 Youth on the Prow , and Pleasure at the Helm ( also known as Fair Laughs the <unk> and Youth and Pleasure ) is an oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty , first exhibited in 1832 and currently in Tate Britain . Etty had been planning the painting since 1818 – 19 , and an early version was exhibited in 1822 . The piece was inspired by a metaphor in Thomas Gray 's poem The Bard in which the apparently bright start to the notorious <unk> of Richard II of England was compared to a gilded ship whose occupants are unaware of an approaching storm . Etty chose to illustrate Gray 's lines literally , depicting a golden boat filled with and surrounded by nude and near @-@ nude figures . 
