Thor Battering the Midgard Serpent, 1790, Henry Fuseli, RA. Photography John Hammond. © Royal Academy of Arts

Exhibition Preview: High Art: Reynolds and History Painting 1780-1815 And High Life: Celebrating the loan of W.P Frith's Private View at The Royal Academy, 1881 - are on show at The Royal Academy of Arts until November 2009.

This new display of paintings at The Royal Academy includes major works given by early Members of the Royal Academy to the Collection.

These include biblical subjects by Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley and John Francis Rigaud, as well as Henry Fuseli’s fantastical 'Thor Battering the Midgard Serpent'.

History painting was regarded as the pinnacle of high art and strongly promoted by Sir Joshua Reynolds above other genres such as portraiture, landscape and still life.

Seminal self-portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin West are displayed and these promote the two individual artists.

The Royal Academicians in General Assembly, 1795, Henry Singleton. Photography John Hammond. © Royal Academy of Arts

These allude to the knowledge and learning required to pursue history painting, with casts of antique statues, a bust of Michelangelo and books on history included as props, to enhance the image of the artist.

Henry Singleton’s painting elevates the Academy as a whole. In his huge painting of 'The Royal Academicians in General Assembly', finished in 1795, he depicts the Academicians in their grand rooms at Somerset House, surrounded by antique casts and some of the paintings included in this display.

The painting played an important role in the promotion of history painting and in establishing the Royal Academy as an institution of high standing.

The second part of the exhibition focuses on the loan of W.P. Frith’s Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881.

Painted in 1883, this is Frith’s last major panoramic painting and shows the cream of Victorian society at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1881.

(Above) Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881, W.P. Frith, RA. Oil on canvas, 1883. (Collection: Pope Family Trust). © Christies Image Limited

Frith includes a host of notable figures from Oscar Wilde and Lily Langtry to the Prime Minister William Gladstone, actress Ellen Terry and illustrator John Tenniel.

Frith’s painting has a satirical edge. The artist wished to ridicule the Aesthetic Movement which flourished in the 1870s and 1880s in both the fine and applied arts.

The movement promoted ‘art for art’s sake’ and rejected the need for narrative or moral content that was so prominent in Victorian England, in order to concentrate solely on the beauty of the work itself.

The subject of the painting is the contrast between lasting historical achievements and ephemeral fads. The portrait of Disraeli represents the former, and the influence of the Aesthetic movement in dress represents the latter.

Aesthetic dress is exemplified by the principal female figures in green, pink and orange clothing. Oscar Wilde with a lily in his buttonhole, and the woman with flowing robes and a sunflower pinned to her dress both epitomise aesthetes.

Hung alongside this picture are subject paintings by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Briton Riviere, a portrait of Lord Leighton by G.F. Watts and H.H. Armstead’s marble relief of The Ever Reigning Queen, which was first seen by the public in the very exhibition that Frith depicts.

The exhibition is held in The John Madejski Fine Rooms of The Royal Academy of Arts, and admission is free.

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