وليام إتي (و.عشرة مارس 1787 – ت. 13 نوفمبر 1849)، هوفنان إنگليزي اشتهر بلوحاته التاريخية التي تحتوي على شخصيات عارية. كان رسام بريطاني يشتهر برسم العراة والطبيعة الصامتة. وُلد في يورك، وهجر المدرسة في الثانية عشر من عمره وأصبح رسام متدرب في هل. أنتهى فترة تدريبه بعد سبعة سنوات وانتقل إلى لندن، حيث التحق عام 1807 بمدارس الأكاديمية الملكية. تفهم هناك تحت إشراف توماس لورنس وتدرب بنسخ أعمال الفنانين الآخرين. حاز إتي على تقدير الأكاديمية الملكية للفنون من أجل قدرته على رسم ثنيات الجسد بطريقة واقعية، لكنه نال نجاحاً تجارياً ونقدياً محدوداً في سنواته الأولى في لندن.

لوحته، كليوپاترا تصل قلقيلية، التي رسمها عام 1821، صورت عدداً من النساء العرايا ولاقت نجاحاً كبيراً. شجعه هذا النجاح على رسم المزيد من المشاهد التاريخية التي تحتوي على شخصيات عارية. جميع أعماله التي عُرضت في الأكاديمية الملكية في عشرينيات القرن التاسع عشر كانت تحتوي على شخصية عارية واحدة على الأقل، لكنها جميعاً اكتسبت سمعة سيئة. بالرغم من هذا، فقد حقق إتي نجاحاً تجارياً ونقدياً، وعام 1828 أُنتخب عضواً في الأكاديمية الملكية، أحمل تكريم يمكن حتى يناله فنان. بالرغم من كونه من أكثر الفنانين المرموقين في البلاد إلا أنه استمر طوال حياته في دراسة دروس الحياة، الممارسة التي اعتبرها زملائه الفنانين غير لائقة. في الثلاثينيات بدأ إتي في في الاتجاه لتخصص أكثر ربحية لكنه أقل احتراماً، رسم الپورتريهات، وأصبح لاحقاً أول فنان إنگليزي يرسم أشهر مشاهد الطبيعة الصامتة. واصل رسم العرايا من الذكور والإناث، مما عرضه للنقد والإدانة اللاذعة من بعض وسائل الإعلام.

كان إتي رجلاً خجولاً وغير اجتماعي ولم يتزوج أبداً. من عام 1824 حتى وفاته كان يعيش برفقة ابنة أخيه بتسي (إليزابث إتي). حتى عندما كان في لندن احتفظ باهتمامه الشديد بموطنه في يورك، وكان له دور أساسي في تأسيس أول مدرسة للفنون في المدينة وحملة للحفاظ على أسوار مدينة يورك. رغم عدم تحوله بشكل رسمي عن الممضى الميثودي، إلا أنه كان منجذباً بشكل كبير لكنيسة الروم الكاثوليك وكان واحداً من بضعة أشخاص غير كاثوليك ممن حضروا افتتاح مصلى أوگستس پوگين في كلية سانت ماري، أوسكوت، أكثر المباني الكاثوليكية أهمية في إنگلترة في ذلك الوقت.

كان إتي غزير الانتاج وناجح تجارياً طوال عقد 1840، ولكن نوعية عمله تدهورت في تلك الفترة. ومع اضطراد اعتلال صحته فقد تقاعد في يورك في 1848. وقد توفي في 1849، بعد قليل من إقامته معرض كبير لأعماله السابقة. مباشرة بعد وفاته تسابق الجامعون على اقتناء أعماله التي بيعت بأسعار عالية. تغير الأذواق أدى لأن تخرج أعماله من حيز الموضة، وسرعان ما تخلى المقلدون عن أسلوبه. وبنهاية القرن التاسع عشر تراجعت أسعار لوحاته إلى ما دون أسعارها الأصلية، وخارج بلده، يورك، فلم يعد معروفاً طوال القرن العشرين. ضم إتي في معرض تيت بريطانيا الشهير بعنوان Exposed: The Victorian Nude في 2001–02، والترميم الشهير للوحته النداهات وأوليسيس في 2010 واسترجاع كبير لأعماله في معرض يورك للفن في 2011–12 أدى إلى تجدد الاهتمام بأعماله.

حياته

في أواخر القرن الثامن عشر وأوائل القرن التاسع عشر، كان الرسم البريطاني متأثراً بشدة جوشوا رينولدز (1723–1792)، أول رؤساء الأكاديمية الملكية للفنون. كان رينولدز يعتقد حتى هدف الفن هو"تصوير وتمثيل موضوعاته بطريقة شاعرية، وليس مجرداً تجسيداً للواقع"، وأنه ينبغي على الفنانين محاكاة رسامي عصر النهضة مثل روبنز وپاولوڤـِرونـِزه ورافائل وجعل مواضيعهم قريبة من الكمال. بعد وفاة رينولدز، أصبحت خطاباته عن الفن، والتي امتدحت فكرة واجب الفنان في رسم الموضوعات المثالية، ظلت العمل النظري الأساسي لبريطانيا في الفن. سيطرت الأكاديمية الملكية على الفن البريطاني، من خلال المعرض الصيفي السنوي والذي كان يعتبر من أبرز الأحداث في العام. كما سيطرت الأكاديمية على المدارس الفنية المرموقة التابعة لها، والتي كانت تحتكر بشكل فعال تدريب الفنانين الجدد وتقدم الدروس التي هجرز بشكل محدود على التقنيات المعتمدة. بينما كان رسامين مثل ج. م. و. ترنر (من أشد أنصار الأكاديمية الملكية) قد بدأوا في الانتنطق من نفوذ الأساتذة القدامى لخلق طرز بريطانية فريدة، فإنهم كانوا ملتزمين بالمباديء التي وضعها رينولدز.

من خلال الآراء التي كانت سائدة آنذاك في الأكاديمية الملكية وبين النقاد، اعتبرت اللوحات التاريخية من أكثر أشكال اللوحة شهرة، حيث كان تصور فيه القصص كعمل فني. كان يعتقد حتى مثل هذه الأعمال مكنت الفنانين البريطانيين من إظهار أنفسهم على قدم المساواة أوحتى في مرتبة أعلى من الفنانين الأوروپيين النشطين في ذلك الوقت، وكذلك للأساتذة القدامى. أما الأشكال الأخرى من الرسم مثل الپورتريه والمناظر الطبيعية، فكانت تعتبر أقل مرتبة، لأنها لم تمنح الفنان فرصة أكبر لتوضيح السيرة، لكنها بدلاً من ذلك كانت مجرد تصويراً للواقع. ومع ذلك، فإن معظم الفنانين البارزين غالباً ما يكرسون وقتاً لرسم الپورتريه، نظرًا لأن الپورتريهات أواللوحات الشخصية بصفة عامة كان يكلف بها الرسم من قبل الشخص صاحب الپورتريه أوعائلته، مما يوفر له ولج مضمون؛ اثنين من أوائل رؤساء الأكاديمية الملكية (جوشوا رينولدز والسير توماس لورنس) صنعوا أسمائهم كرسامي پورتريه. ونظراً لعدم وجود رعاة على استعداد بتكليف الفنانين برسم اللوحات التاريخية، بحلول أوائل القرن 19 تراجعت اللوحات التاريخية في إنگلترة بشكل كبير.

الطفولة والمراهقة (1787–1805)

وُلد وليام إتي عام 1787 في يورك، حيث كان الابن السابع لماثيووإستر إتي، لقبها قبل الزواج كالڤلري. على الرغم من حتى ماثيوإتي كان طحاناً وخبازاً ناجحاً، إلا أنه كان لديه عائلة كبيرة ولم يكن أبداً آمن مادياً. عام 1745، بشكل غير متسقط ورث شقيق إستر لقب حامل درع هايتون، قبل عشر سنوات من ميلاد إستر، لكنه تجاهلها بعد زقابلا من اثيو، الذي كان يعتبره أقل من طبقة أقل طبقته. كانت العائلة مثيودية متشددة ونشأ وليام على هذا، بالرغم من أنه لم يكن يعجبه المظهر المتشقف للكنيسة الميثودية ويوجد حتى يرتاد كنيسته الرعوية الأنگليكانية أوكنيسة يورك عندما يتمكن من ذلك.

أظهر إتي موهبة فنية منذ الصغر، وكان يرسم بالطباشير على أرضية متجر والده الخشبية. من سن الرابعة كان يرتاد المدارس المحلية في يورك، قبل حتى يرسله والده في العاشرة من عمره إلى أكادية السيل هل، مدرسة داخلية بالقرب من پوكلينگتون، التي هجرها بعد عامين. فيثمانية أكتوبر 1798، في الحادية عشر من عمره، كان إتي يتدرب كطباع لدى روبرت پك من هل، ناشر هل پاكت. في تلك الأثناء عثر إتي العمل متعباً وغير مبهج، واستمر في الرسم في وقته فراغه، وأعطاه عمله فرصة إكمال تعليمه بقراءة الخط. ويبدوحتى عمله كطباعاً دفعه حتى يدرك لأول مرة أنه من الممكن لشخص ما حتى يقوم بعمل رسم ولوحة حية.

في 23 أكتوبر 1805، كان إتي قد أنهى فترة تدريبه لسبع سنوات مع پك، الأمر الذي استقبله بسعادة بالغة لأنه كان يكره هذه الوظيفة بشدة. ظل في هل ثلاثة اسابيع أخرى كطباع باليومية. انتقل إلى لندن حاملاً "بضع بتر من الطباشير بالألوان"، حيث ظل مع شقيقه الأكبر والتر في لومبارد ستريت. عمل والتر مع شركة "بودلي وإيتي وبودلي" الناجحة لتصنيع الدانتيل المضىي، حيث كان شقيق والدهما، والمسمى أيضاً ويليام، شريكاً لهما. وصل لندن في 23 نوفمبر 1805، من أجل الالتحاق بالمدارس الأكاديمية الملكية.

