Drawing

1818

Disqualified from an Academy competition

In 1818 Etty entered in an Academy painting competition a copy of Damiano Mazza’s “The Rape of Ganymede”, then thought to be by Titian, and was easily the best entrant, but two other contestants complained that he had briefly removed the painting from Academy premises to work on it at home and that he was technically a professional, and he was disqualified. The quality of the work only raised his prestige; by 1818 he had hired an assistant, George Henry Franklin, though he still lived on gifts from his brother.

1820

Freeling commissions “Cleopatra”

Sir Francis Freeling, who had admired “The Coral Finder” at the exhibition, learned that it was already sold and commissioned from Etty a similar picture on a more ambitious scale for 200 guineas. Etty had for some time been musing on a painting of Cleopatra and based it loosely on the composition of “The Coral Finder”.

23 June 1822

Sets out for Italy with Richard Evans

Remembering the homesickness of his last journey, Etty travelled this time with Richard Evans, who had also studied under Lawrence; despite warnings of the heat, they set out on 23 June 1822 aiming to reach Rome. They crossed to France by the recently developed steamboat, reached Paris on 26 June and spent two weeks visiting Versailles and the galleries; Etty was most impressed by Rubens’s Marie de’ Medici cycle, elements of which he later reused in many of his own works.

10 August 1822

Rome: the Sistine Chapel and Canova

Passing through Dijon, Switzerland, Milan (where they saw Leonardo’s Last Supper and the Brera Gallery) and Florence, Etty and Evans reached Rome on 10 August 1822. Somewhat disappointed by the city, Etty was highly impressed by Michelangelo’s “almost Venetian” colour in the Sistine Chapel and, on Lawrence’s recommendation, met Antonio Canova shortly before the sculptor’s death.

1822–1823

Seven months in Venice

Feeling unsettled in Rome, Etty went to Venice intending to stay ten days, but with a letter of introduction from Charles Lock Eastlake he was taken into the house of Harry D’Orville, the British vice consul, and remained for over seven months. Long convinced that Venice was his spiritual home, he copied paintings in Venetian collections by day and attended the Academy’s life class by night, producing around 50 oil paintings and numerous pencil sketches.

1822–1823

“Il Diavolo”: watching him paint becomes a spectacle

In Venice Etty acquired the nickname “Il Diavolo” for the speed at which he painted, and watching him work became a spectacle in its own right: Gioachino Rossini, Ladislaus Pyrker, then Patriarch of Venice, and others came to see him. The Academy’s instructors admired his flesh tones, while Etty, devoted to his studies, exhibited no original work in 1823.