Royal Academy Exhibition of 1840

The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1840 was the seventy second annual Summer Exhibition of the British Royal Academy of Arts. It was held at the National Gallery in London from 4 May to 24 July 1840 and featured submissions from leading painters, sculptors and architects of the early Victorian era.^[1]

J.M.W. Turner submitted a series of paintings including landscape scenes of Venice and Naples. One of his more unusual works was The Slave Ship which showed the crew of a slaver throwing their enslaved prisoners overboard in a scene likely inspired by the eighteenth century Zong massacre.^[2] Edwin Landseer, a specialist in animal paintings, featured a number of works including Laying Down the Law. One of his best-known paintings it shows a group of dogs who resemble the proceedings of an English court of law.^[3]

Francis Grant, an emerging Scottish portrait painter, displayed Queen Victoria Riding Out featuring Queen Victoria and her Prime Minister Lord Melbourne at Windsor.^[4]

• 
  The Slave Ship by J.M.W. Turner
• 
  Venice, the Bridge of Sighs by J.M.W. Turner
• 
  Venice from the Giudecca by J.M.W. Turner
• 
  The New Moon by J.M.W. Turner
• 
  Bacchus and Ariadne by J.M.W. Turner
• 
  Neapolitan Fisher Girls Surprised Bathing by Moonlight by J.M.W. Turner
• 
  Rockets and Blue Lights by J.M.W. Turner
• 
  Laying Down the Law by Edwin Landseer
• 
  Horses Taken in to Bait by Edwin Landseer
• 
  The Lion Dog of Malta by Edwin Landseer
• 
  Islay, Tilco, a Macaw and Two Lovebirds by Edwin Landseer
• 
  A View in Cairo by David Roberts
• 
  The First Meeting of Petrarch and Laura by Henry Nelson O'Neil
• 
  The Irish Whiskey Still by David Wilkie
• 
  Nell Gwynn at the Tavern by Charles Landseer
• 
  The Glee Maiden by Robert Scott Lauder
• 
  The Ford by Thomas Creswick
• 
  The Eve of the Deluge by John Martin
• 
  The Assuaging of the Waters by John Martin
• 
  Gil Blas Introducing Himself to Laura by William Simson
• 
  Mars, Venus and an Attendant Derobing her Mistress for the Bath by William Etty
• 
  Andromeda, Perseus Coming to Her Rescue by William Etty
• 
  The Contrast by John Callcott Horsley
• 
  Neapolitan Peasants at the Festa of the Madonna dell'Arco by Thomas Uwins
• 
  Boar Hunters Refreshed at Saint Augustine's Monastery, Canterbury by John Rogers Herbert
• 
  The Banquet Scene in Macbeth by Daniel Maclise
• 
  A Scene from Gil Blas by Daniel Maclise
• 
  A Scene from Twelfth Night by Daniel Maclise
• 
  Almsgiving by Charles West Cope
• 
  A Neapolitan Boy Decorating the Head of His Innamorata by Thomas Uwins
• 
  Ave Maria Scene Near Tivoli by William Collins
• 
  First Love by William Mulready
• 
  Fair Time by William Mulready
• 
  Great Temple at Edfou by David Roberts
• 
  Loss of the Royal George by John Christian Schetky
• 
  The Duke of Wellington with Colonel Gurwood at Apsley House by Andrew Morton
• 
  Portrait of Mary Shelley by Richard Rothwell
• 
  Portrait of the Duke of Wellington by John Lucas
• 
  Portrait of Lord Denman by Martin Archer Shee, previously displayed at Exhibition of 1833
• 
  Portrait of James Rivett-Carnac by Henry William Pickersgill
• 
  Portrait of Charles Dickens by Daniel Maclise
• 
  Portrait of David Roberts by Robert Scott Lauder
• 
  Portrait of Lord Arbuthnott by David Wilkie
• 
  Portrait of Queen Victoria by David Wilkie
• 
  Portrait of Earl of Cottenham by Charles Robert Leslie
• 
  Portrait of the Duke of Sussex by Thomas Phillips
• 
  Portrait of Marshal Soult by George Peter Alexander Healy
• 
  Portrait of John Whichelo by George Frederick Watts
• 
  Portrait of Queen Victoria by Thomas Sully

• Salon of 1840, a contemporary French exhibition held at the Louvre in Paris

• Hamilton, James. Turner - A Life. Sceptre, 1998.
• Herrmann, Luke. J.M.W. Turner. Oxford University Press, 2007.
• Murray, Peter. Daniel Maclise, 1806-1870: Romancing the Past. Crawford Art Gallery, 2009.
• Ormond, Richard. Sir Edwin Landseer. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1981.
• Shanes, Eric. The Life and Masterworks of J.M.W. Turner. Parkstone International, 2012.
• Tromans, Nicholas. David Wilkie: The People's Painter. Edinburgh University Press, 2007.
• Weston, Nancy. Daniel Maclise: Irish Artist in Victorian London. Four Courts Press, 2009.