Royal Academy Schools, silver medal (George III)

After Mr T. Pingo and Giovanni Battista Cipriani RA (1727 - 1785) and Edward Penny RA (1714 - 1791)

RA Collection: Art

The first students were admitted to the RA Schools in 1769, and the following year ten were awarded ten gold and silver medals as prizes. This prize medal shows the Roman goddess of wisdom Minerva seated beside a student carrying a drawing instrument and book. Minerva directs the student towards the Temple of Fame at the summit of a hill reached only by a rugged and winding path. The image symbolises the long and careful study required before a young artist could gain any reward, a maxim reinforced by the Latin inscription HAVD FACILEM ESSE VIAM VOLVIT (She did not desire the way to be easy).

On the other side of the medal is a profile portrait of King George III, the monarch under whose patronage the Royal Academy was founded in 1768.

The medal was executed by Thomas Pingo from a design by G.B. Cipriani (a founder Member) and Edward Penny.

Further reading



Laurence Brown, British Historical Medals 1760-1960 (3 vols.), London 1980, vol.1, p.30