Sir William Beechey RA (12 December 1753 – 28 January 1839) was a British portraitist during the golden age of British painting.
Sir William Beechey RA (12 December 1753 – 28 January 1839) was a British portraitist during the golden age of British painting.
Social inequality occurs when resources within a society are distributed unevenly, often as a result of inequitable allocation practices that create distinct unequal patterns based on socially defined categories of people. Differences in accessing social goods within society are influenced by factors like power, religion, kinship, prestige, race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, intelligence and class. Social inequality usually implies the lack of equality of outcome, but may alternatively be conceptualized as a lack of equality in access to opportunity.
Social inequality is linked to economic inequality, usually described as the basis of the unequal distribution of income or wealth. Although the disciplines of economics and sociology generally use different theoretical approaches to examine and explain economic inequality, both fields are actively involved in researching this inequality. However, social and natural resources other than purely economic resources are also unevenly distributed in most societies and may contribute to social status. Norms of allocation can also affect the distribution of rights and privileges, social power, access to public goods such as education or the judicial system, adequate housing, transportation, credit and financial services such as banking and other social goods and services.
'The Marlborough Family' is a 1778 large portrait painting by the British artist Joshua Reynolds. It is a group portrait of Fourth Duke of Marlborough, his wife the Duchess of Marlborough and their children including George, later the fifth Duke.
Reynolds was the president of the Royal Academy and leading British portrait painter of the era. With eight sitters, it was the most ambitious group painting he had so far attempted. He travelled to Blenheim Palace between 13 August and 4 September 1777, where he spent much of his time with sittings of the children. According to the young artist William Beechey the Duchesses mother the Duchess of Bedford was not impressed with the depiction of her daughter but Reynolds pretended not to hear because of his well-known deafness.
The Royal Academicians in General Assembly is a 1795 oil painting by the English artist Henry Singleton. It depicts the assembled members of the British Royal Academy of Arts in the Council Chamber at Somerset House in London, then the headquarters of the academy. They are judging the various works of art produced by students of the academy. In his diary Joseph Farington noted disagreements amongst the Academicians about their respective placings in the picture. It includes many members who did not actually attend meetings including the two founding female members Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser.
On the wall on the right is a self-portrait of the first president of the Royal Academy Joshua Reynolds who had died in 1792. Two subsequent presidents are shown in the crowd, his successor the American-born Benjamin West and the young Thomas Lawrence, then an associate of the Royal Academy. West sits on the Presidential throne while to his right in a yellow waistcoat is the architect William Chambers who had designed the building at Somerset House. The noted portraitist William Beechey is included, although he wasn't elected for another three years. There are a number of casts of sculptures on display behind the artists, including the Apollo Belvedere, Borghese Gladiator, Laocoön and His Sons, and Venus de' Medici. The paintings include portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte by Reynolds, Christ Blessing Little Children by West, Spring by Mary Moser, The Tribute Money by John Singleton Copley and Samson and Delilah by John Francis Rigaud.