William Etty: Art and Controversy

William Etty RA (1787-1849) was one of the most prolific and successful British artists working in the first half of the nineteenth century. He was celebrated for his skill as a colourist and ability to emulate the art of the old masters. Etty focussed almost exclusively on the nude and contemporaries were quick to acknowledge the artist’s ability to translate the studies he made in the life-class into large-scale, highly imaginative historical compositions. At the same time, he faced repeated critical condemnation for what was seen as his preoccupation with ‘pulpy’ flesh and his perverse interest in the female nude.

The pervasive and at times savage criticism Etty endured throughout his career has come to dominate modern perceptions of the artist and has contributed towards his current art historical neglect. Indeed, despite his striking loyalty to the values and the practises of the contemporary Royal Academy, of which he was a leading member, history has recast Etty as a figure of controversy. This catalogue will re-examine his important and energetic contribution to artistic practise in the nineteenth century. Featuring a series of scholarly essays written by leading experts on British art in the period, it will reassess Etty’s use of the nude, his training at the Royal Academy and his large scale historical canvases. In doing so, it will challenge the prevailing historiography on the artist and propose a new framework within which his art can be understood.

William Etty: Art and Controversy will be the first major art-historical study of the painter’s work in over fifty years and will provide an invaluable new source for scholars of nineteenth-century British art. This significant reappraisal of Etty’s art will be underpinned by the extensive new research undertaken for the forthcoming major exhibition of the artist’s work, to be held at York Art Gallery.