Self-Portrait

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.

1823

Honorary Academician of the Venetian Academy

The members of the Venetian Academy of Fine Arts were so impressed by Etty that they elected him an Honorary Academician.

October 1823 – January 1824

Home by way of Paris: copies, prints, brushes

On 8 October 1823 Etty left Venice via Mantua and Geneva for Paris, where, instead of going on to England, he stayed to copy in the galleries, collect prints, and buy a lay figure and about 200 paintbrushes, both of which the French made to a higher standard than English makers. In early January 1824 he returned to London.

1824

His niece Betsy becomes his housekeeper

From 1824 Etty’s household was run by his niece Betsy (Elizabeth Etty), the fifth daughter of his brother John, unmarried and 14 years his junior. She stayed with him for the rest of his life as companion and assistant alongside his official assistant George Franklin, and he came to depend on her increasingly, writing to her in panic whenever he did not hear from her.

1 November 1824

Elected Associate of the Royal Academy

On 1 November 1824 Etty was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, beating William Allan by 16 votes to seven. The Times, still hostile to him over his perceived indecency, sneered that this could hardly be an honour conferred on Etty: he had deserved the rank long ago and should have obtained it sooner.