The Wrestlers (Etty)

The Wrestlers is an

The Royal Academy had moved to new premises in Trafalgar Square in 1837, and the studio used by the life class was cramped and hot, a fact thought to account for the sweatiness of the central figures. Etty was best known for his painting of nude or near-nude women in historical and mythological settings but had also painted men involved in various forms of combat.

In the period in which The Wrestlers was painted, sports were becoming increasingly popular, and the painting is both a reflection of this trend and a part of the English tradition of copying poses from classical Hellenistic works. It was also a time of change in the British attitude to race relations. Etty in this period was generally making a conscious effort to illustrate moral lessons in his work, and it is not clear whether he chose the topic as a form of social commentary or simply because the contrast between the black and white flesh tones was visually striking.

Although The Wrestlers was probably exhibited as part of a major retrospective of Etty's work in 1849, it then went into a private collection and was not publicly exhibited again for almost a century. In 1947 it was put on sale; with little interest from commercial galleries owing to its subject, it was bought for the bargain price of 30 

Background

Between 1820 and 1829 Etty exhibited 15 paintings, of which 14 depicted nude figures.[2] While some nude paintings by foreign artists existed in private collections in England, the country had no tradition of nude painting and the display and distribution of nude material to the public had been suppressed since the 1787 Proclamation for the Discouragement of Vice.^[12]

Etty was the first British artist to specialise in the nude, and the prurient reaction of the lower classes to these paintings caused concern throughout the 19th century.^[13] Although his portraits of male nudes were generally well received,^[A] many critics condemned his recurrent depictions of female nudity as indecent.^[2][8]

Composition

The Wrestlers is an

The identity of the wrestlers is not known. Alison Smith, Lead Curator of British Art to 1900 at Tate, speculates that the white figure may have been John Wilton of Somerset, who had possibly been the model for Little John in Daniel Maclise's 1839 Robin Hood and His Merry Men Entertaining Richard the Lionheart in Sherwood Forest.^[16][B] The figures glisten with sweat. Art historian Sarah Victoria Turner speculates that this is not simply for dramatic effect, but reflects the fact that after the Royal Academy's 1837 move to its new building in Trafalgar Square the studio used by the life class was a cramped and poorly ventilated room lit by gaslight, which when crowded with students and with the lights on could become extremely hot.^[20]

The Wrestlers is thought to have been painted in around 1840.

Moreover, as the

The motivation behind Etty's choice to pair a black and a white wrestler is not clear. Etty had painted black and Indian subjects in the past,^[E] and it was not unusual in that period for artists to use non-white models, but it was rare to show a black and a white figure embracing. It is possible that he was simply interested in the contrast between the flesh tones;^[30] it is documented that he would sometimes arrange models of different skin colours for that reason.^[15] It is also possible that he saw "primitive" black men as closer in spirit or physique to the wrestlers of the classical civilisations.^[30] Sarah Victoria Turner argues that combat was the only subject in which it would have been felt appropriate at the time to depict naked black and white figures in intimate closeness.^[18]

1840, the year in which The Wrestlers is likely to have been painted, saw the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London and the London exhibition of The Slave Ship and The Slave Trade, and race relations had become a major social and political issue.^[18] While black wrestlers and boxers—often former slaves from the United States or their descendants—were not unusual in England in the period,^[31] and the former slave Tom Molineaux had twice challenged for the boxing world championship in 1811, they were still treated with suspicion by many members of the public.^[32]

Sale and exhibition

Virtually no contemporary records or reviews of The Wrestlers exist,^[33] and it was probably sold to a private collector either on its completion or in the sale of over 800 works found in Etty's studio following his death;^[16][27] Dennis Farr's 1958 biography of Etty lists the painting exhibited in 1849 as "lent by C. W. Wass".^[22][F] The Wrestlers was probably exhibited at the June 1849 Royal Society of Arts retrospective of over 130 works by Etty, shortly before his death on 13 November of that year.^[35] (Etty produced three paintings entitled The Wrestlers, and it is not certain which was the one exhibited in 1849,^[16] although it is thought likely to be this one.^[27])

Etty died in 1849, and his work enjoyed a brief boom in popularity.^[36] Interest in him declined over time, and by the end of the 19th century the value of all his paintings had fallen below their original levels.^[36] Following his death, nude paintings went out of fashion very rapidly in Britain.^[37]

An old man, semi-nude, is stepping forward while another man, seen from the back and of dark complexion, embraces his legs. The picture is in my opinion not only a genuine Etty, but very well painted indeed, and as the subject is quite unsuitable for the art trade, it may go at a very cheap figure.

— Art dealer Henry Montagu Roland, founder of art dealers Roland, Browse and Delbanco, on The Wrestlers, 1947.^[1]

The Wrestlers was sold by a private collector on 31 October 1947. Owing to its subject matter there was little interest from commercial galleries, and it was bought by