William
Shipley, Viscount Folkestone and Lord Romney, founded the Society
of Arts in 1754. The main objective of the society was to promote
the arts, productivity and trade. It was the first organisation ever
set up in Britain to benefit art and science.
The Society of Arts started out in Covent Garden and then moved to
premises off the Strand. By 1762 there were already 2,500 members
or fellows of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). It 1760 it held the
first ever public exhibition for a group of artists but later it tended
to concentrate on industrial design rather than fine art. In 1851
the society was responsible for the Great
Exhibition.
Rudolf
Ackermann, Society of Arts, from Microcosm of London
(1808)
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