and Parker made all the decisions. They travelled to Edinburgh to select potential exhibits, and in 1829 Parker was elected an honorary member of the newly established Scottish Academy. ‘However, London and provincial artists of note were slow to send works to the Northumberland exhibitions because sale numbers were low.’ Financial losses meant that Richardson and Parker were forced to sell the academy in 1831, carrying over debts amounting to £1,700. The Business of Art Throughout these enterprises Parker remained a prolific portrait painter with an eye to maximising his income. Brandling's successor as MP for Northumberland, Matthew Bell (1793–1871), commissioned a portrait: ‘The picture is to be engraved by subscription, and will afford many of the friends of Mr. Bell an opportunity of paying a compliment to the local usefulness and private worth of the individual, by placing their names on the list which hangs beside the painting.’ In March 1832 the mayoress of Newcastle gave a grand ball and supper to mark the coronation of William IV. This came ‘from a laudable desire to serve the tradesmen who had all suffered in some degree from the previous visitation (cholera) it was resolved that this should be a fancy, as well as a dress ball … There were between 500 and 600 persons present … Mr. Henry Perlee Parker, artist of Newcastle, is at present engaged in painting a picture of this grand fancy dress ball.’ The painting was purchased by the mayor. A portrait of Reverend Robert Morrison (1782–1834), the first Christian Protestant missionary in China, was presented to the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1833. Sales of mezzotint prints of Parker's work became increasing important to his finances, and in 1833, Danger was his first painting to be purchased by Ackermann's of London for reproduction and publishing. Ackermann's print shop in Regent Street, London, was advertised as having "the largest collection of exhibition prints and of London always on view: from 1s. to 21s. plain and coloured". As publishers, Ackermann's were leaders in the field of selling multi-coloured lithographic images.' Perhaps through the influence of Ackermann's, Parker would start to appreciate the importance of a good title – Looking Out (‘a resolute smuggler, leaning out of a porthole’) and Looking In (‘a weather-beaten sailor, in a similar position, reading the Naval Gazette) would become two of his best-known Ackermann prints. The Banquet Given