The History of York website [visit
link] tells us:
"Commissioned by York Corporation,
this statue, carved in Portland stone, was made by the local sculptor, George
Milburn, and unveiled to the public on 20 February 1911. In the same year, a
retrospective exhibition of Etty’s works was held at York Art
Gallery.
If you look above the gallery
entrance, you will see four sculpted roundels depicting famous York artists:
John Carr (1723-1807, architect); John Camidge (1734-1803, musician); John
Flaxman (1755-1826, sculptor); and, on the far right, William Etty (1787-1849,
painter)."
The statue is currently in a sorry
state and is in need of cleaning. It is a life-size image and shows Etty
standing with his left foot slightly ahead of his right. He is wearing, what
appears to be, a knee length coat and has some material draped over his left
arm. An artist's palette appears to be resting on his left fore arm. His right
hand is down by his side and may, at some time, held a brush. Etty is looking
straight ahead.
The History of York website [visit
link] also tells us:
"1787AD - 1849AD
William Etty is York’s best known
artist, his statue has pride of place outside York Art Gallery. He was
famous for his paintings of historical and mythical scenes but, in his day, Etty
was also infamous for his paintings of nudes.
Etty - a son of York:
Etty was
born in 1787 in Feasegate in York, his father was a baker and
confectioner. He received an average education and had no artistic
guidance in his early life. Etty recalls in his autobiography: “My first
panels, on which I drew, were the boards of my father’s shop floor; my first
crayon, a farthing’s worth of white chalk”.
In 1798, his mother got him an
apprenticeship at a busy printers in Hull. Etty clearly had greater
ambitions and in 1805 he moved to London to try his luck as an
artist.
Etty’s life in London:
Just two
years later, in 1807, Etty became a student at the Royal Academy, the premier
training institute for aspiring artists. His uncle also paid for the well
established artist, Sir Thomas Lawrence, to take Etty as a pupil for a whole
year. Still success did not come easily to Etty and he repeatedly
submitted work to the Royal Academy’s exhibitions, only to have them
rejected. He later wrote of this time: “I began to think I was not half
the clever fellow I had imagined”.
But he continued to dedicate
himself to his studies, indeed he attended life drawing classes throughout his
life. Etty wrote: "I worked with such energy and perseverance to conquer
my radical defects". The hard work paid off and in 1811 he had his first
piece accepted by the Royal Academy. The first of his paintings to receive
wider public recognition was ‘Cleopatra’s Arrival in Cicilia’.
In the 1820’s, in his early career,
Etty received critical acclaim. An 1826 review for his ‘Choice of Paris’,
described him as having talent that “no artist of the present day can
equal”. Etty continued to exhibit at the Royal Academy throughout his
career but his work was not universally popular. His nudes were a particular
source of criticism. A review in the Times newspaper said, “nakedness
without purity is offensive and indecent, and in Mr. Etty’s canvas is mere dirty
flesh”. Etty was seen by others as the best English painter of the nude,
but he has never become a household name.
Etty’s legacy to York:
Etty
didn’t forget his home town. In 1842 he established the York School of
Design, which later became the York School of Art. He also played a role
in the conservation of the City walls, and the preservation of much of medieval
York is sometimes attributed to him. This is something of an
exaggeration. Etty did support the preservation of the City walls, and
wrote from London in 1825 in defence of Clifford’s Tower, but in reality, the
walls were saved by public opinion and the actions of certain councillors and
key figures within York.
Despite his long absence from the
city, Etty was buried in York. His grave is in the yard of St Olave’s
Church and can be viewed from within the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey. Etty’s
other legacy to York is the substantial collection of his works held by York Art
Gallery."