Not on display
- Artist
- William Etty 1787–1849
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 1587 × 1175 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
- Reference
- N00356
Display caption
Thomas Gray’s poem The Bard, published in 1757, fascinated many of the Romantic generation. Etty’s picture illustrates the linesIn gallant trim, the gilded vessel goes,Youth on the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm,Unmindful of the sweeping whirlwind’s sway.Etty was renowned for his sensual depiction of the nude. He shows youth snatching at the ‘bubbles of pleasure’ until woken from its indulgence by ‘the whirlwind of distress’. He described the work as an ‘allegory of human life’.
Gallery label, May 2007
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