Eyre Crowe (1824-1910)

It’s Eyre Crowe’s 200^th birthday!

The pinnacle of the art season in London in the mid-19^th century was the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Only members of the Academy had their paintings automatically accepted. Eyre Crowe had to compete with others until he was elected as an Associate in 1876. The first painting of his to grace the walls was ‘Master Prynne Searching Archbishop Laud’s Pockets in the Tower’ in 1846. Between 1857 and 1908, a remarkable 62 consecutive years, at least one Eyre Crowe painting was to be seen at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Most were reviewed in the numerous newspapers and art periodicals which dedicated reams of copy to the exhibition in the 19^th century. This website Eyre Crowe (1824-1910) contains information about all the paintings and transcripts of the reviews.

I have come today to the Royal Academy Archives, in their wonderfully atmospheric library, to see a series of master sales catalogues from the summer exhibitions, starting in 1861. I am hoping to find out more details about some of the paintings which were sold to new owners directly from the Royal Academy exhibition walls.