Figure Study (verso)

Figure Study (verso), painted around 1805 and now at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee (part of the University of Dundee), is an academic figure study preserved in a Scottish art educational institution that actively connects its collection to teaching practice. Duncan of Jordanstone, one of Scotland's leading art schools, maintains its collection as part of the University of Dundee's broader academic resources. The verso designation indicates this was painted on the reverse of another work — Etty's practice of using both sides of prepared canvas surfaces to maximize the material available for study. Scottish art institutions acquired Etty's work through the combination of diploma deposits at the Royal Scottish Academy, commercial purchases, and private bequests, reflecting Edinburgh and Dundee's sustained engagement with the wider British artistic culture of the nineteenth century.

The figure is established with rapid, economical strokes that prioritize gesture and proportion over surface finish. This directness gives the study an immediacy that more polished works lack. The limited palette and abbreviated handling suggest this was completed in the time constraints of a life-class session.