This gathering of all the signatures of the Academicians (members) fo the Royal Academy (with those of the Council of the Royal Academy in the centre), within an elaborately drawn pen and ink border, seems to relate to the death of King George III and accession of George IV in 1820.

According to Joseph Farington's diary, one "Paton", a calligrapher, was commissioned in February 1820 to inscribe a Loyal Address from the Academicians to King George IV upon the death of his father and his accession to the Throne.¹ The Royal Academy Council Minutes record that the Council debated the form of address, with a final agreed text entered into the minutes of General Assembly on the 4th August 1820, along with an order that the calligraphic copy be forwarded to the King (RAA/GA/1/3, pp.323-327). It seems that the address itself was presented on the 6th - perhaps together with this list of the full membership of the Academy, represented by their signatures, perhaps not, although the top edge does reveal traces of another line of text, indicating that the signatures were at the foot of another document.

It is possible that this set of signatures, which includes famous names, was cut off the Address at some point and "disposed of", only to appear later, perhaps via a manuscript and/or print dealer, and enter a private collection, from which it was presented to the Soane perhaps many decades later, stripped of its context.

¹ Farington's Diary, vol. XVI, p.5468, 25th February 1820.

We are grateful to Mark Pomeroy, Archivist of the Royal Academy, for his assistance with this entry, 2023.

Presented to the Museum in 1970.