 He was a founding member of the British Institution in 1805, which in 1815 upset many British artists by a preface to the catalogue of their exhibition of Old Masters, implying rather too strongly that British artists had a lot to learn from them.The publication in 1815–16 of a series of satirical ""Catalogues Raisonnés"", probably by Robert Smirke, ridiculed Beaumont for his conservatism, after which he retired from public life to Coleorton.A visit to Italy in 1821 in which he met Antonio Canova restored his morale, and while there he bought the "Taddei Tondo" by Michelangelo, which he later donated to the Royal Academy.