TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments       vii
List of Illustrations      xiii
Foreword by Tom Etty      1
Preface      3
Introduction      5

CHAPTER ONE
The Etty family, Etty’s birth and early years      19
The shape of things to come      31
Education      34

CHAPTER TWO
“One of the fairest of England’s cities”      39
“Servitude and slavery”      47

CHAPTER THREE
Life in London      52
A second apprenticeship      58
A rewarding pupilage      69

CHAPTER FOUR
Unsettled and solitary      74
Finding his way      76
Slow beginnings and widening horizons      80
Death of his father      88
Success at home      90

CHAPTER FIVE
The Grand Tour—A second attempt      95
“The spell is broken”      96
Success in Venice      99
“Fever of heart”      108
A confession?      110

CHAPTER SIX
Further successes and material improvements      113
“An honor conferred”      118
Further recognition—Meeting with Delacroix      119
A troublesome patron      123
Revisiting York      125
“We must keep the foreigners from fooling us!”      126

CHAPTER SEVEN
“I have triumphed!”      132
A familiar allegory reworked      135
A fair exchange?      143
His mother’s death      144
“The Vandals strike again”      146

Between pages 152 and 153 are 16 color plates containing 28 illustrations

CHAPTER EIGHT
“An irreparable loss”      153
Mixed reactions      156
A change of Academic patronage      162
Unpleasant experiences in France      165
“An affair of the Heart”      169
Etty and politics—Reactions to reform      170

CHAPTER NINE
A tour of the north      173
“A general allegory of Human Life”      178
Defender of antiquities      181
The letters of Ridolfi      184
A second Ridolfi      188
A variety of portraits      191

CHAPTER TEN
“The War of the Walls”      197
“Some great moral on the heart”      207
A missed opportunity      209
Illness and convalescence      210
An exhibition in York      216
A strange appointment      222
More advice from Ridolfi Minor      223

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Divergent opinions      227
“Beauty, action, masculine vigour”      232
The National Gallery      235
“A nasty little pokey hole”      239
An important appointment—The Schools of Design      241

CHAPTER TWELVE
A change of monarch, a change of style      246
A childlike humor      249
Critical appreciations      253
Painting the Lady Mayoress      260
Etty’s painting methods      263

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“I am not a Protestant” ... “I am not a Catholic”      267
“Premiums for Crime”      276
Etty and money      280

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A qualified tribute from one artist to another      288
Another important appointment—The National Gallery      289
“Nature supreme and over all”      291
Summer excursions      293
A prestigious appointment—The Houses of Parliament      296
A royal command      301
“Let Brotherly Love Continue”      304

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“The Judith of modern times”      314
York Minster again      320
Planning for retirement      324
“The new Maecenas”      327
Distinguished portraits      331

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Etty and his models      336
“Never to marry!”      349

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The York School of Design      357
Failing powers      364
Excursions and alarums      368
A reluctant departure      370

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Who bought Etty’s paintings?      375

CHAPTER NINETEEN
“A piece of egotism”      402
A curious intervention      404
Recognition by fellow artists      407
Praise from a famous poet      412
Increasing ill-health and other worries      413
A final imprudence      414

CHAPTER TWENTY
Final wishes unfulfilled      416
“A Sordid Topic”      419
A hurried sale      422
Posthumous appreciations      423

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Etty’s successors      431
Etty in the Twentieth Century      444
Summation      454

Appendix. Betsy      457
Chapter Notes
Abbreviations and Full References      477
The Notes      478
Bibliography      483
Index      487