374 - Attributed to William Etty, RA,

Attributed to William Etty, RA, British 1787-1849- Study of a female nude, possibly Venus; oil on canvas, bears various old labels on reverse, 27.5 x 38 cm. Provenance: with Brandon-Davis, London, late 1920s/early 1930s. Private Collection, UK. Note: Etty made hundreds of nude studies from life, many of which remained in his studio until his death. He sometimes developed these into finished compositions by adding settings or attributes drawn from mythology, literature or history. A number of these studies were sold posthumously at Christie's in 1850 and subsequently worked on by other artists, and the present work may be one such example. The present figure, reclining against a seascape and accompanied by red drapery, may have been intended as a mythological subject, perhaps Venus, who was born from the sea. The treatment of the figure and drapery can be compared with reclining female nudes attributed to Etty in the Atkinson Art Gallery [SOPAG:794], Williamson Art Gallery and Museum [BIKGM.545] and Ashmolean Museum [WA1937.78]. The latter two share the combination of red drapery and a seascape background. A different mythological subject is treated in another nude by Etty, sold at Christie’s on 2 July 2025, lot 73 (£5,040), which depicts Ariadne on Naxos reclining against red drapery and looking towards Theseus’s departing ship in the distance. We are grateful to Richard Green, honorary visiting fellow in the department of Art History at the University of York, for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.