التدريب (1806–21)

بدأ كطباع مبتدئ في هول. عندما أكمل السنة السابعة من التدريبه انتقل وهوفي الثامنة عشر من عمره إلى لندن "مع بضعة بتر من الطباشير الملونة"، ليصبح رسام تاريخ على طريق الأساتذة القدماء. التحق بالأكاديمية الملكية، وبعد سنة قضاها في الدراسة تحت إشراف رسام الپورتريهات المجدد توماس لورنس، عاد إتي إلى الأكاديمية الملكية، ليرسم في صف الحياة وينسخ لوحات أخرى. كتلميذ لجون أوپيه، طور أسلوب الرسم الغير عصري لتيتان وروبنز للنمط الرسمي السائد في ذلك الوقت لجوشوا رينولدز، لم ينجح إتي في جميع مسابقات الأكاديمية وجميع الأعمال التي قدمها للمعرض الصيفي للأكاديمية الملكية في عقد 1810 رُفضت. عام 1821 وافقت الأكاديمية الملكية وعرضت إحدى أعمال إتي في المعرض الصيفي، كليوپاترا تصل قلقيلية، والمعروفة أيضاً باسم نصر كليوپاترا). حصلت هذه اللوحة على استقبال جيد، وأعجب الكثير من زملائ إتي الفنانين. لاقى إتي الكثير من الإشادة لقدرته على رسم طيات اللحم بدقة في اللوحة، ولقدرته على إظهار التناقضات في لون البشرة. في أعقاب عرض لوحة كليوپاترا، حاول إتي في العقد التالي إحراز المزيد من النجاحات برسم شخصيات عارية من قصص الكتاب المقدس، والأدب والأساطير.

توماس لورنس

بموجب هذا الترتيب، لم يتلقّ إتي تدريباً رسمياً من لورنس. وبدلاً من ذلك قام لورنس بتخصيص غرفة في سقيفته لكي يقوم إتي بنسخ صوره، ووافق على الإجابة على الأسئلة عندما كان في وضع يسمح له بذلك. عثر إتي تجربة نسخ أعمال لورنس عملية محبطة للغاية وحسبما نطق إتي (لقد كان مستعداً للهرب) لكنه استمر في نهاية الأمر وفهم نفسه نسخ أعمال لورنس عن كثب. وعلى الرغم من حتى إتي قد قضى عاماً في تجربة لورنس المحبطة فقد ساعده ذلك على تطوير قدرته بشكل جيد على نسخ أعمال أخرى حيث قام بنسح مواد وعناصر من برنامج الأساتذة الكبار.

بمجرد انتهاؤه من السنة الأولى من لورنس، عاد إتي إلى الأكاديمية الملكية، لريسم في دروس الحياة ونسخ لوحات أخرى، فضلاً عن أخذ عمولات والقيام بأعمال موسمية للورنس من أجل جني الأموال. لم ينجح إتي في جميع مسابقات الأكاديمية، ورُفضت جميع اللوحات التي قدمها للمعرض الصيفي.

توفي عم وليام عام 1809 والذي كان يقيم معه وقد اضطر إلى العيش في نمط حياة متنقل وغير مريح حيث قام بتغيير سكنه عدة مرات ، ولقد هجر له عمه المتوفي مبلغاً كبيراً من المال في وصيته ، وقد تولى أخوه والتر منصب عمه في إيتي وإيتي وبودلي مما مكنه من دعم أعمال وليام الأصغر سناً من الناحية المالية ، وفي عام 1811 استمر إيتي في أعماله وتم قبول اثنين من لوحاته لمعرض Telemachus Rescues Antiope من Fury Of The Wild Boar في المعرض الصيفي للأكاديمية الملكية وShappo في المعهد البريطاني . قبل عام 1819 تم بيع هذا الأخير لقاء مبلغاً محترماً بما يساوي 25 جنيه كما هوالحال في جميع لوحات إيتي تقريباً بخلاف اللوحات الخاصة التي رسمت للأصدقاء والعائلة ومع جميع لوحة عرضها إيتي في الأكاديمية بين عامي 1811-1818 لم ينج أي من Sappho أوTelemachus Rescues Antiope وتم قبول عمل واحد على الأقل في المعرض الصيفي جميع عام ، لم يحقق نجاحاً تجاريا كبيراً خلال الأعوام القليلة التي تلت ولم يولَ اهتماماً كبيراً وبحلول عام 1814 نال أيتي اهتماماً واسعاً بسبب استخدامه للألوان وخاصة قدرته على أنتاج درجات واقعية لألوان الجلد

فرنسا وإيطاليا

في حين لم تكن هنالك مجموعات مستمرة من المعارض الفنية العامة في انكلترا ، لقد افتُتح أول معرض فني عام في انكلترا في عام 1817 ، وسُمح للطلاب الملكيين بزيارة هذا المعرض من عام 1815 وما بعده . لم يكن لدى دولويتش أعمالاً مهمة في مدرسة البندقية والتي أحب بها إيتي ، ونسبةً لتراجع نجاحه قرر إيتي في عام 1816 قضاء سنة في إيطاليا لدراسة الأعمال الفنية المتمثلة في المجموعات العظيمة التي قام بها الإيطاليون . وقام إيتي بزيارة قصيرة إلى فرنسا في أوائل عام 1815 وغير ذلك لم يقم بالسفر إالى بلد آخر . بعد استسلام نابليون أصبح سفر المواطنين البريطانيين بغرض السياحة عملياً منذ أكتر من عقد ، في حين كانت باريس في مايو1814 المركز الفني الرئيسي في أوروبا لأن الأعمال الفنية التي نهبتها جيوش نابليون لم تتم استعادتها بعد .{بعد هروب نابليون في عام 1815 استؤنفت الحرب من البا وعندما سمع إيتي الخبر غادر انكلترا في الحال . سقط إيتي في الحب في عامه 28 ولم نعهد اسم المرأة التي سقط بحبها ، حيث عانى من صعوبات في إقامة العلاقات العاطفية مع النساء وشعر بالقلق إزاء هذه الصعوبات التي قد يسببها الزواج طالما حصوله وما إذا كان من المناسب قيامه بالسفر لمواصلة مسيرته الفنية هذا يعني أنه سيقوم باصطحاب زوجته إلى البلدان التي سيسافر إليها حيث تم رفضه من قبل هذه المرأة بسبب ذلك وبدأ جولته في قارة أوروبا في أوائل سبتمبر عام 1816 . نزل إيتي في ديبي وشق طريقه إلى باريس عبر روين لم يكن إيتي سعيداً ببقائه في فرنسا على الرغم من اعترافه بأنها دولة رائعة حيث أنه عانى من شدة حنينه إلى الوطن . بعد وصوله بفترة قصيرة راسل قريبته مارثا بودلي قائلاً " آمل حتى تعجبني إيطاليا أكثر من باريس وأعتقد أنني لن أتوقف عن السفر لمدة عام وسأتابع باستكشاف ما يستحق جميع هذا الوقت ومن ثم العودة . وبعدها سافر إلى جنيف حيث عثر نفسه محبطاً في سويسرا على الرغم من أنه أحضر معه معدات خلق الشاي الخاصة بهىحيث عثر صعوبة في الحصول على الحليب للشاي في القرى الجبلية النائية . من خلال سفره سيمبلون إلى بيدمونت حيث عثر مجموعة مناظر طبيعية في شمال إيطاليا ذات ألوان متنوعة ورائعة ، ومن ثم وصل إلى فلورنسا في أواخر سبتمبر.

عانى إيتي من الاكتئاب الشديد على الرغم من عظمة مدينة فلورنسا ، فخط لأخيه "أشعر بالوحدة ، ومن المحال حتى أكون سعيداً ، أعاني من القذارة والأوساخ والحشرات الطفيلية , والقمل حيث أنه مثل أي رجل انكليزي ليس لديه أي فكرة عن هذه الأمور .بدأ رحلته في العودة إلى انكلترا خلال شهر من وصوله إلأى إيطاليا لأن حالته النفسية والعاطفية لم تمكنه من متابعة دراسته ، حيث توقف في باريس في 26 تشرين الأول عام 1816 هناك التحق في اتيليه من جان باتيست ريجنول عندها غادر بعد اسبوع حيث عثر الجومشوشاً والاستديومليئ بالفرنسيين . حضر إيتي أثناء تواجده في باريس أكاديمية الفنون الجميلة وجمع كمية كبيرة من المطبوعات القديمة من متاجر الفنون في باريس مع ذلك غادر إيتي باريس عائداً إلى لندن في نوفمبر

