Apotheosis of the Duke of Buckingham (after Peter Paul Rubens)

Apotheosis of the Duke of Buckingham (after Peter Paul Rubens), painted around 1805 and now in York Art Gallery, is a copy after Rubens's ceiling painting at Whitehall — the Apotheosis of James I (or the Duke of Buckingham in some interpretations) painted in the early 1630s for the Banqueting House. Copying Old Masters was the standard foundation of academic training; Etty's choice of Rubens reveals his early identification with the Baroque figure painting tradition rather than the more austere Neoclassical manner then dominant in British academic circles. Rubens's Whitehall ceiling, the only surviving example of Rubens's decorative ceiling painting, was accessible to students in London, making it a natural subject for copy study. The Apotheosis format — swirling allegorical figures ascending into heaven amid celestial grandeur — offered direct preparation for the kind of multi-figure compositional problems Etty would face in his own mythological painting. York Art Gallery preserves this early copy alongside other formative works, documenting Etty's determined orientation toward the European Baroque tradition from the very beginning of his training.

Oil on canvas, the portrait demonstrates William Etty's command of rich Venetian coloring and robust modeling. The careful modeling of the face reveals close study of the sitter's physiognomy, while the treatment of costume and setting projects appropriate social standing.