Painter of nudes, preserver of York
Considering the time in which he lived (1787–1849) you might think William Etty would lean towards Victorian values. But his statue in Exhibition Square hints that this was no stern, God-fearing moralist – there is almost a twinkle in his stony eye.
And that is how it should be. Etty was not a stick-in-the-mud: in two very different ways he was a pioneer. As a conservationist, he led the campaign to save ancient walls; as a painter, he smashed right through them.
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Address Exhibition Square, York YO1 7EW | Public Transport 1-minute walk from Bootham Row car park. Closest bus stop: Exhibition Square | Tip York Art Gallery has several Etty paintings on display, and is well worth a visit.
Born in Feasegate, York, Etty was the son of a baker and first showed his artistic promise drawing in chalk on the floor of his father’s shop. After training in London, he conducted his own grand tour of Europe, studying in Venice for almost nine months. When he returned to London, his reputation soared, and he was recognised as a painter of rare talent. In 1828, he was elected a member of the Royal Academy, defeating John Constable to claim the honour.
But his decision to concentrate on painting the nude figure scandalised some segments of Victorian society. “No decent family can hang such sights on their walls,” complained the London Examiner, saying it was “another indulgence of what we had hoped was a classical, but are now convinced is a lascivious mind.” The Times, meanwhile, was often hostile: “Naked figures, when painted with the purity of Raphael, may be endured,” it once lamented; “but nakedness without purity is offensive and indecent, and on Mr Etty’s canvass is mere dirty flesh.”
In the 1830s, Etty was horrified by the York Corporation’s plans to demolish the city’s bars and much of the walls. He began a campaign to save them, writing letters to the papers, donating to the conservation cause, and delivering lectures on the importance of the walls. Although four of the barbicans were demolished, the city walls were saved, and Etty played his part in their preservation.
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