Election of A.R.A.'s, 1864
Henry Stacy Marks, RA (1829-1898)
Sketch
Illustration in Marks, facing p. 152
This was an anxious time: election as an A.R.A (Associate of the Royal Academy). was eagerly anticipated by up-and-coming artists. It would signal their arrival on the art world stage. Failure to be elected was disappointing, not to say devastating, and humour was one way of coping with both the anxiety beforehand, and the possible let-down afterwards.
Scanned image and text by Jacqueline Banerjee