Diploma Collection

• Reference:GB 1716 RSA2/1/2/1

• Administrative / Biographical History

  It is a requirement that within a set period after election, a Member can only use the letters RSA after their name if they have deposited an example of their current art practice to the Academy’s permanent collection. This group of works is known as the diploma Collection and is regarded as the core part of the collection. In theory it would be natural to assume that the diploma Collection contains the best examples of art in the collection. Whilst his can be said of some of the works it does not cover everything. The first Diploma Collection deposits were not made until 1831. For many years the RSA Diploma Collection was displayed in the back galleries (Galleries 3 & 4) at The Mound, other than during the Annual Exhibitions, and the brass plaque which used to hang at the Southern portico of the RSA Building is in the RSA Collections