لقد زادت خبرة إيتي كرسام أثناء رحلاته على الرغم من عدم رضاه ، وتم عرض لوحتيه عام 1817 ضمن المعرض الصيفي لوحة السكير وكيوبيد وايفروسين حيث جذبتا تقدير النقاد والآراء الصحفية وعندها تم اعتبار عمل لوحة السكير اختراعاً كلاسكياً وكيوبيد كما يظهر في الوعد الجليل من كتاب الناقد والمحرر ويليام بوليت كاري في ليتراري غازيت حيث افتخر كاري كونه أول ناقد يعترف بإمكانيات إيتي واستمر كداعم له طوال حياته المهنية . . . في حين ولج إيتي بنسخة داميانومازا عام 1818 بعمل اغتصاب غاينميد في واحدة من مسابقات الرسم في الأكاديمية الملكية تيتيان وتم الإقرار بفوز إيتي حيث اجتاز هذه المسابقة بسهولة لكن أدت شكوى اثنين من المتسابقين من أنه تم الانتهاك من الناحية التقنية قواعد RA حيث تم الانادىء حتى اللوحة تمت إزالتها لفترة قصيرة من مبنى الأكاديمية والتعديل عليها في المنزل ;كما ادعوحتى إيتي كان فناناً محترفاً وبالتالي لم يكن مؤهلاً للمسابقة على الرغم من أنه لا يزال طالباً بسبب هذه الانادىءات تم استبعاد إيتي من المنافسة ، لكن جودة عمله ولوحاته زادت من مكانته وتقديره في الأكاديمية عُين إيتي مساعداً لجورج هنري فرانكلين عام 1818 بالرغم من حتى دخله كان محدوداً واعتمد في حياته مالياً على عطايا شقيقه،في حين لم يُعهد عن فرانكلين سوى أنه مرر وأوفد لإيتي تنويهاته وإشاراته في مراسلاته معه حيث عُرف عنه أنه كان رساماً بحد ذاته sfn|Farr|1958|p=27 .{{efn-ua|t, بالرغم من أ،ه لم يكن ناجحاً لكنه قام بعرض لوحة واحدة من لوحاته على الأقل في الأكاديمية الملكية .عُرف عن إيتي أيضاً أنه كان لديه تلميذاً رسمياً واحداً وهوجيمس ماثيوز لي

الباحثة عن المرجان

شارك إتي بلوحتين ضمن المعرض الصيفي عام 1820، هما بارنابي السكران وباحثة المرجان وهي لوحة نجد فيها ڤينوس يحيط بها أقمارها الأطفال يصلون جزيرة پافوس'.لوحة السكران بارنابي هي تعبير عن مشهد لرجل مخمور تم حمله بعيداً عن هبط تحت مراقبة نادلة تظهر هذه النادلة بأنها قوية البنية وذات خدود متوردة حيث استمر إتي بنفس أسلوبه برسم النساء طوال حياته المهنية r.باحثة المرجان : لوحة مستوحات بشدة من تيتيان حيث صور ڤينوس ڤيكتريكس امرأة عارية في قارب مضىي تحيط بها خادمات يرتدين ملابس قليلة، حيث كان أول استخدام منه لمجموعة من الشخصيات العارية والإشارات الميثولوجية أوالأدبية التي سيشتهر باستخدامها.

بيعت لوحة الباحثة عن المرجان في المعرض إلى صانع آلات البيانوتوماس تومكنسون بمبلغ 30 جنيه استرليني.، لقد نالت لوحة باحثة المرجان إعجاب السير فرانسس فريلنگ والتي عُرضت في المعرض وعندما فهم أنه تم بيع اللوحة كلف إتي برسم لوحة مماثلة لكن بنطاق أكثر إلهاماً، وكان إتي قد فكر في إمكانية رسم نسخة من لوحة كليوپاترا حيث اغتنم الفرصة التي قدمتها فريلنگ لرسم صورة لها معتمداً في ذلك على تكوين لوحة باحثة المرجان ;£14٬100 ).

التقدير والرحلات (1821–23)

تعتمد لوحة وصول كليوباترا إلى صقلية والمعروفة أيضاً باسم فوز كليوباترا، بشكل كبير على عمل پلوتارخ حياة أنتوني وشيكسپير بعمل أنتوني وكليوباترا'تم في هذه اللوحة عرض ملكة مصر ووصولها إلى طرسوس مرسين في صقلية على متن جزيرة كبيرة لعقد التحالف مع الجنرال الروماني مارك أنتوني . على الرغم من التشابه الطفيف بين هذه اللوحة ولوحة باحثة المرجان إلا أنه ارتبط اسلوب رسم كليوباترا ارتباطاً كبيراً بأسلوب رينوت من حيث تكوين اللوحة الضيق وعناصرها المزدحمة.في هذه اللوحة لم تتناسب الشخصيات والعناصر الفردية مع السفينة حيث تم وضع الكثير من الشخصيات بإحكام داخل قسم صغير من اللوحة. كما هوالحال عند رينولت حيث استعار واستوحى عناصر العمل من تيتيان وروبنز وفن النحت الكلاسيكي. تم الاحتفاء بإتي بشكل جيد للغاية عندما تم عرض لوحته كليوباترا، حيث اِعتبِرت من بين أفضل اللوحات من نوعها، وهوما ألهم إتي بالاستمرار ومتابعة أعماله والرسم ضمن هذا المجال. في حين تم عرض لوحة كليوباترا إلى جانب لوحة أخرى بعنوان شباباً في مقدمة السفينة في يناير عام 1822 للرسام گراي أوديز والذي صور في هذا العمل أيضاً شخصيات عارية على متن قارب,إلا أنه وجه الانتقادات لإيتي لتعامله مع النساء العراة .في أوائل 1822 انتقدت صحيفة التايمز إيتي وقامت بتقديم الإشارة بمقولة : " ننتهز الفرصة لتقديم الملاحظة للسيد إيتي والذي ذاع صيت لوحته (كليوباترا) بأنه من غير الممكن توجيه أسلوب الجذب والإغراء في الأعمال الفنية بحيث ألا يرضي سوى أصحاب الذوق الشرير والشرس . أي من الممكن تحمل الأشكال الجسدية المجردة عندما يتم رسمها بأسلوب نقي كالفنان رفاييل لكن أسلوب الرسم هذا غير لائق وعلى السيد إيتي تجنب هذا التجريد الجسدي البذيء "." لكن على عكس الدراسات للحالات العارية المجردة التي أجراها فنانوتلك الحقبة ، لم يبذل إتي أي محاولة لتجريد الجسد العاري الأنثوي المزعوم في لوحة (كليوباترا) لكن بدلاً من ذلك قام برسمهن بأوضاع واقعية وأسلوب جسدي قريب من الحقيقي. أقنع الفنان فريلنگ إيتي برسم بعض شخصيات لوحة كليوباترا بملابس بسبب خوفه الشديد من الانتقادات ولذلك جاز له في عام 1829 بإعادة رسم الشخصيات إلى الحالة الأصلية التي رسمهم بها قبل.

وبغض النظر عن نجاح كليوپاترا، فقد ظل إتي طالباً في الأكاديمية الملكية وواصل برنامجاً شاقاً للدراسة. ولما أصبح في منتصف الثلاثينات من عمره، فقد شعر لكي يتقدم عمله أكثر من مجرد الشطارة، فإنه يحتاج فرصة لدراسة أولئك الأساتذة الأوروپيين الذين كان يعجبه أسلوبهم، بالرغم من تجاربه غير السارة في آخر مرة غادر إنگلترة.

رحلاته إلى أوروپا

في المرة الأخيرة التي سافر بها إيتي إلى الخارج بصحبة رسام البورتريه ريتشارد إيفانز والذي كان طالباً وزميلاً لتوماس لورانس ، ولج أيتي بحالة الحنين إلى الوطن والشعور بالغربة . انطلق إيتي وإيفانز في 23 يونيوبرحلتهم للوصول إلى روما على الرغم من التحذيرات من حتى الوضع في إيطاليا سيكون غير سقمياً وخطراً ، حيث عبروا إلى فرنسا عن طريق سفينة بخارية تم تطويرها مؤخراً ووصلوإلى باريس في 26 يونيو حيث أقاموفي باريس لمدة أسبوعين ، وقاموبزيارة قصر فرساي والمعارض الفنية العامة في مدينة باريس ، وزارا المعروضات المتبقية والتي نقص عددها كثيراً في متحف اللوفر. في ذلك الوقت استضاف متحف اللوفر معرضاص للرسم الفرنسي الحديث ، حيث لم يبدِ إيتي إعجاباً شديداً بجودة التصوير الذي اتبعه فنانوفرنسا ، لكنه أبدى إعجابه بالمجموعات الباقية لاسيما في مشاركة روبنز بعمل بعنوان ماري دي ميديشي والذي استخدم عناصره لاحقاً في الكثير من أعماله. بعد ذلك عبر إيتي ديجون وسويسرا ومر مع إيفانز عبر ممر سيبملون إلى ميلان, وهناك شاهدا لوحة ليوناردودافنشي العشاء الأخير وزارا معرض بيريرا . وصل إيتي ورفيقه إلى فلورنسا بعد رحلة استغرقت ستة عشر يوماً بعربة القطار وقد عانيا من حرارة الصيف القاسية ، حيث مكثا لمدة يومين في زيارة لمعارض المدينة وفيعشرة أغسطس وصلا إلى مدينة روما.

على الرغم من خيبة الأمل التي انتابت إيتي في روما بالهندسة المعمارية التي تميزت بها كنيسة القديس بطرس مقارنة مع كاتدرائية القديس بولس، أحب إيتي باستخدام الفنان مايكل أنجلوللألوان في عمله ساكن البندقية وكنيسة سيستين. كما التقى إيتي انطونيوكانوڤا قبل وقت قصير من وفاة الأخير ، وكان ذلك بتوصية من لورنس .فقد عانت أوروبا بشدة في ذلك الوقت من الملاريا وبعد اسبوعين قرر إيتي مغادرة نابولي . وقرر إيفانز بالبقاء في روما لأنه هوكذلك أصيب بالملاريا عندها سافر إيتي إلى نابولي بمفرده وعاد إلى روما بصحبة الممثل وليام ماكريدي الذي صادفه على على نفس الرحلة والتي ربطته علاقة صداقة جيدة طيلة حياته.لدى عودته إلى روما ، قام إيتي بجولته بمتاحف المدينة وعمل نسخاً من مختلف الأعمال الفنية ولا سيما أعمال الفنانين الفينيسيين مثل تيتيان وڤيرونيز والذي أحب إيتي جداً بأعمالهم .

