A Child Asleep

A Child Asleep, painted around 1805 and held at Tamworth Castle, depicts sleeping childhood innocence in a format that connects to a long tradition of sleeping child imagery in European painting — from Renaissance putti in divine slumber to Sir Joshua Reynolds's fancy pictures of idealized childhood. The sleeping child allowed Etty to depict vulnerability and innocence without the moral controversy that surrounded his adult nude figures; the subject's emotional appeal was uncomplicated in a way that his mythological nudes never were. Tamworth Castle, in Staffordshire, has maintained an art collection reflecting the town's civic heritage and its connections to the notable figures of the Industrial Revolution — Sir Robert Peel, the future Prime Minister, had family connections to Tamworth. The intimate scale and subject matter of this work stand in deliberate contrast to the dramatic mythological and historical subjects that were Etty's primary public identity, suggesting the gentler, more domestic dimension of his art.

Etty's flesh painting achieves particular delicacy here, with the soft, unblemished skin of childhood rendered through luminous glazes. The relaxed pose eliminates the muscular definition that characterizes his adult studies, requiring instead subtle modeling of rounded, pliant forms. Warm tones predominate, with the sleeping face receiving the most careful attention.