Focus on The Dawn of Love (painting) and analyze the Legacy.
In February 1828, shortly after the exhibition of The Dawn of Love, Etty defeated John Constable by 18 votes to five to become a full Royal Academician, at the time the highest honour available to an artist. From 1832 onwards, needled by repeated attacks from the press on his supposed indecency and tastelessness, Etty continued to be a prominent painter of nudes but began to make conscious efforts to reflect moral teachings in his work. He died in 1849, working and exhibiting up until his death and remained well-regarded as an artist despite being judged by many as a pornographer. Charles Robert Leslie observed shortly after Etty's death that "[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 Dawn of Love (under its original title of Venus Now Wakes, and Wakens Love) was exhibited in 1829 at the Birmingham Society of Arts, but other than that its history during Etty's lifetime is not recorded. No record of its original sale exists, and it was not among the 133 paintings included in the major retrospective exhibition of Etty's works at the Royal Society of Arts in 1849. It is known that in 1835 it was in the collection of textile entrepreneur Joseph Strutt, but it was not among the paintings sold on his death in 1844. In June 1889 it was bought from an unknown buyer for an unknown sum by Sir Merton Russell-Cotes, and has remained in the collection of the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum in Bournemouth ever since. It was shown at an 1899 exhibition of works from Russell-Cotes's collection at the Glasgow Corporation Gallery. This exhibition caused some controversy owing to its supposed obscene nature; in 1894 a number of supposedly obscene prints of works by major artists had been removed from a Glasgow shop by police and magistrates, and it was felt inappropriate for a publicly funded educational body to be displaying a work of equal obscenity. Several luminaries of the art world such as Frederic Leighton intervened, and the exhibition went ahead. The Dawn of Love was also exhibited at a 1955 Arts Council exhibition, and was one of the works exhibited in a major retrospective of Etty's works at the York Art Gallery in 2011–12.
new movements nude York Charles Robert Leslie Frederic Leighton Joseph Strutt Arts Council Merton Russell-Cotes prints Bournemouth Sir Merton Russell-Cotes Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum John Constable Royal Society of Arts York Art Gallery Glasgow Corporation Gallery Venus retrospective exhibition Royal Academician Birmingham Society of Arts