The Wrestlers (Etty)

Last updated

The Wrestlers, (William Etty, c. 1840)
53.5 by 68.6 cm (21.1 by 27.0 in), York Art Gallery The Wrestlers by William Etty YORAG 89.JPG
The Wrestlers, (William Etty, c.1840)
53.5 by 68.6 cm (21.1 by 27.0 in), York Art Gallery

The Wrestlers is an oil painting on millboard by English artist William Etty, painted around 1840 and currently in the York Art Gallery, in York, England. It depicts a wrestling match between a black man and a white man, both glistening with sweat and under an intense light emphasising their curves and musculature. While little documentation of the painting exists prior to 1947, it is likely that it was painted over a period of three evenings at the life class of the Royal Academy.

Contents

The Royal Academy had moved to new premises in Trafalgar Square in 1837, and the studio used by the life class was cramped and hot, a fact thought to account for the sweatiness of the central figures. Etty was best known for his painting of nude or near-nude women in historical and mythological settings but had also painted men involved in various forms of combat.

In the period in which The Wrestlers was painted, sports were becoming increasingly popular, and the painting is both a reflection of this trend and a part of the English tradition of copying poses from classical Hellenistic works. It was also a time of change in the British attitude to race relations. Etty in this period was generally making a conscious effort to illustrate moral lessons in his work, and it is not clear whether he chose the topic as a form of social commentary or simply because the contrast between the black and white flesh tones was visually striking.

Although The Wrestlers was probably exhibited as part of a major retrospective of Etty's work in 1849, it then went into a private collection and was not publicly exhibited again for almost a century. In 1947 it was put on sale; with little interest from commercial galleries owing to its subject, it was bought for the bargain price of 30  guineas by the York Art Gallery, where it remains. The painting formed a part of major exhibitions in 2002 and 2011–12.

Background

Andromeda (1830s, Lady Lever Art Gallery). It fuelled Etty's notoriety for using scenes from literature and mythology as a pretext to paint nude women. Etty Andromeda.jpg
Andromeda (1830s, Lady Lever Art Gallery). It fuelled Etty's notoriety for using scenes from literature and mythology as a pretext to paint nude women.

William Etty (1787–1849), the seventh son of a York baker and miller, [3] had originally been an apprentice printer in Hull, [4] but on completing his seven-year apprenticeship in 1805 moved to London to become an artist. [3] In January 1807 he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools as a probationer, [5] and in July of that year became a student of renowned portrait painter Thomas Lawrence, [6] studying under him for a year. [7]

Strongly influenced by the works of Titian and Rubens, Etty became famous for painting nude figures in biblical, literary and mythological settings. [8] He became well-respected for his ability to capture flesh tones accurately in painting, and for his fascination with contrasts in skin tones. [9] Many of his peers greatly admired his work, and in February 1828 he defeated John Constable by 18 votes to five to become a full Royal Academician, [10] at the time the highest honour available to an artist. [11]

Between 1820 and 1829 Etty exhibited 15 paintings, of which 14 depicted nude figures. [2] While some nude paintings by foreign artists existed in private collections in England, the country had no tradition of nude painting and the display and distribution of nude material to the public had been suppressed since the 1787 Proclamation for the Discouragement of Vice. [12]

Etty was the first British artist to specialise in the nude, and the prurient reaction of the lower classes to these paintings caused concern throughout the 19th century. [13] Although his portraits of male nudes were generally well received, [upper-alpha 1] many critics condemned his recurrent depictions of female nudity as indecent. [2] [8]

Composition

In my time, as a Student, I have known him set three or four models together. Now, it was a group of Graces; now, a composition of two or three Gladiators. Sometimes, a dark man or tawny female was introduced, for picturesque contrast with a fair form of the same sex.

