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William Etty was an English artist best known for his historical paintings containing nude figures. He was the first significant British painter of nudes and still lifes. Born in York, he left school at the age of 12 to become an apprentice printer in Hull. He completed his apprenticeship seven years later and moved to London, where in 1807 he joined the Royal Academy Schools. There he studied und…
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culture · English painter (1787–1849) · painter · artist · also William Etty, w. etty R.A., sir william etty, w. etty, W. Etty, William, R.A. Etty
Born 10 March 1787 · Died 13 November 1849 · Q766362
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“Uncle paid the last debt to nature at 1⁄4 past Eight oclock tonight. I do not know what to do. I am almost broken hearted. I have lost my best friend. I now [sic] not what to do. I can say no more.”
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Terms) to dealer Richard Colls and the engraver C
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Terms) in return for his accepting the younger William as a private pupil for a year
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The panel was sold at auction by Bonhams]
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And a major retrospective of his work at the York Art Gallery in 2011–12 led to renewed interest in his work
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Restoration began on it, and in May 2010 Sirens was returned to public display and is now one of the key works in the Manchester Art Gallery
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“Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum?”
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And 1938 had little impact, and likewise an exhibition of 30 Etty paintings in 1948 to mark the reopening of the York Art Gallery and another York exhibition of 108 paintings the following year to mark the centenary of h
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“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
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The city of York belatedly recognised Etty
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As Etty's popularity continued to wane
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Many years after Etty's death, Etty is sometimes credited with their salvation
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By this time Etty's style of painting had badly fallen out of fashion
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“Emancipation—Black and White”
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"It cannot be doubted that the voluptuous treatment of his subjects, in very many instances, recommended them more powerfully than their admirable art; while we may fully believe that he himself, thinking and meaning no
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Died 1849-11-13.
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The Royal Society of Arts decided to organise a retrospective exhibition of Etty's work, the first since the minor York exhibition of 1836
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Shortly after a major retrospective exhibition
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With the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
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William retired to York leaving Betsy alone in his London apartment; although aware that Betsy was considering marriage he was confident that he could persuade her to come to York and live with him in his retirement
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Following a complaint from a female student about a display of replicas of Ancient Greek sculptures, "the master was requested to have the penis of each of the offending statues cut off [
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His younger brother Charles, a successful planter in Java, returned to England after over 30 years abroad
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That "being in sound Mind and Body I declare it to be my Firm Intention NEVER TO MARRY
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From a new generation led by The Art Union, who praised Etty's technical abilities but saw his choice of subjects as out of touch and anachronistic, and "very frequently doing as little good for mankind as the priest who
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By the York and North Midland Railway to cut an archway through the walls to allow access to a railway station within the walls galvanised Etty, and he delivered two lectures on the preservation of the walls during visit
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Etty started lobbying for the establishment of an art school in York
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It was one of the main attractions at the 1837 Summer Exhibition, the first to be held in the Royal Academy's new building in Trafalgar Square (now part of the National Gallery)
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Etty began work on The Sirens and Ulysses, which he considered among his greatest works, and which is his largest surviving painting
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Architect John Harper arranged a small exhibition in York of works by modern artists, which included 11 Etty paintings
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Going as far as to have her sign an affidavit that she would never leave him
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Etty returned to the theme of A Sketch from One of Gray's Odes, exhibited in 1822 to such disdain from the press
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That "it is best I have not married because I have not noisy Children and can have nice Books, and Pictures etc"
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Which reached a peak in late July as the July Revolution began and riots erupted across Paris
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The Storm, inspired by Psalm 22, attracted little interest and was dismissed by The Gentleman's Magazine—typically a staunch supporter of Etty's work—as "a sad failure"
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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
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Benaiah, David's Chief Captain and Hero, Having Thrown Herself from the Tower at the Sight of Leander Drowned, Dies on his Body
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Etty became increasingly drawn to Catholicism
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Allowed Etty to return the figures to the state in which he had originally painted them
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The British Institution awarded him £100 in recognition of his talent
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Etty had written to his mother expressing horror at the demolition proposals, but distracted by the need to complete Sleeping Nymph and Satyrs was unable to take any action himself
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Was elected a Royal Academician, at the time the highest honour available to an artist
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And three were on the theme of Judith beheading Holofernes, the first of which was exhibited in 1827
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Etty exhibited his most ambitious work to date, The Combat: Woman Pleading for the Vanquished
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But attention on both sides of the debate was diverted by the Minster fire
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Was abandoned half-finished, and he began again on a smaller canvas with different positioning of the key figures of Pandora, Vulcan and Venus
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Writing to his brother that "If one spent all the time in painting originals, one might as well, nay better, be at home"
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Featured numerous nudes and was exhibited to great acclaim
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Cleopatra was generally extremely well received, and considered among the finest paintings of its kind, and its success inspired Etty to paint more works in a similar vein
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On the same theme, and had already decided on the arrangement of the figures
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That of the story of Pandora and in particular the passage in Hesiod in which the seasons crown her with a wreath
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Etty entered a copy of Damiano Mazza's The Rape of Ganymede—at the time thought to be by Titian—in one of the Royal Academy's painting competitions
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In the face of his continued lack of success, Etty decided to spend a year in Italy to study the artworks held in the great Italian collections
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Etty's persistence paid off
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Etty's uncle William, with whom he had been staying, died
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Studied at Royal Academy of Arts (1807).
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The Corporation sought permission from Parliament to demolish the Bars and much of the walls
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Born 1787-03-10.
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