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An accomplished painter of the human body, York’s William Etty always showed a preference for painting the physical form. He took and taught life classes with the Royal Academy, and his diploma piece, Sleeping Nymph and Satyrs was an incredibly realistic representation of the female body. This talent though was mistrusted by the Victorian critical circuit. Described variously as lascivious, a voyeur, voluptuous, and even a fetishist, Etty struggled to justify his extensive use of the female nude. While he claimed that, to use a quote printed on the wall of the exhibition, “To the pure of heart all things are pure”, his critics saw things differently. His paintings showed a “debasing sensuality”, one said, while another said that his nudes showed an ”absence of soul … A naked figure is a most beautiful and respectful sight if the soul be naked too”, to many critics, his nudes were superfluous to the needs of his paintings. Of course, if he had not used his talent for painting the human form so prolifically, it is unlikey that he would have been remembered today. Still, the more critically acclaimed paintings were those with a demure and vulnerable stance, as in Venus and Cupid rather than the bold stance in Pandora Crowned by the Seasons which calls to mind the Medici Venus.
It is this preoccupation with nudes which defines the first room in York Gallery’s Etty exhibition. This then leads to a room of copies of the Old Masters, to my eye significantly less interesting beyond an admirable amount of skill. Then we move on to a room of life drawings, each very beautiful in their own way. This room is the one which comes most closely to rivalling the first, as seeing not only his talent but also his works in progress and being able to divine his technique was not only beautiful to look at, but also very interesting. Finally, a smaller room of his commissioned portraits, by their very nature less interesting than his more personal works which display more flair than the undeniably skilful portraiture on display here.
The first and largest room is the most impressive. Apart from the paintings, there are relevant quotes from Etty and his critics printed onto the walls, as well as comprehensive notes to each painting. These notes are also used in a film about the artist. Sketches for the larger paintings are also on display, as is Etty’s certificate of entry to the Royal Academy. You can take home a mock newspaper which will give you more information about the artist and his contemporaries. The layout is intuitive, however, it is a shame that the lighting could not be set up better because there was a significant amount if glare on a lot of the paintings which made it necessary to adopt a strange pose when trying to view them. All in all though, a thoroughly enjoyable and well-presented collection showing the range of an excellent painter.
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