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| Steven Spurrier Excursion 1952 oil on panel (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Basil Spence Design for Cathedral Church of St Michael, Coventry 1953 drawing (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Richard Eurich The Mariner's Return 1953 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"Eurich's flair for painting coastal scenes was recognised in the early 1940s when he was appointed an Official War Artist. He lived from 1934 in Dibden Purlieu, Hampshire, where the nearby Solent and Southampton docks became an important source of inspiration. Eurich said that his Diploma Work showed a scene of his own invention – it was his policy never to make preparatory sketches, but to rely instead on visual memory and imagination. The painting playfully overturns historical and spatial expectations, with a gull's-eye view of an antique sailing ship approaching a modern-day harbour."
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| Cosmo Clark French People Talking and Drinking 1953 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Howard Robertson Design for Shell Building, Lambeth 1953 drawing (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Ruskin Spear Portrait of Ernest Marsh ca. 1954 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"Ernest March worked in a fish and chip shop in King Street, Hammersmith. He often sat for Ruskin Spear, who was said to have been fascinated by his 'wonky eyes.' Although this portrait is painted on canvas, Spear preferred to paint on board. He said that 'a paying sitter doesn't feel he is getting his money's worth unless he is portrayed on canvas! It's just a silly, traditional idea.' In this light, Spear may have thought it more appropriate to present a Diploma Work on canvas to the Royal Academy."
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| John Nash The Barn, Wormingford 1954 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"After the Second World War, John Nash settled at Bottengoms Farm at Wormingford, Essex, a secluded village in the Stour Valley. Nash appreciated the particular light and atmosphere of the modest uplands and dense hollows found here. He rarely attempted to paint directly from nature, preferring to work in the constant light of his studio from sketches and watercolours made on the spot. However, for the present work he may have done so, as the view represented here aligns with that from the window of Nash's studio on the top floor of his cottage, looking down over the garden to farmland beyond."
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| Edward Le Bas Girl in Blue Armchair ca. 1954 oil on board (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Raymond Erith Design for Bridge over the River Cherwell, Oxford 1954 drawing (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Robin Darwin Campo San Geremia, Venice 1954 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Hubert Worthington Design for British Memorial to Missing Soldiers, El Alamein, Egypt 1955 drawing (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Allan Gwynne-Jones Portrait of Catherine Norman ca. 1956 oil on board (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| William Scott Still Life with Pears 1957 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Marshall Sisson Design for Alterations and Additions to St-Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, Queen Victoria Street, London ca. 1958 drawing (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Peter Greenham Portrait of Eric Hebborn ca. 1959 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"Eric Hebborn first got know Peter Greenham as a "Visitor" at the Royal Academy Schools in the late 1950s. Hebborn greatly respected Greenham as a teacher, describing him later as 'retiring, courteous and amiable.' A star pupil, Hebborn turned the traditional skills he learnt in the Academy Schools to rather unusual ends. Having established a dealer's gallery in Rome, he flooded the art market with thousands of paintings, drawings and sculptures executed in the style of various Old Masters, many of which were subsequently sold as originals at major auction houses. When these forgeries first came to light in 1984, Hebborn was unapologetic and went on to capitalise on his notoriety by publishing an autobiography cheekily entitled The Art Forger's Handbook (1991)."
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| Paul Ayshford Methuen, 4th Baron Methuen Camden Crescent, Bath ca. 1959 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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| Gilbert Spencer From My Studio Window ca. 1959 oil on canvas (diploma work) Royal Academy of Arts, London |
"Born at Cookham, Berkshire thirteen months after his brother, the painter Stanley Spencer, Gilbert Spencer studied at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, the Royal College of Art and the Slade School. He later taught at the Royal College of Art and was Head of Painting both at Glasgow School of Art and Camberwell. His Diploma Work with its muted palette of greys, blues and greens is typical of landscapes he repeatedly depicted in the southern English counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Dorset."
– quoted texts adapted from Royal Academy notes