William Etty (British 1787-1849) Phaedria and Cymochles on the Idle Lake Oil on canvas 59.5 x 79cm (22 1/4 x 31 in.) Provenance: Louis Huth (parton of James McNeil Whistler), London Charles P. Matthews, of 23 Hertford Street, and Havering-Atte-Bower, Essex Christie's, 6 June 1891, Lot 28 (200 gns to Agnew) Thomas Agnew & Sons, London Cyril Flower, 1st Baron Battersea (1843-1907) and by inheritance to his widow Constance, Lady Battersea Thomas Alder Thorp Brigadier R.S.C. Britten, M.C.Sale, Sotheby's, London, 18 February 1970, Lot 120 (£1200 to M. Newman) M. Newman Ltd., London, sold 1970 Sale, Christie's, London, The Forbes Collection of Victorian Pictures and Works of Art II, 20 February 2003, Lot 174 Acquired from the above by The Lord Wraxall Exhibited: London, Royal Academy, 1835, no.310 Manchester, Royal Manchester Institution, 1835, no.85 London, British Institution, 1862, no. 186, lent by Louis Huth London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of Old Masters, 1875 The Art and Mind of Victorian England, 1974, no.11 The Royal Academy (1837-1901) Revisited, 1975-6 ,no.14 The Pre-Raphaelite Era, 1976, no. 2-15 Literature: The Times, 23 May 1835 A. Gilchrist, Life of William Etty, R.A., II, London, 1855, pp.23 and 33 W.T. Whitley, Art in England 1821-1827, Cambridge, 1930, pp.299-300 W. Gaunt and W. Roe, Etty and the Nude, Leigh-on-Sea, 1943, p.96 D. Farr, William Etty, London, 1958, pp.68, 72-3, 151, under no. 78 T.L. Sloan, 'Phaedria and Cymochles on the Idle Lake', Record of the Art Museum: Princeton University, XXVII, no. 2, 1968, pp.81-83 (Princeton Version Only) M. Freeman, 'Kinetic Art in the Forbes Collection', New Jersey Music & Arts, September, 1974, p.74, reproduced S. Casteras, The Substance of the Shadow: images of Victorian Womanhood, exh. cat., Yale, 1982, p.73, under no.30 William Etty (1787-1849) was one of the first British painters of nudes and still lives, often incorporating his figures into history paintings in the grand manner which, during the early nineteenth century was widely regarded as the noblest genres of painting. Born in York, Etty moved to London in 1805 to study at the Royal Academy, also spending a year in the studio of Sir Thomas Lawrence in 1807. Between 1822 and 1824, Etty embarked on an extended Grand Tour of Italy, spending nine months in Venice. Influenced by the work of the Old Masters and in particular the Venetian School, Etty exhibited a number of works at the Royal Academy throughout the 1820s with much more success that in the previous decade. With all but one of the works he submitted during this time including a female nude in an historical setting, he soon gained a reputation for indecency, despite being commercially successful. Etty was elected an Associate of the Royal Acedemy in 1824, and a full Academician in 1828. The present lot Phaedria and Cymochles on the Idle Lake was exhibited, with another six works by the artist, at the Royal Academy in 1835. Inspired by Edmund Spenser’s epic poem The Faerie Queene [Book II, Canto 6], it tells the tale of the knight Cymochles, ‘a man of rare undoubted might’ but ‘given all to lust and loose living’ who sets out to avenge the death of his brother Pyrochles but is interceded by Phaedria, the lady of the Idle Lake who symbolises immodest mirth. First published in circa 1589 (Books I, II, III) and then republished in 1596 (with Books IV and V), The Faerie Queene is one of the longest poems in the English language as well as the origin of the verse form known as Spenserian stanza. During the nineteenth century Spenser’s poem had enormous appeal to the Romantic artists on account of its wealth of pictorial incident and its Renaissance pedigree. Etty himself had previously turned to Book III of the poem as inspiration for Britomart Redeems Faire Amoret which was exhibited in 1833. Indeed, the present lot is the second attempt by the artist to depict Phaedria and Cymochles in this scene. The first version, now at Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey and the studies for which can be found at the V&A museum, London differs from the lot offered here most conspicuously by the absence of Cupid who has been added to the left of Phaedria. The positioning of the two central figures has also been altered and the rudder held by Phaedria in the earlier work has been replaced by a garland of flowers. Each work, when exhibited at the Royal Academy, was accompanied by different lines from Spenser’s poem which emphasise the changes in the composition. In both cases the rich colouring characteristic of Etty’s work demonstrates the artist’s debt to the Venetian Old Masters, most noticeably Titian. The artist’s interest in the nude and his aptitude for depicting both the male and female form are clearly demonstrated. In 1835 when it was first exhibited at the Royal Academy, despite a largely positive reception, the critic for The Times wrote that the work was: ‘…a most disgusting thing, and we wonder that in these times the people who have the direction of this exhibition venture to permit such pictures to be hung. Phaedria is the true representative of one of the Nymphs of Drury lane, and Cymochles looks like an unwashed coalporter…; they are only fit for the contemplation of very old or very young gentlemen, and ought to be reserved for the particular delectation of those classes of persons.’
