 Applicants to the Royal Academy Schools were expected to pass stringent ability tests , and on his arrival in London Etty set about practicing , drawing " from prints and from nature " . Aware that all successful applicants were expected to produce high quality drawings of classical sculptures , he spent much time " in a plaster @-@ cast shop , kept by Gianelli , in that lane near to Smithfield , immortalised by Dr. Johnson 's visit to see ' The Ghost ' there " , which he described as " My first academy " . 
