_-_A_Nymph_and_Cupid%2C_'The_Snake_in_the_Grass'_(copy_after_Joshua_Reynolds)_-_FAO57_-_Worcester_City_Art_Gallery_and_Museum.jpg&width=1200)
A Nymph and Cupid: 'The Snake in the Grass' (copy after Joshua Reynolds)
William Etty·c. 1805
Historical Context
A Nymph and Cupid: The Snake in the Grass (after Joshua Reynolds), painted around 1805 and now in the Worcester City Art Gallery, is a copy of Reynolds's famous painting — demonstrating the young Etty's engagement with the British grand manner tradition. Reynolds, as the first President of the Royal Academy, established the theoretical framework for British academic painting that Etty would both embrace and transform through his Continental influences. Worcester City Art Gallery preserves this copy as evidence of Etty's artistic education.
Technical Analysis
Working from Reynolds's original, Etty translates the composition into his own warmer palette, with more sensuous flesh painting than Reynolds's cooler, more restrained approach to the nude.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice Etty copying Reynolds's famous Nymph and Cupid — engaging with the British grand manner tradition through its first President's celebrated composition.
- ◆Look at the warmer palette Etty brings to Reynolds's cooler, more restrained approach to the nude.
- ◆Observe the translation of Reynolds's composition into a more sensuous idiom reflecting Etty's Venetian orientation.
_-_Head_of_a_Cardinal_-_FA.72(O)_-_Victoria_and_Albert_Museum.jpg&width=400)
_-_The_Ring_-_997-1886_-_Victoria_and_Albert_Museum.jpg&width=400)
