq. 122, George Street.
8. Evening, Scene the Beach Newhaven, by D. O. Hill, Wm. Bryden, 80, Rose Street.
9. Harvest Noon, by J. A. Hutchison, £2o—Lord Corehouse, Anslie Place.
10. The Lesson, by Daniel M'Nee, £lB—Charles Morton, Esq. W.S., Smith's Place.
11 Landscape Composition, D. M. M'Kenzie, £l7—Hamilton Pyper, Esq. 15, Royal Crescent.
12. The Gossips, by William Bonnar, XTC—Sir Wm. Maxwell of Calderwood, Bart.
13. Highland Shelties, by Alex. Forbes, £ls—Geo. Moir, Esq. Register Otlice.
14. Road Scene at Inveresk, by George Simpson, W. M'Dowall, Esq. of Gartland.
15. Head of L3ch Sheal, Inverness-shire, by Macneil MacLcay, £lo—Win. Spens, Esq. Accountant, 14, Drummond Place.
16. Sketch of an Oyster Boat, by D. O. Hill, £lo— Johnston, Esq. of Straiton.
17. Pliny’s Villa, Lake of Como, by James Giles; £8 - J. S. Darling Esq., Scotland Street.
18. Loch Doon in the Grampians, by James Giles, £B—John Learmonth, ISsq. Moray Place.
19. Landscape Composition, R. W. Kilgour, Berwick, Csq. Regent Terrace.
20. A'iew of the Church of San Carlo Torso, Rome, by Charles Lees, —Dr Cantor, 52, Hanover Street.
21. Reading the News, by Walter Geikie, £o —James Ducat. Esq. AV.S. Royal Circus.
22. Crammond Iron Wotks, by Macneil MacLeay, _ Philip B. Ainslie, Esq. StColme's House, Ftfeshire.
23. View near Lasswade, and Cottages at the Dean, near Edinburgh, by the late A. S. Masson, £3 Wm. Gourlay, Esq. 21, Regent Terrace.
24. Portobello Sands, by the late A. S. Masson, £3— The Marquess of liOthian, New battle.
25. Old Broughton, by Joseph M‘lntyre, £3—Dr Thatcher, Elder Street.
26. View on the Castle Hill, the late A. S. Masson, 10a David Smith, Esq. Doune Terrace.
27. Muirland Cottage, Twilight, by D. M. Innes; £2 - Alex. M. Anderson, Esq., Fettes Row.

Persons desirous of becoming Members of the Association, will please intimate their intention to Joseph Mitchell, Civil Engineer, Honorary Secretary in Inverness.

Awarding prizes to Australia.

Monies to the RSA.

Lottery.

1849

References

Category:Art schools in Scotland