This landmark publication is a meticulously researched and highly illustrated portrait of the development of the Royal Academy from its foundation to the present day. Through unlimited access to the wonderful archives presented in the Royal Academy Library, and interviews with senior Academicians, James Fenton provides a scholarly yet accessible history of this unique institution. As an objective onlooker, he interweaves colourful Academy characters and intrigues with hard facts, shifts in policy and changes in direction that anticipate or respond to events of the time. In particular he looks at the Academy over the twentieth century: the storms the Academy has weathered, its successes and failures, and its hopes and plans for the future.