البندقية

غادر أيتي روما متجهاً إلى البندقية بسبب شعوره بعدم الاستقرار وبقي هنال لمدةعشرة أيام ثم قرر بعدها العودة إلى انڠلترا. فضل إيڤانز البقاء في روما ، لذلك قرر سافر إيتي لوحده وتوقف لفترة وجيزة في فلورنسا وأيضاً في فيرارا حيث توقف لتقبيل عرش لودوفيكوأريوستو).حينها قام الرسام تشارلز لوك ايسليك المقيم في روما آنذاك ، بتزويد إيتي برسالة تقديمية وتعريفية للبريطاني هاري دورفيل نائب القنصل والمقيم في البندقية ، كان دورفيل متأثراً بإيتي لدرجة أنه رتب له البقاء في منزله بدلاً من إقامته في مساكن المدينة.لطالما اعتبر إيتي حتى مدينة البندقية هي موطنه الروحي , " الأمل والمثال الأعلى في حياتي المهنية " كما وصفها ، وكثيراً ما تساءل لما ، نظراً لأهميتها الفنية ، قام الكثير من المسافرين الانچليز بزيارة المدينة طوال الفترة المتبقية من حياته لم يشعر إيتي بخيبة أمل وعاد بذاكرته إلى الوراء بزيارته البندقية بعشق شديد ، وخط قبل وفاته بفترة وجيزة " حتى ڤينيسيا كارا ڤينيسيا " أمجادك المصورة تطارد خيالي الآن!"

على الرغم من رغبة إيتي بالبقاء لمدةعشرة أيام في ڤينيسيا لكنه سُحر بهذه المدينة لدرجة أنه مكث فيها أكثر منسبعة أشهر.عاش إيتي ضمن روتين يومي فقد كان نهاراً يقوم بنسخ الأعمال الفنية الخاصة بالمدينة وضمّها بمجموعات وليلاً قام بحضور صفوف مياشرة ضمن أكاديمية البندقية للفنون الجميلة, منتجاً في ذلك حوالي 50 لوحة زيتية بالمجمل بالإضافة إلى الكثير من الرسومات مستخدماً القلم الرصاصلقد كان متأثراً إلى حد كبير بالجودة العالية التي تمتعت بها أكاديمية البندقية وأحب المدربون بدورهم بجودة عمل إيتي وخاصة للألوان وتدرجات لون البشرة التي قام برسمها بلوحاته. حصل إيتي على لقب الشيطان نظراً لسرعته العالية في رسم لوحاته وأصبحت عملية قيامه بالرسم هي مشهد فني بحد ذاته ، فقد قَدم عدد من النجوم البارزة بما فيهم جياوتشينوروسيني ولاديسلاوس بيركر وثم بطريرك البندقية لمشاهدته وهويرسمكرّس إيتي نفسه للدراسة في البندقية لدرجة أنه لم يقوم بعرض أية لوحة مبتكرة في عام 1823 ، وخط لأخيه قائلاً " إنه لمن الأفضل قضاء المرء معظم وقته برسم وابتكار اللوحات الفنية على حتى يضيع وقته هباءً في منزله ".عندها تأثر أعضاء أكاديمية البندقية بأعمال إيتي الفنية لدرجة أنهم قاموبتسميته كعضوأكاديمي فخري .وقام أعضاء أكاديمية البندقية بتسمية توماس لورانس - الذي تمتع بشعبية كبيرة في إيطاليا بعد تعيين "جورج الرابع" في الفاتيكان - مانحاً إيتي شهادة البلوم ليتم تسليمها عند عودته إلى انچلترا حيث خط إلى لورانس " بسبب تعيينك من قِبل أعضاء الهيئة تم تعييني أنا أيضاً".

بحلولسبعة يونيوعام 1823 ، وصل إيتي إلى حدود ما يمكن حتى ينجزه في البندقية ،واعتزم العودة إلى بلاده . بعد فترة وجيزة غادر إيتي البندقية إلى فلورنسا ، بهدف إنشاء نسخة طبق الأصل بالحجم الكامل للرسام "تيتيان" بلوحته كوكب أوربينووالتي تعتبر واحدة من أفضل الأعمال في مدرسة البندقيية للرسم ، على الرغم من رفض إدارة أوفيزي لهذا الاقتراح إلا أنه بعدعشرة أيام من المفاوضات سمحت لإيتي بإنشاء نسخته ، واعتبرها معاصروه من بين أفضل النسخ التي صثنعت من لوحة تعتبر عموماً من المحال نسخها . بدأ إيتي رحلة العودة إلى المنزل في أواخر شهر يوليو، حيث توقف لمدة شهرين آخرين في مدينة البندقية ، . فيثمانية اكتوبر عام 1823 غادر إيتي البندقية ، وسافر عبر مانتوا وجنيف إلى باريس.

اعتزم إيتي السفر إلى انچلترا ، لكن بدلاً من ذلك بقي في باريس لاستئناف أعمال النسخ في معارض باريس ، وجمع المطبوعات وشراء الرسوم التشكيلية وحوالي 200 فرشاة رسم ، مما وضع معارض باريس بمستوى أعلى من معارض الرسامين الأصليين الانچليز.ثم عاد إيتي إلى لندن في أوائل يناير.

النجاح والجدل (1824–35)

قام إيتي بالعمل عل ضمان وجود لوحة واحدة له على الأقل جاهزة لدخول المعرض الصيفي لعام 1824 بمجرد وصوله للمنزل ، عندها قرر العودة إلى موضوع كان قد أنشأ له رسماً في عام 1820 ، سيرة باندورا وعلى وجه الخصوص المبتر هيسويد والذي يعبر عن تتويج الفصول لها بإكليل من الورود . وكان قد عرض رسماً في عام 1820 حول نفس الموضوع, وقرر بالعمل ترتيب عناصر هذه اللوحة . حيث قارب إيتي على إنهاء أول محاولة له لرسم الفكرة المذكورة عام 1824 ، وبدأ بعدها على قماش أصغر مع وضع مختلف للشخصيات الرئيسية من لوحة باندورا وهم أسطورة فولكان وأسطورة فينوس.

تعتبر لوحة باندورا المتوجة بالفصول هجريبة غير عادية ، رُسمت بشكل مشابه للوحة باس-ريليف التي تظهر فيها العناصر المتنوعة في خلفية ممتدة وواسعة.تقف شخصية باندورا في الوسط مع فولكان إلى الجانب الآخر ، يميلان بعيداً عنها ، تشكل شخصيتا فولكينووفينوس إلى جانب الأشكال الأربعة والتي تمثل الفصول في الزوايا العليا من اللوحة ، شكلاً ماسياً حول باندورا. تقع قدم فولكان على قاعدة الصورة ، وهي الزخرفة المفضلة لدى روبنز; تم استنباط العنصر من نقش والذي رُسم عام 1817 حول نفس نفس الموضوع ، رسمها زميل إيتي في نيويورك جون فلاكسمان ونقشها ويليام بليك. كما هوالحال في جميع لوحات إيتي التي رسمها ، فقد عمل على رسم الأشكال أولاً وملء خلفية اللوحة بمجرد اكتمال عناصرها "),وأحب زملائه الفنانين بهذه اللوحة أشد الإعجاب,لدرجة حتى توماس لورانس قام بشراء اللوحة من معرض الصيف عام 1824.

In the wake of the success of Pandora, Etty moved to an apartment in Buckingham Street, near the Strand, where he was to reside for the remainder of his working life. Shortly afterwards he applied to become an Associate of the Royal Academy for the first time, and on 1 November was duly elected, beating William Allan by 16 votes to seven. (The Times, at this time still hostile to Etty for his perceived indecency, sneered that "this cannot be as an honour conferred on Mr. Etty: if it were, he has deserved and should have obtained it long ago". The same reviewer did concede that Etty's copy of Tintoretto's Esther Before Ahaseurus was "the most important picture in the room" in their report on an exhibition held at the British Institution of significant copies of paintings.)

بتسي إتي

In the years following his return from Italy, Etty had a very limited social life. In a typical day he woke at 7 am, painting from around 9 or 10 am until 4 pm, after which he had a meal. Following the meal he took a walk, and attended life classes between 6 and 8 pm. On returning home he drank two cups of tea, and went to bed at midnight.

Etty was considered extremely unattractive, described by his 1855 biographer Alexander Gilchrist —a great admirer—as "Slovenly in attire, short and awkward in body—large head, large hands, large feet—a face marked with the small-pox, made still more noticeable by length of jaw, and a quantity of sandy hair, long and wild: all, conspired to make him 'one of the oddest looking creatures' in a Young Lady's eyes—what she would call 'a sight'; one, not redeemed (to her), by the massive brow, its revelation of energy and power, the sign-manual of Genius there legible."

One of his few close companions was his niece Betsy (Elizabeth Etty), fifth daughter of his brother John. Betsy was unmarried and 14 years younger than William, and became his housekeeper in 1824. She remained in his service for the rest of his life, and as he grew older William increasingly came to depend on her, suffering distress whenever they were apart and regularly writing to her in panic whenever he did not hear from her. She became his companion and acted as his assistant, alongside his official assistant George Franklin.

While he appears to have been attracted to young women throughout his life, and there is a strong suggestion in his letters that in his early years he had a sexual encounter with one of his models and possibly also a sexual encounter of some kind while in Venice, there is no suggestion that he ever had a sexual relationship with Betsy of any kind. He recorded in his diary in 1830 that "it is best I have not married because I have not noisy Children and can have nice Books, and Pictures etc". He suffered from extreme shyness throughout his life, and when compelled to attend dinner parties would often sit silent throughout, although he was popular with fellow artists and students. Etty rarely socialised, preferring to concentrate on his painting; when on one occasion it was suggested that he had little further need of training and need not continue attending classes, he indignantly replied that "it fills up a couple of hours in the evening, I should be at a loss how else to employ".

