WILLIAM ETTY A Collection of Historical Paintings Containing Female Figures ( HD)

William Etty, was born on March 10th, 1787. He was an English artist best known for his historical paintings containing female figures. He was the first significant British painter of feminine figures and stilllifes. Born in York, he left school at the age of 12 to become an apprentice printer in Hull. William Etty showed artistic promise from an early age, drawing in chalk on the wooden floor of his father s shop. He completed his apprenticeship seven years later and moved to London, where he joined the Royal Academy Schools in 1807. There he studied under Thomas Lawrence and trained by copying the works of other artists. Etty earned respect at the Royal Academy of Arts for his ability to paint realistic flesh tones but had little commercial or critical success in his first few years in London. Etty s Cleopatra s Arrival in Cilicia, painted in 1821, featured numerous feminine figures and was exhibited to great acclaim. Its success prompted several further de