British Institution, (Pall Mall)

Unlike the Royal Academy or the Society of Watercolorists, London's other leading arts origanziations in the early nineteenth century, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom was openly elitist. It was more or less a club for collectors and connoisseurs rather than artists, opening its exhibitions to just a select few. Here, a handful of painters, both men and women—but all dressed very well—copy the old master paintings on view. The Institution later provided much of the impetus for the foundation of the National Gallery.