The Royal Society of Portrait Painters is a British association of portrait painters which holds an annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London. Members use the initials "RP" after their names. London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England and is the most populous city in the European Union. ...

The Royal Society of Portrait Painters was founded in 1891 by 24 artists who were dissatisfied with the selection policies of the Royal Academy for its annual exhibition in London. They formed themselves, as the Society of Portrait Painters, into a new body to be concerned solely with portrait painting. The Society was, and is, formed of members elected, on the basis of the quality of their work, by existing members. Members have an automatic right to display paintings at the annual exhibition, but most of the exhibits are selected, in addition, from non-members of the society who submit their best recent portrait work for show. This article refers to an art institution in London. ...

The first exhibition of the Society was held in 1891. The catalogue of that exhibition shows that its committee then consisted of A. Stuart-Wortley (Chairman), Hon. John Collier, Arthur Hacker, G.P. Jacomb Hood, S.J. Solomon, James Jebusa Shannon and Hubert Vos. The other members listed were Percy Bigland, C.A. Furse, Hugh De T. Glazebrook, J. MacLure Hamilton, Heywood Hardy, Herman G. Herkomer, Henry J. Hudson, Mrs Louise Jopling, T.B. Kennington, W. Llewellyn, W.M. Loudan, Arthur Melville, Mrs Anna Lea Merritt, F.M. Skipworth, Mrs A.L. Swynnerton, W.R. Symonds, Mrs Mary Waller, Edwin A. Ward, Leslie Ward (better known as "Spy"), and T. Blake Wirgman. This article concerns John Collier, writer and painter. ... Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (1863) by Simeon Solomon. ... James Jebusa Shannon (1862 - 1923), Anglo-American artist, was born at Auburn, New York, and at the age of eight was taken by his parents to Canada. ... Arthur Melville (1858-1904) was a British painter. ... William Robert Symonds (1851 - November 7, 1934) was an English painter. ... Sir Leslie Ward (1851–1922) was a British portrait artist and caricaturist. ...

Other early members included Sir John Everett Millais, George Frederick Watts, John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler. Women were eligible for membership from the start, and Dame Laura Knight was one such. John Everett Millais (June 8, 1829–August 13, 1896) was a British painter and illustrator who was one of founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. ... George Frederic Watts, as depicted in a biography available from Project Gutenberg Hope painted in 1885 and given to the nation in 1897 George Frederic Watts (23 February 1817 - 1 July 1904; sometimes spelt George Frederick Watts) was a popular English Victorian painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. ... Self Portrait, oil painting, 1907 John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was a painter known for his portraits. ... Self portrait James Abbott McNeill Whistler (July 14, 1834 – July 17, 1904) was an American-born, British based painter and etcher. ...

At the Coronation Exhibition of 1911, which marked its 20th anniversary, it was announced that King George V had conferred on the Society the status of a Royal Society, and it has been known as the Royal Society of Portrait Painters since then. King George V King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Emperor of India His Majesty King George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert) (3 June 1865–20 January 1936) was the last British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, changing the name to the House...

The Times suggested on 22 April 2006: "Of the country’s two major annual portrait exhibitions, the one at the National Portrait Gallery in June might be better known, but the one at the Royal Society is surely the more glittering, as it is to the society that many of the country’s powerful institutions go to commission portraits of their leaders."

The Society is a member of the Federation of British Artists.

Links

• Website of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters
• The Times 22 April 2006, previewing the 2006 exhibition.