Focus on The World Before the Flood and discuss the Later history.
The World Before the Flood was bought at its 1828 exhibition by The Marquess of Stafford for 500 guineas (about £46,000 in 2024 terms), to add to his collection of nudes by Titian. Etty was delighted with his success at the exhibition, at which all three of the paintings he had exhibited were successfully sold to prestigious buyers.
I know you will rejoice with us all, when I tell you that the principal part of the cargo of the ship "William Etty" (of whose arrival you had been advised), now landed at the Royal Academy Wharf, has been consigned to the Right Honourable the Marquis of Stafford, for five hundred guineas: the rest of the cargo being already owned by Lord Normanton and Digby Murray, Esq. ... After clearing out, we shall again put to sea and hope for equally favouring gales next voyage.
From 1832 onwards, needled by repeated attacks from the press on his supposed indecency and tastelessness, Etty often made a conscious effort to project a moral dimension into his work, although he continued to be a prominent painter of nudes. He died in 1849, working and exhibiting up until his death despite consistently being regarded by many as a pornographer. Charles Robert Leslie observed shortly after Etty's death: "... [Etty] himself, thinking and meaning no evil, was not aware of the manner in which his works were regarded by grosser minds." Interest in his work declined as new movements came to characterise painting in Britain, and by the end of the 19th century the cost of all his paintings had fallen below their original prices.The World Before the Flood was sold to F. E. Sidney in 1908 for 230 guineas (about £26,000 in 2024 terms), and sold on to the Southampton City Art Gallery in 1937 for 195 guineas (about £13,000 in 2024 terms), where as of 2016 it remains. After its initial exhibition in 1828, the painting was shown at a number of significant exhibitions throughout the 19th century. Etty's preliminary oil sketch entered the collection of Etty's former mentor Sir Thomas Lawrence. Following Lawrence's death in 1830, it was sold as A Bacchanalian Scene for 27 guineas (about £2,600 in 2024 terms), and sold on as Landscape with Figures in 1908. In 1953 it was identified as a study for The World Before the Flood, and purchased by the York Art Gallery, where as of 2016 it remains. Both versions of the painting were shown together as part of a major retrospective of Etty's work at the York Art Gallery in 2011–2012.
William Etty new movements York Titian Charles Robert Leslie The Marquess of Stafford Thomas Lawrence Southampton City Art Gallery Bacchanalia Sir Thomas Lawrence guinea oil sketch York Art Gallery