Life drawing class. 19th-century artwork of students drawing from life during a class at the Royal Academy, Somerset House, London, UK. The Royal Academy was located in this building's New Wing from 1780 to 1837. This artwork is from 'The Microcosm of London', a series of 104 hand-coloured aquatints depicting London buildings and scenes. They were published by Rudolph Ackermann between 1808 and 1810, and then collected in three folio volumes. The artworks combined architectural details by Charles Augustus Pugin, and human figures drawn by Thomas Rowlandson. This aquatint, published 1 January 1808, was engraved by Harraden.