As she grew older Betsy suffered from numerous illnesses, the exact natures of which are not recorded but which are known to have caused William great concern. William began to fear that Betsy would marry and leave his service, in 1835 going as far as to have her sign an affidavit that she would never leave him. In 1843 his older brother Charles, a successful planter in Java, returned to England after over 30 years abroad. William became deeply suspicious that Betsy was becoming too close to Charles, a suspicion intensified when Charles took her on a visit to Holland and the Rhine; Charles returned to Java in 1845. In around 1844 Betsy struck up a close relationship with the pen manufacturer and art collector Joseph Gillott, one of William's regular customers who owned some of his pictures. Gillott was married with children, and the closeness of their relationship caused William concern. In 1848, 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. Betsy did eventually join him in York, and was present at his death.

القتال

منطق رئيسي: القتال: إمرأة تستعطف للمهزوم

Spurred by the reception of Pandora, in 1825 Etty exhibited his most ambitious work to date, The Combat: Woman Pleading for the Vanquished. This was a huge canvas, 399 cm (13 ft 1 in) across, showing a woman pleading for the life of a defeated soldier as another soldier prepares to kill him. Highly unusually for a history painting at the time, Etty did not base The Combat on an incident from literature, religion or history, but instead painted a scene entirely from his own imagination, based on an idea which had first occurred to him in 1821. (He was later to describe this type of painting as "that class of compositions called by the Romans Visions, not having their origin in history or poetry".)

The Combat was extremely well received, even by critics who had previously been hostile to Etty. In terms of composition and technique it was considered as equalling or even surpassing Titian and Veronese, and one critic considered it "one of the finest and most masterly works that ever graced the walls of the Royal Academy", while those critics who had previously dismissed Etty for his supposed obscenity reconsidered their opinions in light of it.The Combat continued to be one of Etty's best-regarded works, and formed the basis of a successful 1848 engraving by George Thomas Doo.

Following the success of The Combat, Etty painted a further four very large paintings. One was on the well-worn theme of the Judgement of Paris, exhibited in 1826, and three were on the theme of Judith beheading Holofernes, the first of which was exhibited in 1827. Unlike other artists who had painted this subject, Etty's Judith paintings did not show the actual beheading, as he hoped to avoid "the offensive and revolting butchery, some have delighted and even revelled in". The first Judith picture in particular was extremely well received critically.

عضوالأكاديمية الملكية

In February 1828, shortly before his 41st birthday, Etty soundly defeated John Constable by 18 votes to five to become a full Royal Academician, at the time the highest honour available to an artist. By this time, complaints about his supposed indecency were beginning to resurface. All but one of the 15 paintings Etty exhibited at the Royal Academy in the 1820s had included at least one nude figure, and Etty was acquiring a reputation for using respectable themes as a pretext for nudity.

For the 1828 Summer Exhibition Etty exhibited three pictures; The World Before the Flood, Venus, the Evening Star and Guardian Cherubs. (The latter was a portrait of the children of Welbore Ellis Agar, 2nd Earl of Normanton, and was the only non-nude painting exhibited by Etty at the RA in the 1820s.) Although similar to his earlier works, they were technically more accomplished. Both The World Before the Flood and Venus attracted positive reviews in the press and were sold during their exhibition for substantial sums, although the purchase by the Marquess of Stafford of The World Before the Flood—a work containing scantily clad figures of both sexes—drew a pointed comment in The Gentleman's Magazine that it "will serve to accompany the private Titians of that nobleman". Despite the increasing number of complaints in the press about his use of nudity, respect for Etty from his fellow artists continued to rise, and in 1828 the British Institution awarded him £100 in recognition of his talent.

As soon as the 1828 Summer Exhibition was over, Etty stopped work on other projects to concentrate on a diploma piece, without which he could not become a Royal Academician. This piece, Sleeping Nymph and Satyrs, was presented to the Academy in October, and in December 1828 Etty became a Royal Academician.

دروس الحياة

Even after he had achieved status as a full Royal Academician, Etty regularly attended life classes; fellow artist John Constable sarcastically wrote that "Etty [sets] an excellent example to the Modles [ك‍] for regularity". His contemporaries considered this at best peculiar and at worst extremely inappropriate, complaining that for someone in his senior position to attend classes as a student was both unprofessional and unnecessary, and that it damaged the standing of the position of Academician; there were complaints that he had far outlasted the official student term ofعشرة years. Etty refused to give up attendance, offering to resign rather than give up his studies, and the Academy grudgingly allowed him to continue to attend classes. He divided his time between the RA's own life classes and those at nearby St. Martin's Lane.

Etty generally finished life studies during three evenings sittings. On the first evening he would sketch the model in charcoal or chalk, and then ink in the outline. On the second he used oil paints to fill in the figures. On the third he layered glaze and the final coverings of paint. He usually painted on millboard, re-using the reverse for fresh paintings. His female models were typically shop-girls, prostitutes, actresses or poses plastiques models, while his male models tended to be Life Guards recruited from the nearby barracks, who he thought to have an appropriate muscular physique, or occasionally men Etty met in public bath houses.

البطل ولياندر

In the wake of Etty's elevation to Academician, he exhibited two paintings at the Summer Exhibition in 1829, Benaiah, David's Chief Captain and Hero, Having Thrown Herself from the Tower at the Sight of Leander Drowned, Dies on his Body.Benaiah is on the same large scale as The Combat at 398 cm (13 ft 1 in) wide, and is a very similar composition, although in place of the woman begging for mercy is the body of a dead soldier.Hero recycles the pose of the dead soldier from Benaiah as the dying Hero as she lies on the body of her dead lover. Unusually for Etty, Hero is painted in intentionally neutral tones rather than his usual Venetian colours, and the composition uses foreshortening of the bodies to create a single diagonal across the canvas. For the rest of his life, Etty considered Hero to be "the finest of my fine pictures".

On 7 January 1830 Etty's mentor Thomas Lawrence died, followed on 30 July by Etty's mother. Etty was devastated by the loss, and was one of those considered to replace Lawrence as President of the Royal Academy, although in the event he did not stand for election. Possibly distracted by the death of Lawrence, Etty submitted only three paintings to the Summer Exhibition that year. One of these, Judith Going Forth, was an addition to Judith, which had been commissioned the previous year by that painting's new owners, the Royal Scottish Academy.

كاندولس

منطق رئيسي: كاندولس، ملك ليديا، يعرض زوجته سراً لگيگس، أحد وزرائه، في طريقها لمخدعها

Of Etty's two original works exhibited at the RA in 1830, 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". The other painting exhibited was Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed, which was to prove one of the most controversial works of Etty's career. Candaules is based on a story from Herodotus in which king Candaules arranges for his servant Gyges to spy on his wife Nyssia undressing without her knowledge. Gyges is discovered and at Nyssia's behest kills Candaules, marries Nyssia and rules the kingdom in his stead. The painting shows the moment at which Nyssia removes the last of her clothes. By positioning the figures in such a way that none are looking out of the picture, and the viewer is directly behind Nyssia, Etty aimed for the viewer to feel the same sense of voyeurism and intrusion that Gyges would have felt, forced to spy on his master's naked wife against his will and without her knowledge.

Etty felt that the work illustrated the moral that women are not chattels, and were entitled to punish men who violated their rights. He made little effort to explain this to his audience, and thus Candaules appeared morally highly ambiguous, inviting the viewer to sympathise either with the sexually immoral Candaules, the murderous Nyssia or the voyeuristic Gyges. From the moment it was unveiled Candaules was condemned as a cynical mix of a distasteful narrative and pornographic images, and there was near-unanimous consensus that it was inappropriate for public exhibition. The piece remained controversial long after Etty's death; Alexander Gilchrist's overwhelmingly flattering 1855 biography of Etty described it as "almost the only instance among Etty's works, of an undeniably disagreeable, not to say objectionable subject", while as late as 2011 Sarah Burnage of the University of York wrote of Candaules that "it is perhaps hard to see the painting as anything but a deliberate attempt by the artist to shock and scandalise".Candaules was bought by wealthy collector Robert Vernon, who was in the process of building a major collection of British art and was to become one of Etty's most important customers.

With the three paintings for the 1830 Summer Exhibition completed, Etty decided to pay another visit to Paris. Etty travelled via Brighton, arriving in Paris in early July 1830. He found the atmosphere of the city had become unpleasantly hedonistic, writing to Betsy that "If I had a daughter, she should not be educated here. Pleasure and amusement are the idols."

France was in constitutional crisis in 1830, which reached a peak in late July as the July Revolution began and riots erupted across Paris. Although moved by the death and destruction taking place around him, Etty felt that the purpose of his visit was to study paintings, and continued to attend the Louvre to copy paintings as the violence raged in the surrounding streets. On 31 July he decided to abandon the trip; abandoning his proposed onward journey to Brussels and Antwerp, he collected the five copies he had made in the Louvre and set off for London.

الشباب والمتعة وملك الفناء

منطق رئيسيs: الشباب يزحف والمتعة تقود and الملاك المدمر والعفاريت يوقفون عربدة الأشرار والمفرطين

In 1832 Etty returned to the theme of A Sketch from One of Gray's Odes, exhibited in 1822 to such disdain from the press. The result was Youth on the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm, which remains one of his best known works. Illustrating a passage from The Bard, a poem by Thomas Gray,Youth and Pleasure has been described as "a poetic romance". It shows a gilded boat being propelled by the breath of a nude child on the sails; one nude figure representing Pleasure languidly holds the helm of the boat. A nude child blows bubbles, which another nude on the prow of the ship, representing Youth, reaches to catch. Naiads, again nude, swim around and clamber onto the boat.