Maclise on Etty's arrangement of models at the Royal Academy life class [15]

The Wrestlers is an oil study from life, depicting a black and a white wrestler grappling. [1] Although at first glance the white wrestler appears to be dominant, the figures are in fact equally matched; [16] [17] this was unusual for the time, as it was a common belief in Britain in this period that black people were physically weaker than whites. [16] Showing the subjects under bright light, the painting is a combination of intense juxtapositions between intimacy and violence, dark and light skin, and hard and soft surfaces. [1] The black wrestler is naked; the white wrestler wears a loincloth, although it is possible that this was added after Etty's death. [16] The intense light casts deep shadows, emphasising the curves and musculature of the wrestlers' bodies, [18] as the skin of the two combatants is stretched and distorted under the pressure of the grapple. [19] The figures are set against a dark green curtain and a brown wall, rather than in a wrestling ring. [20]

The identity of the wrestlers is not known. Alison Smith, Lead Curator of British Art to 1900 at Tate, speculates that the white figure may have been John Wilton of Somerset, who had possibly been the model for Little John in Daniel Maclise's 1839 Robin Hood and His Merry Men Entertaining Richard the Lionheart in Sherwood Forest. [16] [upper-alpha 2] The figures glisten with sweat. Art historian Sarah Victoria Turner speculates that this is not simply for dramatic effect, but reflects the fact that after the Royal Academy's 1837 move to its new building in Trafalgar Square the studio used by the life class was a cramped and poorly ventilated room lit by gaslight, which when crowded with students and with the lights on could become extremely hot. [20]

William Etty at the Life Class, William Holman Hunt (1840-1850, York Art Gallery) William Etty at the Life Class by William Holman Hunt YORAG R3257-1 crop.jpg
William Etty at the Life Class, William Holman Hunt (1840–1850, York Art Gallery)

The Wrestlers is thought to have been painted in around 1840. [22] It is likely that it was executed at the Royal Academy's life class; despite his senior status, Etty continued to attend there throughout his life. While students at the class usually worked from a single model, Etty would occasionally arrange for "a Treat", in which a group of models would be used to create an entire composition for the students to sketch (often arranged in poses derived from Old Master paintings). [23] Painted on millboard, The Wrestlers was probably executed over the course of three evenings. On the first evening Etty would have drawn the models in chalk or charcoal and inked the outline; on the second evening the figures would have been painted in oil paint, and on the third evening a thin glaze would have been applied to the painting to which colour would then have been added. [19] [upper-alpha 3]

Subject

Although best known for his paintings of women, Etty had also produced paintings of nude or semi-nude men engaged in combat, such as 1829's Benaiah. There was a tendency among British artists in this period to attempt to illustrate the physiques of strong and well-proportioned living men, as an indication that the best of British manhood had reached or surpassed the Hellenistic ideal which at that time was considered the model of perfection. [16] Almost all artists, as part of their training, would be expected to draw from reproductions of classical statues in British museums, or to visit Italy and Greece to view the originals in situ. [24] Etty, and other British artists of the day, would have been familiar with the technical issues of drawing men wrestling, as the Uffizi Wrestlers (the Pancrastinae) was one of the subjects new entrants to the Royal Academy Schools were required to draw. [16] [upper-alpha 4] Etty had also made lengthy visits to France and Italy in 1816, 1822–24 and 1830 to view and sketch the paintings and statuary of those countries, with additional visits to Belgium in 1840 and 1841 to view the works of Rubens, whom he greatly admired. [26]

Benaiah (1829, York Art Gallery) Benaiah by William Etty YORAG 70.JPG
Benaiah (1829, York Art Gallery)

Moreover, as the industrial revolution took hold and the prevalence of manual labour declined, there were increasing concerns that British men would become unfit and undisciplined; images of sport and combat were thought to motivate the viewer to aspire to an ideal of physical strength which people were worried was becoming lost. [27] Wrestling and boxing thus were popular subjects for artworks, and Etty had produced other paintings and sketches of men engaged in fights of one kind or another. [27] [28] It had become common for artists to use boxers and soldiers as models, as they had the strength and bearing considered desirable, and the discipline to hold a pose for long periods in the studio. [16]

The motivation behind Etty's choice to pair a black and a white wrestler is not clear. Etty had painted black and Indian subjects in the past, [upper-alpha 5] and it was not unusual in that period for artists to use non-white models, but it was rare to show a black and a white figure embracing. It is possible that he was simply interested in the contrast between the flesh tones; [30] it is documented that he would sometimes arrange models of different skin colours for that reason. [15] It is also possible that he saw "primitive" black men as closer in spirit or physique to the wrestlers of the classical civilisations. [30] Sarah Victoria Turner argues that combat was the only subject in which it would have been felt appropriate at the time to depict naked black and white figures in intimate closeness. [18]

