William Etty

[2][3] While painters such as J. M. W. Turner (a strong supporter of the Royal Academy) were beginning to move away from the influence of the Old Masters to create uniquely British styles, they adhered to principles established by Reynolds.

[20] Applicants to the Royal Academy Schools were expected to pass stringent ability tests, and on his arrival in London Etty set about practising,[20] drawing "from prints and from nature".

[10] Aware that all successful applicants were expected to produce high quality drawings of classical sculptures, he spent much time "in a plaster-cast shop, kept by Gianelli, in that lane near to Smithfield, immortalised by Dr. Johnson's visit to see 'The Ghost' there",[D] which he described as "My first academy".

[41][I] The 28-year-old Etty had fallen in love,[J] and fretted about the difficulties a potential marriage would cause, and whether it would be right to travel to further his career even though it would mean taking his new wife to a foreign country.

[42] Travelling through the Simplon Pass to Piedmont revived his spirits somewhat; he found the variety of colour in the landscapes of northern Italy fascinating, and in late September arrived in Florence.

[42] Despite the grandeur of Florence, Etty was severely depressed, writing to his brother on 5 October that "I feel so lonely, it is impossible for me to be happy" and complaining of "the vermin in the bed, the dirt and the filth" which he considered "such as no Englishman can have any idea of, who has not witnessed it".

[52] Sir Francis Freeling had admired The Coral Finder at its exhibition, and on learning that it had already been sold he commissioned Etty to paint a similar picture on a more ambitious scale, for a fee of 200 guineas (about £21,200 in 2025 terms[28]).

[36] Now in his mid 30s, he felt that for his work to progress beyond mere competence he needed a chance to study those European masters whose styles he most admired, despite his unpleasant experiences the last time he left England.

[57] Recalling his homesickness and loneliness the last time he had ventured abroad, for his next foreign trip Etty travelled in the company of Richard Evans, who had been a fellow student of Thomas Lawrence.

[63] Etty had long considered Venice his spiritual home and "the hope and idol of my professional life", and had often wondered why, given its artistic importance, so few English travellers visited the city.

[77] Etty was considered extremely unattractive, described by his 1855 biographer Alexander Gilchrist—a great admirer—as "Slovenly in attire, short and awkward in body—large head, large hands, large feet—a face marked with the small-pox, made still more noticeable by length of jaw, and a quantity of sandy hair, long and wild: all, conspired to make him 'one of the oddest looking creatures' in a Young Lady's eyes—what she would call 'a sight'; one, not redeemed (to her), by the massive brow, its revelation of energy and power, the sign-manual of Genius there legible.

[48][T] It appears to me then that virtuous happiness being our lawful aim in life, that having Academic Rank and Fame the next thing to be considered (if God approve) is to seek that Decent Competency which shall make my latter days comfortable and happy, which I hope if it please Him, to be able to do by the time I am fifty—by occasionally mixing with my historic pictures a Portrait or two, and to vary and extend my sphere—a classic Landscape or two so that if I can get about 100 a year I may be enabled to retire to my dear native city and spend my latter days in peace.Even after he had achieved status as a full Royal Academician, Etty regularly attended life classes; fellow artist John Constable sarcastically wrote that "Etty [sets] an excellent example to the Modles [sic] for regularity".

[105] Unusually for Etty, Hero is painted in intentionally neutral tones rather than his usual Venetian colours,[121] and the composition uses foreshortening of the bodies to create a single diagonal across the canvas.

[143] Purchased for a huge sum by Robert Vernon on its exhibition,[V] Youth and Pleasure remained controversial long after Etty's death, with Farr's 1958 biography describing it as "singularly inept".

[157] In mid-1833 Etty began a portrait of the daughters of Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn, the long-serving Conservative Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire, titled Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball.

[167] This was condemned in much of the press as pornographic,[167] and was described as having a "total absence of soul",[168] with The Observer in particular extremely hostile, calling for the Archbishop of Canterbury to become involved in chastising Etty for his lack of taste.

[167] We must, indeed, be more serious with this gentleman [Etty] than is our wont, for the "Society for the Suppression of Vice" are not to be excused for their prosecutions in cases of obscene publications, and the Lord Mayor himself deserves at once to be sent to the tread-mill for imprisoning a little Italian boy for hawking about the streets a naked Cupid, if such lascivious scenes, such gross insults to morality and decency, are allowed to be exhibited at the Roy.

