Thomas Smith

The British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom was founded as a private art gallery in 1805, and took over the lease of publisher John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery in Pall Mall, London. Its rich and noble subscribers (including the Prince of Wales, later George IV) patronised exhibitions of contemporary works, and also lent items for shows of Old Masters. The Institution also took in art students, and was a very popular public attraction in London: Jane Austen was among the many visitors from around the country. This 1860 book by Thomas Smith, a London historian, describes the founding and development of the Institution, with notices of its regular exhibitions and of special events such as the memorial dinner for Sir Joshua Reynolds. This is a fascinating account of a popular gallery in the first half of the nineteenth century, and of the tastes of its patrons and visitors.

Sir Thomas Smith (1513–77) was a humanist scholar, colonialist and diplomat, and also held a prominent position in the court of Queen Elizabeth. First published in 1906, this book contains the original 1583 text of De republica Anglorum, Smith's pioneering study of the English social, judicial and political systems. The work was written from 1562 to 1565, when Smith was Elizabeth's ambassador to France. This edition contains an editorial introduction and appendices, including information on manuscripts and versions of the text after 1583. It will be of value to anyone with an interest in Smith's writings and the nature of Elizabethan government.