1840, the year in which The Wrestlers is likely to have been painted, saw the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London and the London exhibition of The Slave Ship and The Slave Trade , and race relations had become a major social and political issue. [18] While black wrestlers and boxers—often former slaves from the United States or their descendants—were not unusual in England in the period, [31] and the former slave Tom Molineaux had twice challenged for the boxing world championship in 1811, they were still treated with suspicion by many members of the public. [32]

Sale and exhibition

Etty had painted black models previously, such as Study of a Black Boy (1827-38, York Art Gallery) Etty Study of a Black Boy YORAG 856.jpg
Etty had painted black models previously, such as Study of a Black Boy (1827–38, York Art Gallery)

Virtually no contemporary records or reviews of The Wrestlers exist, [33] and it was probably sold to a private collector either on its completion or in the sale of over 800 works found in Etty's studio following his death; [16] [27] Dennis Farr's 1958 biography of Etty lists the painting exhibited in 1849 as "lent by C. W. Wass". [22] [upper-alpha 6] The Wrestlers was probably exhibited at the June 1849 Royal Society of Arts retrospective of over 130 works by Etty, shortly before his death on 13 November of that year. [35] (Etty produced three paintings entitled The Wrestlers, and it is not certain which was the one exhibited in 1849, [16] although it is thought likely to be this one. [27] )

Etty died in 1849, and his work enjoyed a brief boom in popularity. [36] Interest in him declined over time, and by the end of the 19th century the value of all his paintings had fallen below their original levels. [36] Following his death, nude paintings went out of fashion very rapidly in Britain. [37]

An old man, semi-nude, is stepping forward while another man, seen from the back and of dark complexion, embraces his legs. The picture is in my opinion not only a genuine Etty, but very well painted indeed, and as the subject is quite unsuitable for the art trade, it may go at a very cheap figure.

Art dealer Henry Montagu Roland, founder of art dealers Roland, Browse and Delbanco, on The Wrestlers, 1947. [1]

The Wrestlers was sold by a private collector on 31 October 1947. Owing to its subject matter there was little interest from commercial galleries, and it was bought by York Civic Trust for the bargain price of 30  guineas (£31.50; about £810 in 2023 terms [upper-alpha 7] ). [1] It was immediately presented to the York Art Gallery, where it remains. [16] The painting was one of five works by Etty exhibited in Tate Britain's 2002 exhibition Exposed: The Victorian Nude, and was a central component of a major retrospective of Etty's work at the York Art Gallery in 2011–12. [38]

Footnotes

  1. Etty's male nude portraits were primarily of mythological heroes and classical combat, genres in which the depiction of male nudity was considered acceptable in England. [14]
  2. "A Working Artist", writing anonymously in The Art-Union in 1841, described Wilton as "a 'Zummurzetshire man' but with such a head, face, and beard, as would have rejoiced Salvator. This gentleman has for some years cultivated his mustachios and his vegetables at the same time, of both of which he has a prolific crop." [21]
  3. As no records survive of the painting of The Wrestlers it is not certain how Etty worked, but it is well-documented that this three-day process was his usual method of working. [19]
  4. An early drawing of the Uffizi Wrestlers survives in one of Etty's sketchbooks. [25]
  5. Etty's first critically successful painting, The Triumph of Cleopatra , included black figures; he also painted portraits of black and Indian models. [29]
  6. C. W. Wass was a noted engraver who published engravings of some of Etty's works. [34]
  7. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Gainsborough</span> English portrait and landscape painter (1727–1788)

Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of the second half of the 18th century. He painted quickly, and the works of his maturity are characterised by a light palette and easy strokes. Despite being a prolific portrait painter, Gainsborough gained greater satisfaction from his landscapes. He is credited as the originator of the 18th-century British landscape school. Gainsborough was a founding member of the Royal Academy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucian Freud</span> British painter and engraver

Lucian Michael Freud was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewish architect Ernst L. Freud and the grandson of Sigmund Freud. Freud got his first name "Lucian" from his mother in memory of the ancient writer Lucian of Samosata. His family moved to England in 1933, when he was 10 years old, to escape the rise of Nazism. He became a British naturalized citizen in 1939. From 1942 to 1943 he attended Goldsmiths College, London. He served at sea with the British Merchant Navy during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Etty</span> British painter (1787–1849)

