The RBA Announces Phoebe Leach as the 2026 Rome Scholar
Edinburgh-based figurative artist to undertake the prestigious month-long residency at Sala Uno in Rome.
The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is delighted to announce that Phoebe Leach has been awarded the 2026 Marianne Von Werther Memorial Award, widely known as the RBA Rome Scholarship.
Leach, a figurative painter and printmaker who graduated with a BA (Hons) in Painting from the Edinburgh College of Art in 2024, was selected from a highly competitive pool of the UK’s most promising young artists. As the 2026 Rome Scholar, Leach receives a £5,000 prize and an immersive four-week residency at Sala Uno, a prestigious contemporary arts centre in the heart of Rome. During her residency, she will live in a self-contained apartment situated within the gallery’s extensive walled gardens and have access to dedicated studio space to develop her practice. Her work will also be featured in a forthcoming RBA Annual Exhibition.
In Tandem
Oil on Canvas 1.5m x 1m
Final Stages
Monotype, Ink on Japanese Paper
52cm x 32 cm
Synchrony
Pencil on paper
41cm x 29.7 cm
Capturing the Human Connection
Leach’s dynamic practice spans drawing, printmaking, and painting. Her work is deeply rooted in documenting individuals fully immersed in their environments—whether charting the transformative nature of youth sail training or observing surgical teams in the operating theatre.
Between 2024 and 2025, she served as the resident artist in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, where her recently opened solo exhibition is currently on display. Her time on the ward focused on celebrating the surgical staff while helping patients process and build narratives around their medical experiences.
"I am a figurative artist capturing meaningful human connections by documenting individuals amidst action: engaging with tasks, environments, and one another... Fully immersed at sea or during surgery, what it means to be human is made apparent: teamwork, communication, and tolerance."
— Phoebe Leach
Theatre 37
installed at Inspace Gallery, Edinburgh.
A Rising Star in Contemporary Figurative Art
Created directly from life, Leach's drawings are raw and immediate, capturing the energy of the dynamic spaces in which she operates. She frequently utilizes monoprinting to bridge the gap between initial life sketches and her layered, large-scale studio paintings. Within these larger works, she continuously explores the materiality of paint—how time, memory, and physical marks alter the embodiment of the final piece.
The RBA Rome Scholarship marks the latest in a rapid succession of accolades for the artist. Leach was previously selected for the RBA Rising Stars exhibitions in 2025 and 2026, and her work has been showcased widely, including at the RP Drawing Prize and the Scottish Portrait Awards. She is also a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award (2025) and is currently undertaking a residency with the Royal Collection Trust.
The RBA warmly congratulates Phoebe on this well-deserved recognition and looks forward to seeing how the historic surroundings, culture, and dedicated studio time in Rome will influence the next evolution of her portfolio.