He was disappointed in teachers and travels; swore himself never to marry and lived with his niece, whom he forced to devote herself to taking care of him; attended student classes in his forties. People gathered to watch him painting and called the artist Il Diavolo for his speed and accuracy; the English press condemned him for pictures considered immoral and pornographic; He produced one of the most accurate copies of the famous Titian painting regarded by his contemporaries as impossible to copy. This all is about the British artist William Etty (1787-1849), who worked in the genre of history painting, which dominated at that time.
Fig. 1. William Etty, self-portrait, 1823 (Wikipedia.org)
Fig. 2. A Young Woman Reclining on a Fur Rug (fineartamerica.com)
Fig. 3. Academic study of a male nude (fineartamerica.com)
Fig. 4. The Deluge (fineartamerica.com)
Fig. 5. Hero and Leander, 1829 (Wikipedia.org)
Fig. 6. The Three Graces (fineartamerica.com)
Early Years
Witty was born in York, the place he would love the most, in a family of a successful baker. From an early age, he manifested his talents by drawing in chalk on the floor of his father's shop. Eleven years old, Witty became an apprentice printer to the publisher Robert Peck of Hull, and he loathed this work from the very start. When the seven years contract expired, Witty was filled with happiness, which he reminded in his autobiography more than forty years later. Two months after receiving freedom, he arrived in London to enroll in the Royal Academy Schools and began preparing for the entrance exams. Students were obliged to copy classical sculptures. Interestingly, the drawing that he showed to the painter John Opie was a copy of the Roman Cupid and Psyche. Impressed, Opie sent Etty to Henry Fuseli, who accepted the young artist to RAS. The cornerstone of Etty's artistic view became Opie's statement that the artist shouldn't idealize the figures but depict them in the flesh of ordinary humans, so the painting will be more engaging. Opie pointed at Titian as the example of this belief and a master of color, and Etty followed this principle throughout his career.
Fig. 7. Male nude with arms stretched (Wikipedia.org)
Fig. 8. Ariadne (fineartamerica.com)
Fig. 9. Ariadne 2 (fineartamerica.com)
Idols and Disappointments
Considering Thomas Lawrence was one of the greatest portraitists of that time, Etty wanted to become his pupil, and his uncle paid Lawrence 100 guineas for the artist to hold Etty as a private student for a year. When, instead of exciting insights about fine arts, Etty was ordered to copy some old paintings of the master with an opportunity to have a brief consultation when he needed it, the pupil felt deeply disappointed. Yet, money was paid, and Etty patiently did his work.
Fig.10 Nymph Angling (fineartamerica.com)
Fig. 11. Nude bather by a stream (fineartamerica.com)
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Sources: Wikipedia.org; fineartamerica.com