William Etty was an English artist best known for his history 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 under Thomas Lawrence and trained by copying works by other artists. Etty earned respect at the Royal Academy of Arts for his ability to paint realistic flesh tones, but had little commercial or critical success in his first few years in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nude (art)</span> Work of art that has as its primary subject the unclothed human body

The nude, as a form of visual art that focuses on the unclothed human figure, is an enduring tradition in Western art. It was a preoccupation of Ancient Greek art, and after a semi-dormant period in the Middle Ages returned to a central position with the Renaissance. Unclothed figures often also play a part in other types of art, such as history painting, including allegorical and religious art, portraiture, or the decorative arts. From prehistory to the earliest civilizations, nude female figures are generally understood to be symbols of fertility or well-being.

<i>The Swimming Hole</i> Painting by Thomas Eakins of a group of swimmers

The Swimming Hole is an 1884–85 painting by the American artist Thomas Eakins (1844–1916), Goodrich catalog #190, in the collection of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas. Executed in oil on canvas, it depicts six men swimming naked in a lake, and is considered a masterpiece of American painting. According to art historian Doreen Bolger it is "perhaps Eakins' most accomplished rendition of the nude figure", and has been called "the most finely designed of all his outdoor pictures". Since the Renaissance, the human body has been considered both the basis of artists' training and the most challenging subject to depict in art, and the nude was the centerpiece of Eakins' teaching program at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. For Eakins, this picture was an opportunity to display his mastery of the human form.

Mark Louis Hallett is an English art historian specialising in the history of British art. He is Director Designate at the Courtauld Institute of Art, and will be succeeding Professor Deborah Swallow as the Märit Rausing Director in August 2023.

<i>The Sirens and Ulysses</i> 1837 painting by William Etty

The Sirens and Ulysses is a large oil painting on canvas by the English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1837. It depicts the scene from Homer's Odyssey in which Ulysses (Odysseus) resists the bewitching song of the sirens by having his ship's crew tie him up, while they are ordered to block their own ears to prevent themselves from hearing the song.

<i>The Destroying Angel and Daemons of Evil Interrupting the Orgies of the Vicious and Intemperate</i> 1832 painting by William Etty

The Destroying Angel and Daemons of Evil Interrupting the Orgies of the Vicious and Intemperate, also known as The Destroying Angel and Daemons Inflicting Divine Vengeance on the Wicked and Intemperate and as The Destruction of the Temple of Vice, is an 1832 English oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1832. Etty had become famous for nude paintings, and acquired a reputation for tastelessness, indecency and a lack of creativity. With The Destroying Angel he hoped to disprove his critics with an openly moral piece. The painting is 127.8 cm by 101.9 cm and depicts a classical temple under attack from a destroying angel and a group of daemons. Some of the humans appear dead or unconscious, others flee or struggle against the daemons.

<i>Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed</i> 1830 painting by William Etty

Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed, occasionally formerly known as The Imprudence of Candaules, is a 45.1 by 55.9 cm oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1830. It shows a scene from the Histories by Herodotus, in which Candaules, king of Lydia, invites his bodyguard Gyges to hide in the couple's bedroom and watch his wife Nyssia undress, to prove to him her beauty. Nyssia notices Gyges spying and challenges him to either accept his own execution or to kill Candaules as a punishment. Gyges chooses to kill Candaules and take his place as king. The painting shows the moment at which Nyssia, still unaware that she is being watched by anyone other than her husband, removes the last of her clothes.

<i>Youth on the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm</i> 1832 painting by William Etty, inspired by a metaphor in Thomas Grays poem The Bard

Youth on the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm is an oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1832. Etty had been planning the painting since 1818–19, and an early version was exhibited in 1822. The piece was inspired by a metaphor in Thomas Gray's poem The Bard in which the apparently bright start to the notorious misrule of Richard II of England was compared to a gilded ship whose occupants are unaware of an approaching storm. Etty chose to illustrate Gray's lines literally, depicting a golden boat filled with and surrounded by nude and near-nude figures.

<i>Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball</i> Painting by William Etty

Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball, also known as The Misses Williams-Wynn, is a 173 by 150 cm oil on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1835 and currently in the York Art Gallery. Although Etty was then known almost exclusively for history paintings featuring nude figures, he was commissioned in 1833 by Welsh Conservative politician Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn to paint a portrait of two of his daughters. Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball shows Williams-Wynn's daughters, Charlotte and Mary, in lavish Italian-style costume: Charlotte, the eldest, is shown standing, helping the seated Mary decorate her hair with a ribbon and a rose. Etty put a good deal of effort into the piece and took much longer than usual to finish it.

