Oil paint on canvas
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-etty-172" aria-label="More by William Etty" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">William Etty</a>
Standing Female Nude
Presented by the Art Fund 1941
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<p>Etty specialised in painting the nude and continued to attend life classes at the Royal Academy throughout his life. The presence of an older man working away studiously alongside much younger students caused some amusement among his contemporaries. Etty’s modern reputation has rested on the apparent realism and erotic charge of his painted studies, which seem forward-looking, but the artist considered that he was working in a well-established tradition of high-minded painting.</p><p><em>Gallery label, February 2016</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
23 June 2011 – 20 January 2012
2012-01-20
23 June 2011 – 20 January 2012
2012-01-20
2011-06-23
York Art Gallery (York, UK)
http://www.york.art.museum
2011-06-23
William Etty: Art and Controversy
Loan-out
5 November 2016 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
10 November 2023 – 14 April 2024
2024-04-14
2023-11-10
LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Westfälisches (Munster, Germany)
http://landesmuseum.lwl.org
1 April 2025 – 31 August 2025
2025-08-31
2025-04-01
External
2016-11-05
Nude: art from the Tate collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
Standing Female Nude
frame: 1155 × 793 × 74 mm
support: 1020 × 652 × 20 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 1941
<p>William Etty was responsible for raising the status of the female nude in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/v/victorian" title="Glossary definition for 'Victorian'"><span>Victorian</span></a> art. Even while training at the Royal Academy Schools, 'he took with avidity to the use of the brush and ever after <i>painted </i>his studies, thus he gained a power over the imitation of flesh, both as to colour and texture, beyond that of any other artist.' (Richard Redgrave's memoir, quoted in Lambourne, p.281) Since there was no precedent for this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/genres" title="Glossary definition for 'Genres'"><span>genre</span></a> of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> in English art, Etty looked to Venetian art for inspiration, as well as the sensuous handling and voluptuous nudes of Rubens (1577-1640). His fluid brushstrokes and warm, rich colours also reflect the influence of Delacroix (1798-1863), who greatly admired Etty's work.

</p><p>This picture was probably intended as a study for a larger painting on a mythological or historical subject. The pillar, the flowers in the background and the woman's pose - absorbed in her own thoughts, but reminiscent of Botticelli's (1446-1510) <i>Birth of Venus</i>, <i>c</i>.1485-6 - hint at some kind of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/n/narrative" title="Glossary definition for 'Narrative'"><span>narrative</span></a> or <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/classicism" title="Glossary definition for 'Classicism'"><span>classical</span></a> allusion, but Etty is interested primarily in the model's torso and the vibrancy of her flesh, set against a rich red background.  He also uses dramatic contrasts of light and dark to enliven what is essentially a conventional pose.  Since details of extremities such as feet and hands were less important to him, Etty's nudes often have rather unusual <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/proportion" title="Glossary definition for 'Proportion'"><span>proportions</span></a>; with the result that, as here, the feet are merely sketched in and the head is in shadow.  The model has large, muscular arms and enormous feet, and as some commentators have remarked, 'Etty never altogether converted the model into a complete work of poetryhis Aphrodite remains a barmaid' (Gaunt and Roe, p.64).

</p><p>Some critics regarded Etty's belief in the importance of colour over design as unwholesome and his works were frequently attacked for their indecency and lack of finish. The<i> Times</i> considered them 'entirely too luscious for the public eye' (quoted in Lambourne, p.281) and Thackeray warned of their intoxicating effect: 'Look for a while at Mr Etty's pictures, and away you rush, your "eyes on fire", drunken with the luscious colours that are poured out for you on the liberal <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a>, and warm with the sight of the beautiful sirens that appear on it' (quoted in Lambourne p.282).

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>William Gaunt and F.Gordon Roe, <i>Etty and the Nude</i>, Leigh-on-Sea 1943, reproduced pl.41.<br/>Lionel Lambourne, <i>Victorian Painting</i>, London 1999, pp.280-2.<br/>Alison Smith, <i>The Victorian Nude - Sexuality, Morality and Art</i>, Manchester 1996, pp.86-90.

</p><p>Frances Fowle <br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>Etty specialised in painting the nude and continued to attend life classes at the Royal Academy throughout his life. The presence of an older man working away studiously alongside much younger students caused some amusement among his contemporaries. Etty’s modern reputation has rested on the apparent realism and erotic charge of his painted studies, which seem forward-looking, but the artist considered that he was working in a well-established tradition of high-minded painting.</p>
</div>

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2016-02-24T00:00:00
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actions: postures and motions adults architecture clothing clothing and personal items column curtain features female flower furnishings natural phenomena nudes objects people plants and flowers sensuality sex and relationships shadow society standing woman