Several ladies, we know, were deterred from going into this corner of the room to see Leslie's, Webster's, and other pictures of great merit there, to avoid the offence and disgrace Mr. E. has conferred on that quarter ... Really, really, if Mr. E., with all his power of colour, turn his drawings of the human figure to no honester purpose—if the absence of all taste and decency is to mark his Academical studies, it is high time that he had a hint from an authority which neither he nor the Council of the Academy will dare to treat slightly.

[170] After Jonathan Martin's arson attack on York Minster in 1829 caused major damage, there were proposals by the dean and chapter to take the opportunity of the destruction to restructure the interior of the building.

[174] The city gates ("Bars") had become a public health hazard given the number of locals using them as toilets, and theft of stone for other building works had left parts of the walls dangerously unstable.

[186] A Family of the Forest illustrates a passage from the Ancient Greek poem Theogony, dealing with the Golden Age before humanity suffered pain, misery or the need to work.

[188] Although he considered himself "in [my] heart's core deeply and sincerely of the Ancient Faith",[188] he refused formally to convert to Catholicism owing to concerns that it would upset his family and friends, worries that he would be denied access to Anglican buildings such as York Minster, and a distaste for the concept of auricular (spoken) confession.

[189] He remained closely associated with Catholicism throughout his later life, and was one of the few non-Catholics to attend the 1838 opening of Augustus Pugin's chapel for St Mary's College, Oscott, at the time the most important Roman Catholic building in England.

[206] From around this time onwards, while Etty still held to his belief that the purpose of art is to illustrate moral lessons, he began to abandon the literary, religious and mythological themes which had dominated his work.

[AC] He continued to have difficulty forming relationships with any woman other than Betsy Etty, writing in his diary in 1843 that "being in sound Mind and Body I declare it to be my Firm Intention NEVER TO MARRY.

[216] The perceived lack of respect shown to one of England's leading artists led to some outcry, and attacks in the press upon the then very unpopular Albert;[216] William Makepeace Thackeray wrote in 1845: "Think of the greatest patronage in the world giving forty pounds for pictures worth four hundred—condescending to buy works from humble men who could not refuse, and paying for them below their value!

[218][AD] Musidora shows a scene in which the titular character, having removed the last of her clothes, steps into "the lucid coolness of the flood" to "bathe her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream", unknowing that she is being watched by her suitor Damon.

[230] In late 1848 he wrote a brief autobiography, published the following year in The Art Journal, in which he staunchly defended himself against the accusations of pornography which had been levelled at him throughout his life: As a worshipper of beauty, whether it be seen in a weed, a flower, or in that most interesting form to humanity, lovely woman, in intense admiration of it and its Almighty Author, if at any time I have forgotten the boundary line that I ought not to have passed, and tended to voluptuousness, I implore His pardon; I have never wished to seduce others from that path and practice of virtue, which alone leads to happiness here and hereafter; and if in any of my pictures an immoral sentiment has been aimed at, I consent it should be burnt; but I never recollect being actuated in painting my pictures by such sentiment.

That the female form, in its fulness, beauty of colour, exquisite rotundity, may, by being portrayed in its nudity, awake like nature in some degree an approach to passion, I must allow, but where no immoral sentiment is intended, I affirm that the simple undisguised naked figure is innocent.