<i>Musidora: The Bather At the Doubtful Breeze Alarmed</i> Four nearly identical oil paintings on canvas by English artist William Etty

Musidora: The Bather 'At the Doubtful Breeze Alarmed', also known as The Bather, is a name given to four nearly identical oil paintings on canvas by English artist William Etty. The paintings illustrate a scene from James Thomson's 1727 poem Summer in which a young man accidentally sees a young woman bathing naked, and is torn between his desire to look and his knowledge that he ought to look away. The scene was popular with English artists as it was one of the few legitimate pretexts to paint nudes at a time when the display and distribution of nude imagery was suppressed.

<i>The World Before the Flood</i> 1828 painting by William Etty

The World Before the Flood is an oil-on-canvas painting by the English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1828 and currently in the Southampton City Art Gallery. It depicts a scene from John Milton's Paradise Lost in which, among a series of visions of the future shown to Adam, he sees the world immediately before the Great Flood. The painting illustrates the stages of courtship as described by Milton; a group of men select wives from a group of dancing women, drag their chosen woman from the group, and settle down to married life. Behind the courting group, an oncoming storm looms, foreshadowing the destruction which the dancers and lovers are about to bring upon themselves.

<i>The Combat: Woman Pleading for the Vanquished</i> Oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty

The Combat: Woman Pleading for the Vanquished is a large oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1825 and now in the National Gallery of Scotland. Inspired by the Elgin Marbles and intended by the artist to provide a moral lesson on "the beauty of mercy", it shows a near-nude warrior whose sword has broken, forced to his knees in front of another near-nude soldier who prepares to inflict a killing blow. A woman, also near-nude, clutches the victorious warrior to beg him for mercy. Very unusually for a history painting of the period, The Combat does not depict a scene from history, literature or religion and is not based on an existing artwork, but is instead a scene from the artist's own imagination.

<i>Portrait of Mlle Rachel</i> Painting by William Etty

Portrait of Mlle Rachel is an oil painting on millboard by English artist William Etty, painted during the 1840s and currently in the York Art Gallery. It shows the tragic actress Élisa Rachel Félix, better known as Mademoiselle Rachel, at the time one of the most acclaimed actresses in France. The subject is not shown looking at the artist, but glancing anxiously out of the picture with tears in her eyes. The work was probably painted during one of Rachel's tours of London in the 1840s. It appears unfinished, suggesting that it was painted in a single sitting and Rachel did not return to give Etty the opportunity to complete it.

<i>The Triumph of Cleopatra</i> 1821 painting by William Etty

The Triumph of Cleopatra, also known as Cleopatra's Arrival in Cilicia and The Arrival of Cleopatra in Cilicia, is an oil painting by English artist William Etty. It was first exhibited in 1821, and is now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight, Merseyside. During the 1810s Etty had become widely respected among staff and students at the Royal Academy of Arts, in particular for his use of colour and ability to paint realistic flesh tones. Despite having exhibited at every Summer Exhibition since 1811, he attracted little commercial or critical interest. In 1820, he exhibited The Coral Finder, which showed nude figures on a gilded boat. This painting attracted the attention of Sir Francis Freeling, who commissioned a similar painting on a more ambitious scale.

<i>Britomart Redeems Faire Amoret</i> Oil painting on canvas by William Etty

Britomart Redeems Faire Amoret is an oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1833 and now in Tate Britain. Intended to illustrate the virtues of honour and chastity, it depicts a scene from Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene in which the female warrior Britomart slays the evil magician Busirane and frees his captive, the beautiful Amoret. In Spenser's original poem Amoret has been tortured and mutilated by the time of her rescue, but Etty disliked the depiction of violence and portrayed her as unharmed.

<i>The Dawn of Love</i> (painting) Oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty

The Dawn of Love, also known as Venus Now Wakes, and Wakens Love, is an oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1828 and currently in the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum in Bournemouth. Loosely based on a passage from John Milton's 1634 masque Comus, it shows a nude Venus leaning across to wake the sleeping Love by stroking his wings. While Etty often included nude figures in his work, he rarely depicted physical intimacy, and owing to this, The Dawn of Love is one of his more unusual paintings. The open sensuality of the work was intended to present a challenge to the viewer mirroring the plot of Comus, in which the heroine is tempted by desire but remains rational and detached.

