Editing Martin Archer Shee (section)

===Writing===
[[File:William IV by Sir Martin Archer Shee.jpg|thumb|''[[Portrait of the Duke of Clarence]]''. Portrait of [[William IV|William, Duke of Clarence]], 1800]]
[[File:Portrait of Henry Grattan -Martin Archer Shee .PNG|thumb|Portrait of the Irish politician [[Henry Grattan]], a friend of Archer Shee.]]

In 1805 he published a poem consisting of ''Rhymes on Art'', and a second part followed in 1809. [[Lord Byron]] spoke well of it in his ''English Bards and Scotch Reviewers''. Shee published another small volume of verse in 1814, entitled ''The Commemoration of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and other Poems'', but this was less successful. He also produced a [[tragedy]], ''[[Alasco]]'', set in [[Poland]]. The play was accepted at [[Covent Garden]], but was refused a licence, on the grounds that it contained treasonable allusions, and Shee angrily resolved to make his appeal to the public. He carried out his threat in 1824, but ''Alasco'' was still on the list of unacted dramas in 1911. He also published two novels – ''[[Oldcourt (novel)|Oldcourt]]'' (1829, in three volumes) and ''Cecil Hyde'' (1834).{{cn|date=December 2022}}

On the death of Sir [[Thomas Lawrence]] in 1830, Shee was chosen president of the Royal Academy in his stead and shortly afterwards received a [[knighthood]]. In 1831, he was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]]. {{cn|date=December 2022}}

In an examination before the parliamentary committee of 1836 concerning the functions of the Royal Academy, he ably defended its rights. He continued to paint till 1845, when illness made him retire to Brighton. He was deputised for at the Academy by [[J. M. W. Turner]], who had appointed him a trustee of the projected Turner almshouse. From 1842 to 1849, he was the first president of the [[Royal Birmingham Society of Artists|Birmingham Society of Artists]].<ref name="RBSA-1933-Spring">{{cite journal|last=Anon|year=1933|title=The Spring Exhibition, 1933 (catalogue)|publisher=RBSA}}</ref>