 When Etty completed Sirens in 1837 , it was one of the main attractions at the 1837 Summer Exhibition , the first to be held in the Royal Academy 's new building in Trafalgar Square ( now part of the National Gallery ) . The painting , with its juxtaposition of male and female nudity and decaying corpses , immediately divided opinion . Some critics considered it one of the finest artworks ever made , with The Gentleman 's Magazine particularly taken with the work , describing Sirens as " a historical work of the first class " and " by far the best that Mr. Etty ever painted " . Other critics were less kind ; The Spectator considered it " a disgusting combination of voluptuousness and loathsome <unk> — glowing in colour and wonderful in execution , but conceived in the worst possible taste " . 