The Bard was about the English destruction of Welsh culture and the subsequent decline of the House of Plantagenet and its replacement by the Welsh House of Tudor, and there was a general feeling among critics that Etty had misunderstood the point of the metaphors used by Gray. Etty claimed that his unusual interpretation of the text was intended to create "a general allegory of Human Life, its empty vain pleasures—if not founded on the laws of Him who is the Rock of Ages", and that the painting served as a moral warning about the pursuit of empty pleasure. This explanation appears to have left critics unconvinced. Even those critics most favourable towards Etty's technical accomplishments in creating the picture found it hard to ascertain what the painting was supposed to represent; other critics were more openly hostile, with The Morning Chronicle condemning it as "indulgence of what we once hoped a classical, but which are now convinced, is a lascivious mind". Purchased for a huge sum by Robert Vernon on its exhibition,Youth and Pleasure remained controversial long after Etty's death, with Farr's 1958 biography describing it as "singularly inept".

Also exhibited at the 1832 Summer Exhibition along with Youth and Pleasure was الملاك المدمر والعفاريت يوقفون عربدة الأشرار والمفرطين, seen as a riposte by Etty to his critics. Another of what Etty deemed "visions", depicting a wholly imaginary scene rather than one from literature, mythology or history,The Destroying Angel shows an imaginary classical temple under attack from a destroying angel and a group of daemons. The human figures, intentionally painted in paler tones than usual to suggest death, each show their fear in a different way. Painted soon after his 1830 travels, it is thought that the heaped corpses and terrified crowds were directly inspired by events Etty had witnessed in Paris.

Unlike Youth and Pleasure, the critical response to The Destroying Angel was generally favourable even from those critics usually hostile to Etty. The painting generated favourable comparisons to Michelangelo and Rubens, and Etty's early supporter William Carey (writing under the name of "Ridolfi") considered it to be evidence of Etty's "redeeming grace and spirit". The painting was explicitly seen as a renunciation by Etty of his previous nude studies, with Fraser's Magazine described it as "a sermon to [Etty's] admirers ... where he inflicts poetical justice upon his own gay dames and their gallants, their revels being broken in upon, and they themselves being carried off most unceremoniously, like that little gentleman Don Juan, by sundry grim-looking brawny devils".

At around this time Etty began to receive many unsolicited letters from wealthy Old Etonian lawyer Thomas Myers. Myers was a huge admirer of Etty, and his letters mainly suggest literary topics he felt Etty ought to be painting so as to appeal to the nobility; he wrote regularly between July 1832 and May 1844. Although eccentric and largely incoherent (one of his suggestions was for Etty to raise his profile by painting nude portraits of the wives of the aristocracy), Etty appears to have taken at least some of Myers's suggestions seriously.

السقم والشفاء

In mid-1833 Etty began a portrait of the daughters of Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn, the long-serving Conservative Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire, shown Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball . Etty was then little-known for portraits, but had recently completed Elizabeth Potts, a portrait of the daughter of a family friend, which although poorly received by some critics was technically highly accomplished. He said at the time that he hoped his portrait of the Williams-Wynn children would be "one of my best".

In February 1834, Etty became seriously ill, and was incapacitated for four months. Unable to paint, he exhibited only two already-completed paintings in the 1834 Summer Exhibition, Elizabeth Potts and The Cardinal. In June of that year he left London to convalesce, renting a cottage in York. Weak and unable to concentrate, Etty painted very little, and spend the next few months visiting friends and touring the sights of Yorkshire. Gradually regaining his health, he returned to London in December 1834, and resumed work on those paintings he had left incomplete on the onset of his illness.

Making up for lost time during illness, he completed several significant works over the next few months, and exhibited eight paintings at the 1835 Summer Exhibition. These included works now considered among his most significant. The Bridge of Sighs, Venice was based on sketches made by Etty during his visit to that city in the early 1820s. It shows the aftermath of an execution, as two men haul the body away to be thrown into the sea; it was described as "poetry on canvas" by William Macready, who bought it from Etty.Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball was the portrait of the daughters of Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn which Etty had begun in 1833. Etty had put far more work into this than was usual for a portrait, remarking to the Williams-Wynn family that he intended "to make a fine work of Art as well as a resemblance". Showing Williams-Wynn's daughters Charlotte and Mary in elaborate Italian-style costumes, it was critically well received as evidence that Etty was able to paint a major work that did not rely on nudity, as well as demonstrating that Etty could paint on commission for the elite, leading to further commissions.The Warrior Arming was a study of Godfrey de Bouillon. painted to satisfy the then-current fad for medievalism. Etty had recently developed an interest in collecting pieces of armour, and The Warrior Arming is a technically adept study of the effects of lights from multiple sources shining on polished armour.

The most contentious of Etty's 1835 RA exhibits was Venus and Her Satellites, a depiction of the Toilet of Venus. This was condemned in much of the press as pornographic, and was described as having a "total absence of soul", with The Observer in particular extremely hostile, calling for the Archbishop of Canterbury to become involved in chastising Etty for his lack of taste. Despite this condemnation, Etty considered Venus and her Satellites one of his best works, and sold it to Rev. Edward Pryce Owen for the substantial sum of 300 guineas (about £27٬000 in 2020 terms) in August.

We must, indeed, be more serious with this gentleman [Etty] than is our wont, for the "Society for the Suppression of Vice" are not to be excused for their prosecutions in cases of obscene publications, and the Lord Mayor himself deserves at once to be sent to the tread-mill for imprisoning a little Italian boy for hawking about the streets a naked Cupid, if such lascivious scenes, such gross insults to morality and decency, are allowed to be exhibited at the Roy. Acad. with impunity. A Brothel on fire, which had driven all the Paphian Nymphs out from their beds into the court-yard, would be a modest exhibition compared to this—for they would at least exhibit en chemise. Several ladies, we know, were deterred from going into this corner of the room to see Leslie's, Webster's, and other pictures of great merit there, to avoid the offence and disgrace Mr. E. has conferred on that quarter ... Really, really, if Mr. E., with all his power of colour, turn his drawings of the human figure to no honester purpose—if the absence of all taste and decency is to mark his Academical studies, it is high time that he had a hint from an authority which neither he nor the Council of the Academy will dare to treat slightly. The Archbishop of Canterbury and some of our Bishops are fond of the arts—what say they to them in this shape?

—The Observer on Venus and Her Satellites, 10 May 1835.

In August 1835 Etty spent a brief holiday in Shropshire, where he delivered Venus and Her Satellites to Owen. While en route back he made a detour to Manchester to visit an art exhibition; while there he made the acquaintance of wealthy cotton merchant Daniel Grant.

إتي ويورك

After Jonathan Martin's arson attack on York Minster in 1829 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. Etty was prominent in the effort to resist the redesign and to restore the building to its original state. A campaign led by Etty and other York luminaries was successful, and the plans were eventually defeated in February 1831.

By the time of the Minster fire, the Corporation of York (the body responsible for local government) was already engaged in a debate about the future of the city's defensive walls. The walls no longer served any practical purpose and were expensive to maintain, and with the population of the city rising rapidly the city was becoming cramped and dangerous. The city gates ("Bars") had become a public health hazard given the number of locals using them as toilets, and theft of stone for other building works had left parts of the walls dangerously unstable. The Bars restricted stagecoaches, meaning York was unable to capitalise on its strategic position halfway along the lucrative London–Edinburgh route. Faced with the need to clear the city's slums, in 1800 the Corporation sought permission from Parliament to demolish the Bars and much of the walls. Owing to opposition from York Minster the scheme was abandoned, but by 1826 the barbicans of four of the gates had been demolished. In the face of this a public campaign to save the walls was launched in 1824, but attention on both sides of the debate was diverted by the Minster fire. In 1828 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. By 1831 the Corporation had decided to demolish the barbicans but to retain and restore the walls.

In February 1832 Etty began a campaign of writing to local York newspapers urging the preservation of the walls, and sending donations to various campaigns associated with their retention. Although some local newspapers were now supporting preservation in light of the damage their demolition would do to the tourist trade, many locals—whose lives were made more difficult by living in a walled city with few points of entry—remained hostile to the preservation campaigns. A proposal in 1838 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 visits to York in 1838–39, and made four paintings of the Bars. Etty's words went unheeded and the archway was duly cut in the walls, much to his dismay, although the station was soon moved to its current location outside the walls to allow through the running of trains to both north and south. While the walls were eventually saved in 1889, many years after Etty's death, Etty is sometimes credited with their salvation. It is open to debate how significant his part was. Some authors feel that his interventions had no impact and the preservation of the walls was the result of decisions made by the Corporation and lobbying by local newspapers, while others feel that the Corporation would not have made these decisions had Etty and other like-minded dignitaries not put pressure on them to do so.

In 1838, Etty started lobbying for the establishment of an art school in York. He proposed that the Hospitium of St Mary's Abbey be used for this purpose, with the lower floor becoming a museum of sculpture and the upper floor becoming a school and exhibition hall. The Hospitium scheme was abandoned, but the York School of Design duly opened on a different site in 1842. Although the school was created by an artist who had built his reputation on nudes, nude art remained controversial. In 1847, 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 [...] a proceeding that called forth the indignation of the male students and the remonstrances of even the lady students".

حياته اللاحقة (1836–49)

In 1836 architect John Harper arranged a small exhibition in York of works by modern artists, which included 11 Etty paintings. This included the first public showing of Venus and her Doves, which had been commissioned by Daniel Grant. Although the exhibition broke even it met with little public interest, and no further Etty retrospectives were held for some years. Harper did take the opportunity to buy Etty's A Family of the Forest (also known as Flowers of the Forest), which had failed to sell at the 1836 Summer Exhibition.A Family of the Forest illustrates a passage from the Ancient Greek poem Theogony, dealing with the Golden Age before humanity suffered pain, misery or the need to work. The setting sun in the background and the man looking away from the woman and child, and instead into the distance, signify his knowledge that his days of ease are coming to an end.

