ABOUT THE ARTWORK:
A wonderful drawing done by British academic artist, William Etty. It features two working class men in a Greco-Roman wrestling stance. These were popular in the 1700s, 1800s, and early 20th century too. William Etty uses working class men with incredible physiques and stories. The models featured were both blacksmiths and stable workers. Modeling for Etty was an honor.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST:
William Etty was a successful artist from the UK. He was British and was known as a talented painter of realistic flesh tones. Both his male and female works were well regarded. Earlier in his career, some of his figurative nudes had slow sales, but later picked up in other years, after his travels to France and Italy for work. He was a big fan of Italian Renaissance pieces and masters. His work captures the male athletic, working class or soldier class for his nudes. His portraits also focused on handsome men; however, he had commissions from wealthy more senior clients who didn’t always have Greco-Roman ideals. He never married and there were rumors of one or two “out-of-wedlock” children to “women with bad reputation.” But these were never proven. He was very shy, and although he was rumored to have male lovers, there isn’t much there to prove that fact.
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