Martin Myrone is lead curator, British art to 1800 at the Tate Gallery.

Richard Green is an art curator and art critic.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Turner 2011, p. 75.
  2. 1 2 3 Burnage 2011d, p. 32.
  3. 1 2 Farr.
  4. Gilchrist 1855, p. 23.
  5. Burnage & Bertram 2011, p. 20.
  6. Burnage 2011a, p. 157.
  7. Burnage 2011a, p. 158.
  8. 1 2 "William Etty". About the artist. Manchester Art Gallery. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  9. Burnage 2011c, p. 198.
  10. Farr 1958, p. 52.
  11. Robinson 2007, p. 135.
  12. Smith 2001b, p. 53.
  13. Smith 2001b, p. 55.
  14. Burnage 2011d, pp. 32–33.
  15. 1 2 Gilchrist 1855, p. 58.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Smith 2001a, p. 61.
  17. Turner 2011, p. 84.
  18. 1 2 3 Turner 2011, p. 78.
  19. 1 2 3 Turner 2011, p. 77.
  20. 1 2 Turner 2011, p. 79.
  21. A Working Artist 1841.
  22. 1 2 Farr 1958, p. 163.
  23. Smith 1996, p. 25.
  24. Turner 2011, pp. 80–81.
  25. Turner 2011, p. 81.
  26. Burnage & Bertram 2011, pp. 21–26.
  27. 1 2 3 4 Turner 2011, p. 80.
  28. Turner 2011, p. 76.
  29. Turner 2011, pp. 78–79.
  30. 1 2 Turner 2011, p. 87.
  31. Turner 2011, p. 85.
  32. Turner 2011, p. 86.
  33. Turner 2011, pp. 75–76.
  34. "Mr. William Etty, R.A.". The Penny Illustrated News. London: William Strange. 1 (6): 45. 1 December 1849.
  35. Burnage & Bertram 2011, p. 27.
  36. 1 2 Robinson 2007, p. 440.
  37. Smith 1996, p. 2.
  38. Burnage 2011b, p. 131.

Bibliography

  • A Working Artist (1 September 1841). "Living Models". The Art-Union. London: How and Parsons. 3 (32): 160.
  • Burnage, Sarah (2011a). "Etty and the Masters". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. ISBN   978-0-85667-701-4. OCLC   800599710.
  • Burnage, Sarah (2011b). "History Painting and the Critics". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. ISBN   978-0-85667-701-4. OCLC   800599710.
  • Burnage, Sarah (2011c). "The Life Class". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. ISBN   978-0-85667-701-4. OCLC   800599710.
  • Burnage, Sarah (2011d). "Painting the Nude and 'Inflicting Divine Vengeance on the Wicked'". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. ISBN   978-0-85667-701-4. OCLC   800599710.
  • Burnage, Sarah; Bertram, Beatrice (2011). "Chronology". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. ISBN   978-0-85667-701-4. OCLC   800599710.
  • Farr, Dennis. "William Etty". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8925.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  • Farr, Dennis (1958). William Etty . London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. OCLC   2470159.
  • Gilchrist, Alexander (1855). Life of William Etty, R.A. Vol. 2. London: David Bogue. OCLC   2135826.
  • Robinson, Leonard (2007). William Etty: The Life and Art. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. ISBN   978-0-7864-2531-0. OCLC   751047871.
  • Smith, Alison (2001a). Exposed: The Victorian Nude. London: Tate Publishing. ISBN   978-0-7864-2531-0.
  • Smith, Alison (2001b). "Private Pleasures?". In Bills, Mark (ed.). Art in the Age of Queen Victoria: A Wealth of Depictions. Bournemouth: Russell–Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. ISBN   978-0-905173-65-8.
  • Smith, Alison (1996). The Victorian Nude. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN   978-0-7190-4403-8.
  • Turner, Sarah Victoria (2011). "Intimacy and Distance: Physicality, Race and Paint in Etty's 'The Wrestlers'". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. ISBN   978-0-85667-701-4. OCLC   800599710.