Note 54 — HOGARTH ILLUSTRATED.
Reading edition
Several other pictures were presented to the hospital by the few eminent painters who then lived in London.
"The donations in painting which several artists presented to the Foundling Hospital were among the first objects of this nature which engaged the public attention. The artists observing the effects that these paintings produced, came, in the year 1760, to a resolution to try the fate of a public exhibition of their works. This effort had its desired effect. The public were entertained, and the artists were excited to emulation."—Strange's Inquiry into the Rise and Establishment of the Royal Academy, p. 63.
This gives Hogarth a right to be classed, if not among those who were founders of the Royal Academy, as one of the first causes of its establishment.