By this time, Etty was becoming conflicted religiously. Although he had been raised as a Methodist, following Catholic emancipation in 1829 Etty became increasingly drawn to Roman Catholicism. Although he considered himself "in [my] heart's core deeply and sincerely of the Ancient Faith", he refused formally to convert to Catholicism owing to concerns that it would upset his family and friends, worries that he would be denied access to Anglican buildings such as York Minster, and a distaste for the concept of auricular (spoken) confession. He remained closely associated with Catholicism throughout his later life, and was one of the few non-Catholics to attend the 1838 opening of Augustus Pugin's chapel for St Mary's College, Oscott, at the time the most important Roman Catholic building in England.

النداهات وأوليسيس

منطق رئيسي: النداهات وأوليسيس

Also in 1836 Etty began work on النداهات وأوليسيس, which he considered among his greatest works, and which is his largest surviving painting. Measuring 442.5 cm by 297 cm (14 ft 6 in by 9 ft 9 in) Sirens was based on a passage from Homer's Odyssey in which sailors resist the irresistible song of the Sirens. The theme and scale of the painting were probably suggested to Etty by Thomas Myers, who had been encouraging Etty to paint very large canvases. Myers's suggested theme appealed to Etty, who later wrote that it illustrated "the importance of resisting Sensual Delights". Etty made every effort to ensure realism in the picture, going as far as to visit mortuaries to sketch corpses in varying stages of decay to ensure the accuracy of the cadavers on the beach.

When Etty completed Sirens in 1837, 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). The painting, with its juxtaposition of male and female nudity and decaying corpses, immediately divided opinion. Some critics considered it one of the finest artworks ever made, with The Gentleman's Magazine particularly taken with the work, describing Sirens as "a historical work of the first class" and "by far the best that Mr. Etty ever painted". Other critics were less kind; The Spectator considered it "a disgusting combination of voluptuousness and loathsome putridity—glowing in colour and wonderful in execution, but conceived in the worst possible taste".

Possibly because of its size, The Sirens and Ulysses failed to sell at the Summer Exhibition. In October 1837 Etty met again with Daniel Grant who, without having seen the painting, offered £250 (about £19٬000 in today's terms) for Sirens and for Samson and Delilah, also exhibited by Etty that year. Etty, poor at business and always reluctant to keep unsold paintings in his studio, sold both paintings to Grant for well below their true worth. Etty had used a strong glue as a paint stabiliser which flaked when dry, and as soon as it was complete Sirens began to deteriorate. It was shown at the 1857 Art Treasures Exhibition but then considered in too poor a condition for further public display, and placed in long-term storage in the archives of the Royal Manchester Institution and its successor, the Manchester Art Gallery. In 2006 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.

الأفول

After Sirens, Etty's output remained as high as ever, with seven paintings exhibited at the 1838 Summer Exhibition, but the quality of his work is generally considered to have gone into decline. By 1838 critics began to comment that Etty's paintings were no longer inventive but simply reworkings of his earlier paintings, while in June of that year William Makepeace Thackeray (under the pen name of Michael Angelo Titmarsh) wrote that "[Etty] is, like great men, lazy, or indifferent, perhaps, about public approbation". By 1839, criticisms of Etty were being raised in even those newspapers and journals which had previously championed his work. A new type of criticism of Etty also began to appear in 1839, 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 preaches his sermon in Latin".

From around this time onwards, while Etty still held to his belief that the purpose of art is to illustrate moral lessons, he began to abandon the literary, religious and mythological themes which had dominated his work. He began to paint still lifes, beginning with Pheasant and Peach (likely to be the painting now called Dead Pheasant and Fruit); in the 1840s he exhibited six in total, and painted many more. Etty was the first English painter to paint significant still lifes, which at the time were thought by the English a primarily Netherlandish form. Also for the first time, he began to paint a significant number of landscape paintings. Etty still continued to paint history paintings, but while he continued to produce highly acclaimed reworkings of his previous pictures, those works on fresh topics were generally poorly received. Etty's decline in quality can possibly be attributed in part to London art dealers; from 1835 dealer Richard Colls had become increasingly close to Etty, and by 1844 had a near-monopoly on his work. As the importance of the landed gentry to the art market declined, the new purchasers of art were industrialists; generally lacking in a classical education and with little interest in Old Masters, they preferred to buy works by then-contemporary artists such as Etty, and relied on dealers to advise them.

In May 1840, Etty made the trip to Brussels and Antwerp which he had been forced by revolution to abandon in 1830. He intended to study the works of Rubens, but the briefness of his tour—in the company of Betsy Etty he visited Ostend, Bruges, Antwerp, Brussels, Aachen, Cologne, Bonn and Rotterdam in the course of ten days—meant he had little time for study. The following year he returned to Antwerp and Mechelen for a longer visit to visit St. Rumbold's Cathedral and to study the substantial collections of Rubens paintings in the two cities. On this second journey he twice visited a Trappist monastery outside Antwerp, staying overnight on one visit, and bought a Trappist habit; he also bought a Capuchin habit from a monastery in Bruges. These acquisitions prompted paintings on monastic themes over subsequent years.

Despite a perceived decline in his work's quality, the 1840s were the most financially successful of Etty's career. His income increased with further opportunities for patronage from a growing industrial class, and with few costs and all his earlier debts cleared, Etty was in a position to invest money for the first time. By 1841 Etty had around £300 invested, rising to £8500 in 1845 and £17,000 in 1849. He continued to have difficulty forming relationships with any woman other than Betsy Etty, writing in his diary in 1843 that "being in sound Mind and Body I declare it to be my Firm Intention NEVER TO MARRY. In which resolution I pray GOD to help me that I may devote myself purely to my Art, my Country, and my GOD!"

In May 1843, Etty was one of eight artists chosen by Prince Albert to paint frescoes on the theme of Milton's Comus for a new pavilion being built in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. Etty was unhappy with his selection, as fresco was a medium with which he had no experience, but reluctantly did so, choosing to paint on the theme of Circe and the Sirens Three. The result was a disaster. Etty found himself unable to retouch or alter his existing work, as any freshly applied paint would flake away from the existing paint layer, and the lunette shape of the panel left Etty with a large empty space above the central figures. Etty's fresco was deemed unsalvageable, and although he offered to paint a replacement on the theme of Hesperus he was rejected, and William Dyce was commissioned to paint a replacement fresco. Etty was paid only a token £40 fee.

The perceived lack of respect shown to one of England's leading artists led to some outcry, and attacks in the press upon the then very unpopular Albert; William Makepeace Thackeray wrote in 1845: "Think of the greatest patronage in the world giving forty pounds for pictures worth four hundred—condescending to buy works from humble men who could not refuse, and paying for them below their value! Think of august powers and principalities ordering the works of such a great artist as Etty to be hacked out of the palace-wall! That was a slap in the face to every artist in England."

In August 1843, during a break from his work on the fresco, Etty made what was to prove his final overseas journey. Since 1839 he had been planning a series of monumental paintings of Joan of Arc, and he wanted to visit places associated with her. Setting out on 16 August he spent two weeks touring sites in Rouen, Paris and Orléans associated with her life. Unlike Etty's disastrous prior visits to France, this journey passed without incident, and he found that he actually was coming to enjoy certain aspects of French living.

ميوزيدورا وجون دارك

In the same year, Etty painted the first version of Musidora: The Bather 'At the Doubtful Breeze Alarmed', an illustration from the poem Summer by James Thomson and arguably Etty's last history painting painted while he still had all his powers.Musidora shows a scene in which the titular character, having removed the last of her clothes, steps into "the lucid coolness of the flood" to "bathe her fervent limbs in the refreshing stream", unknowing that she is being watched by her suitor Damon. Etty's composition is shown from the viewpoint of Damon; by so doing Etty aimed to induce the same reactions in the viewer as Damon's dilemma as described by Thomson; that of whether to enjoy the spectacle despite knowing it to be inappropriate, or to follow the accepted morality of the time and look away, in what art historian Sarah Burnage has described as "a titillating moral test for spectators to both enjoy and overcome".Musidora met with almost universal acclaim, compared favourably to Titian and Rembrandt, and described by The Critic as "a preeminent work" and "the triumph of the British school".

By the time Musidora was exhibited, Etty's health was in serious decline. Suffering severe asthma, it was not unusual for passers-by to accuse him of drunkenness as he made his way wheezing through the London streets, and he was beginning to plan his retirement from polluted London to his beloved York. Abandoning the smaller paintings which kept him profitable, he strived to complete his Joan of Arc triptych before his health gave out. This was on a huge scale, 28 ft (8.5 m) in total width and 9 ft 9 in (3 m) high; the three pictures from left to right depicted Joan devoting herself to the service of God and her country, Joan scattering the enemies of France, and Joan dying a martyr.

Etty sold the triptych for the huge sum of 2500 guineas (about £180٬000 in 2020 terms) to dealer Richard Colls and the engraver C. W. Wass. Colls and Wass had ambitious plans to recoup their money by selling engravings of the pictures and by taking the paintings on a tour of Britain and Europe. The paintings proved less popular than expected. Very few engravings were sold and the tours did not take place; Wass declared bankruptcy in 1852. The paintings were separated, and sold on to a series of buyers, with the third panel fetching just 7¹⁄₂ guineas in 1893 as Etty's popularity continued to wane. By the 1950s all three panels of Joan of Arc were believed lost or destroyed, although some preliminary studies survive.

وفاته

Following the completion of Joan of Arc, Etty's health continued to deteriorate. He continued to paint and exhibit, but his retirement plans grew firmer. In April 1846 he bought a house in Coney Street, central York, as a retirement home, and in December 1847 he formally resigned from the Council of the Royal Academy. Following structural alterations to give him a better view of the river, Etty moved into the house in June 1848, completing the move in September, although he retained his London apartments. His move from London caused some consternation among that city's models, who were losing one of their most regular customers, as well as concerns from Etty who was worried that working with nude models might cause a scandal in York.

