William Etty

William Etty was the first important British painter to specialise in the nude. His history paintings of classical and literary scenes are really about flesh, painted in warm, glowing tones he learned from Titian and Rubens.

He was born in York in 1787 and apprenticed as a printer before studying at the Royal Academy Schools and under Thomas Lawrence. He travelled in Italy and France and was especially struck by Venetian painting. He became a Royal Academician in 1828 and was one of the most admired and most criticised artists of his day. He died in York in 1849. York Art Gallery and Tate Britain hold his work.

Britomart Redeems Fair Amoret, from Spenser’s Faerie Queene, shows his rich colour and smooth modelling.