[241] While Etty did have admirers, the patchy quality of his later work meant that he never acquired the circle of imitators and students that could have led to him being seen as the founder of the English realist movement, now considered to have begun in 1848 with the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Well-dressed man and an elderly woman
Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn and his mother Frances Shack­erley, Joshua Reynolds , c. 1768–69 . By the early 19th century Reynolds's style dominated British art.
Pencil sketch of warriors on horseback
Sketches from the Elgin Marbles by William Etty. Aspiring students were expected to draw from classical sculptures as part of the admission process.
Dark-skinned child in colourful clothing
The Missionary Boy (1805–06) is thought to be Etty's oldest significant surviving painting. [ 20 ] [ F ]
Nude man holding a long pole
Male Nude with Staff (1814–16). Although a commercial failure in the 1810s, Etty was greatly respected at the RA for his ability to paint realistic flesh tones.
Woman carrying a basket of flowers
Miss Mary Arabella Jay (1819), one of the earliest paintings exhibited by Etty at the Summer Exhibition to survive. Etty's style at this time was still heavily influenced by Lawrence.
Naked woman on a boat, surrounded by naked children
The Coral Finder (1820)
William Etty, self-portrait, 1823
The Bridge of Sighs , Venice (1835) was painted from pencil sketches made by Etty during his 1822 visit. [ 61 ] [ N ]
reclining nude woman
Etty's 1823 copy of Titian's Venus of Urbino was considered among the finest copies of that painting ever made. Etty was particularly pleased with this work and rejected all offers to purchase it, keeping it in his studio until his death. [ 66 ]
William Etty, self-portrait, 1825. This was painted when Etty was trying to advertise himself as a young and successful artist, and bears little resemblance to his real appearance. [ 76 ]
middle-aged woman and two elderly men
Betsy ( left ), Charles ( centre ) and William ( right ), October 1844
nude male with his arms tied above his head
Male Nude, with Arms Up-Stretched (1828). Despite his high status, Etty continued to study at the RA life classes. Professor Jason Edwards of the University of York suggests that this image may have been intended to be hung horizon­tally with the model on his back, [ 113 ] but it is more likely to be a study for a Descent from the Cross . [ 114 ] As of 2011, this painting was the York Art Gallery's best-selling postcard. [ 115 ]
topless woman lying on a dead man
Etty thought Hero and Leander (1829) one of his best works.
Andromeda ( c. 1830 ). Etty often added elements from literature to his life studies to allow him to sell them as history paintings. [ 124 ] The Lady Lever Art Gallery notes that the later addition of chains to transform this nude study into Andromeda "cannot be said to have had precisely the effect intended". [ U ]
James Atkinson (1832). Surgeon James Atkinson was the founder of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society , of which Etty was a member. [ 136 ] David Wilkie thought this one of the best portraits in England. [ 137 ]
Church altar with four wooden panels, two of which show Moses and Aaron
Reredos of St Edmund, King and Martyr , painted by Etty in 1833. The London branch of the Etty family had links to the church from the 1770s onwards. [ 155 ] Etty painted Christian paintings throughout his career, in particular Penitent Magdalenes . [ 156 ]
Standing man looking at a painting
William Etty in his Studio , John Henry Mole , 1834
Seven topless women, an empty suit of armour, and a balding man playing the lyre
Venus and her Satellites (1835)
Trains passing beneath a long wall to enter a station, near a large cathedral
Railway lines entering York station through the city walls, 1861. The cutting of an arch in the walls, and the noise and smoke of trains so close to York Minster, distressed Etty. [ 176 ]
The Sirens and Ulysses (1837, restored 2010)
balding man sketching a naked figure
William Etty at the Life Class , William Holman Hunt , 1840s
The Wrestlers ( c. 1840 ). Even as a highly acclaimed artist in his 50s, Etty continued to attend life classes.
dead bird lying next to a piece of fruit
Dead Pheasant and Fruit ( c. 1839 )
Somnolency (1838), Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums
Portrait of Mlle Rachel ( c. 1841 ) Etty probably met the celebrated French actress through William Macready. [ 209 ]
Givendale Church (1843). In the 1840s Etty began painting landscapes for the first time.
Naked woman standing in a stream
Musidora: The Bather 'At the Doubtful Breeze Alarmed' (1843, this version painted 1844, exhibited 1846) was arguably Etty's last significant history painting.
Family of ducks on a pond, with trees behind
Fishponds, Givendale (1848)
young woman holding a knitting needle, intently looking at a piece of cloth in her hands
Study for The Crochet Worker (1849). The final work (now lost) was one of the last pieces completed by Etty and was exhibited in his final Summer Exhibition. It shows his great-niece Mary Ann Purdon. [ 233 ]
Savege in a leopardskin and a woman in a wedding dress, surrounded by young women in various stages of undress
Cymon and Iphigenia , John Everett Millais (1848). Millais's early works were strongly influenced by Etty. [ 242 ]
Startled looking scantily clad woman, surrounded by nude half-humans
Una Alarmed by Fauns , William Edward Frost (1843, lithograph by Thomas Herbert Maguire 1847). Frost was one of the few English painters to continue to work in Etty's style in the decades following his death.
Statue of a standing man in a smock, holding a palette
G. W. Milburn's 1911 statue of Etty, Exhibition Square, York [ 249 ]