He continued to exhibit, sending seven paintings to that year's Summer Exhibition, but they drew little interest, although the lack of nudes was applauded by some reviewers. By this time, Robert Vernon's bequest of his collection to the nation had led to eleven Etty paintings going on public display in the cellars of the National Gallery. In late 1848 he wrote a brief autobiography, published the following year in The Art Journal, in which he staunchly defended himself against the accusations of pornography which had been levelled at him throughout his life:

As a worshipper of beauty, whether it be seen in a weed, a flower, or in that most interesting form to humanity, lovely woman, in intense admiration of it and its Almighty Author, if at any time I have forgotten the boundary line that I ought not to have passed, and tended to voluptuousness, I implore His pardon; I have never wished to seduce others from that path and practice of virtue, which alone leads to happiness here and hereafter; and if in any of my pictures an immoral sentiment has been aimed at, I consent it should be burnt; but I never recollect being actuated in painting my pictures by such sentiment. That the female form, in its fulness, beauty of colour, exquisite rotundity, may, by being portrayed in its nudity, awake like nature in some degree an approach to passion, I must allow, but where no immoral sentiment is intended, I affirm that the simple undisguised naked figure is innocent. "To the pure in heart all things are pure."

In 1849, the Royal Society of Arts decided to organise a retrospective exhibition of Etty's work, the first since the minor York exhibition of 1836. Etty agreed only on condition that all nine of his large works were included. The three Joan of Arc paintings were in London and easily accessible, and the Royal Scottish Academy was happy to lend The Combat, Benaiah and the Judith triptych, but the Royal Manchester Institution was deeply reluctant to lend The Sirens and Ulysses in light of concerns that transporting it would damage the fragile paintwork further. They were eventually persuaded to lend the piece after Etty and some of his friends visited Manchester to personally request they release it. The exhibition went ahead from 9 June to 25 August 1849, bringing together 133 Etty paintings for the first time; Etty hoped that it would raise public awareness of his abilities, writing to his friend Rev. Isaac Spencer "Please God, I will give them a taste of my quality". The exhibition was well received and well attended; even Etty's old adversaries at the Morning Chronicle recommending that readers "lose no time in visiting this collection". It was a financial disaster for the Royal Society of Arts, faced with the cost of transporting large numbers of delicate artworks from around the country.

During the exhibition Etty suffered a serious bout of rheumatic fever. Exhausted by illness and the stress of the exhibition, when the exhibition was complete he returned to York in very poor health. On 3 November 1849 he suffered a serious asthma attack, thought to have been made worse by his neglecting to wear his flannel undershirt the night before. His condition deteriorated rapidly, and by 10 November he was bedridden. On Tuesday 13 November, watching the sun set over the River Ouse, he was heard to say "Wonderful! Wonderful! This death!" Later that night, Betsy Etty wrote to Joseph Gillott that "Uncle paid the last debt to nature at ¹⁄₄ past Eight oclock [ك‍] tonight. I do not know what to do. I am almost broken hearted. I have lost my best friend. I now [ك‍] not what to do. I can say no more."

ذكراه

Etty had planned for a burial in York Minster, but neglected to cover the necessary costs in his will. With Yorkshire local government in political and financial chaos in the wake of the bankruptcy of George Hudson, there was no political will to organise a public subscription or to waive the fees, and as a consequence Etty was buried in the churchyard of St Olave's Church, his local parish church. On 6 May 1850 the contents of his studio were auctioned, in a total of 1034 lots including around 900 paintings; some of these paintings were incomplete studies later completed by other artists to increase their value. In the years following his death Etty's work became highly collectable, his works fetching huge sums on resale. He continued to be regarded as a pornographer by some, with Charles Robert Leslie observing in 1850 "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 evil, was not aware of the manner in which his works were regarded by grosser minds".

Six months after William's death, Betsy Etty married chemist Stephen Binnington, a distant relation of the Etty family. She moved into his house in Haymarket, and some time after his death moved to 40 Edwardes Square, where she died in 1888 at the age of 87.

While Etty did have admirers, the patchy quality of his later work meant that he never acquired the circle of imitators and students that could have led to him being seen as the founder of the English realist movement, now considered to have begun in 1848 with the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, two of the three founders of the Pre-Raphaelites, were heavily influenced by Etty's early works but recoiled from his later style. Holman Hunt recollected that "in my youth [Etty] had lost the robustness he once had [...] the paintings of his advanced age cloyed the taste by their sweetness". Millais had consciously modelled his style on Etty, and his works prior to the formation of the Pre-Raphaelites are very similar in composition, but after 1848 the only similarity in style is the use of colour. As Pre-Raphaelitism waned Millais's style became more varied, and some of his later work such as The Knight Errant owes a strong debt to Etty's influence.

During his life Etty had acquired followers such as Irish painters William Mulready and Daniel Maclise, but both rejected Etty's preoccupation with nudes. Mulready painted nudes but became best known for domestic genre paintings, while Maclise chose to specialise in more traditional history paintings and exhibited only one nude work in his career. One of the few painters who consciously attempted to continue Etty's style after his death was William Edward Frost, who had been an acquaintance of Etty's since 1825. In the early 1830s Frost painted on commission for Thomas Potts (whose 1833 commission of Etty to paint his daughter Elizabeth's portrait had been Etty's first significant portrait commission), and later was commissioned on Etty's recommendation to paint a portrait of Etty's cousin Thomas Bodley. Frost successfully imitated Etty throughout his career, to the extent that his figure studies and Etty's are often misattributed to each other. Although Frost eventually became a Royal Academician in 1870, by this time Etty's style of painting had badly fallen out of fashion.

Victorian painting had gone through radical changes, and by the 1870s the realism of Etty and the Pre-Raphaelites had given way to the ideas of the Aesthetic Movement, abandoning the traditions of storytelling and moralising in favour of painting works designed for aesthetic appeal rather than for their narrative or subject. Although the aesthetic movement ultimately led to a brief revival of history painting, these works were in a very different style to Etty's. The new generation of history painters such as Edward Burne-Jones, Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Frederic Leighton sought to depict passivity, rather than the dynamism seen in previous works depicting the classical world. By the end of the 19th century, the value of all of Etty's works had fallen below their original prices. As the 20th century began, the increasingly influential Modernist movement, which came to dominate British art in the 20th century, drew its inspiration from Paul Cézanne and had little regard for 19th-century British painting.

In 1911 the city of York belatedly recognised Etty. A statue of Etty by G. W. Milburn was unveiled on 1 February outside the York Art Gallery, and a retrospective of 164 Etty paintings was held at the gallery despite opposition from some of Etty's descendants who refused to lend works for it. William Wallace Hargrove, proprietor of the York Herald, gave a speech recalling his memories of knowing Etty. Outside York, Etty generally remained little-known, with the majority of those galleries holding his works, other than the Lady Lever Art Gallery, the Russell-Cotes Museum and Anglesey Abbey, tending to keep them in storage. Minor Etty exhibitions in London in 1936 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 his death. In 2001–02 five Etty paintings were included in Tate Britain's landmark Exposed: The Victorian Nude exhibition, which did much to raise Etty's profile, and established Etty as "the first British artist to paint the nude with both seriousness and consistency". The restoration of The Sirens and Ulysses, completed in 2010, led to increased interest in Etty, and in 2011–12 a major exhibition of Etty's works was held at the York Art Gallery. The York Art Gallery continues to hold the largest collection of Etty's works.

الهوامش

المصادر

الحواشي

المراجع

• Burnage, Sarah (2011a). "Etty and the Masters". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. pp. 154–97. ISBN . 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. pp. 106–54. ISBN . OCLC 800599710.
• Burnage, Sarah (2011c). "The Life Class". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. pp. 198–227. ISBN . 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. pp. 31–46. ISBN . OCLC 800599710.
• Burnage, Sarah (2011e). "Portraiture". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. pp. 228–50. ISBN . OCLC 800599710.
• Burnage, Sarah; Bertram, Beatrice (2011). "Chronology". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. pp. 20–30. ISBN . OCLC 800599710.
• Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark (2011). "Introduction". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. pp. 12–16. ISBN . OCLC 800599710.
• Edwards, Jason (2011). "Queer and Now: On Etty's 'Autobiography' (1849) and 'Male Nude with Arms Up-Stretched' (c. 1830)". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. pp. 91–100. ISBN . OCLC 800599710.
• Farr, Dennis (1958). William Etty. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. OCLC 2470159.
• Gilchrist, Alexander (1855a). Life of William Etty, R.A. 1. London: David Bogue. OCLC 2135826.
• Gilchrist, Alexander (1855b). Life of William Etty, R.A. 2. London: David Bogue. OCLC 2135826.
• Green, Richard (2011). "Etty and the Masters". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. pp. 61–74. ISBN . OCLC 800599710.
• Myrone, Martin (2011). "'Something too Academical': The Problem with Etty". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. pp. 47–60. ISBN . OCLC 800599710.
• Robinson, Leonard (2007). William Etty: The Life and Art. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. ISBN . OCLC 751047871.
• Smith, Alison (2001a). Exposed: The Victorian Nude. London: Tate Publishing. ISBN .
• 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. pp. 53–67. ISBN .
• Smith, Alison (1996). The Victorian Nude. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN .
• Turner, Laura (2011a). "Introduction". In Burnage, Sarah; Hallett, Mark; Turner, Laura (eds.). William Etty: Art & Controversy. London: Philip Wilson Publishers. pp. 9–10. ISBN . OCLC 800599710.
• Turner, Sarah Victoria (2011b). "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. pp. 75–90. ISBN . OCLC 800599710.
• Warner, Malcolm (1996). The Victorians: British Painting 1837–1901. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art. ISBN . OCLC 59600277.

وصلات خارجية

مشاع الفهم فيه ميديا متعلقة بموضوع [[commons:خطأ لوا في وحدة:WikidataIB على السطر 496: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|خطأ لوا في وحدة:WikidataIB على السطر 496: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]].

• نطقب:Art UK bio