§4 
WILLIAM ETTY. 
soldiers, and so on. Then came the present from a sailor 
brother of his first box of water-colours, which he ground up 
in oil, and began to work in this new medium. One of his 
earliest oil pictures was “ A Country Church,” painted on a 
piece of tin, about six inches square, another “ A Soldier on 
Horseback,” on a piece of brown paper about a foot square. 
It speaks much for the honesty which was a distinguishing 
characteristic of Etty, that he faithfully served his time at 
Hull, though the longing to be free was at times almost 
intolerable. He missed too the beauties of his native town, 
though there were at that time some few remains of the old 
town of Hull still standing. At length the long wished for day 
of release dawned, and on October 23rd, 1805, at noon, Etty 
received what he always valued as ITs chief testimonial of 
honour, the endorsement of his indentures, recording that they 
had been faithfully fulfilled to the satisfaction of the master, 
and the credit of the apprentice. For three weeks after the 
great event Etty worked as a journeyman printer, anxiously 
awaiting a summons to London. He had written to his uncle, 
a gold-lace merchant, of the firm of Bodley, Etty, and Bodley, 
begging his assistance. The uncle hesitated, and Etty wrote 
again and again. Finally, by the advice of the junior partner, 
the boy was summoned to London, and speedily convinced his 
uncle of his powers ; he was “ made at home ” at his uncle’s, 
and “ furnished with cash” by his brother, and so the great 
City drew to itself one more aspirant for fame. 
It was no light task to make up the seven years of his 
apprenticeship, but Etty was in earnest, and never allowed 
himself to be discouraged by the knowledge that he was so far 
behind-hand in the technicalities of his art. He worked hard 
for a year, drawing everything he could get bold of, from 
prints or nature, or from casts, in the shop kept by Gianelli, 
near Smithfield, till a drawing of “ Cupid and Psyche ” from 
the Antique, was considered good enough to be taken to Opie, 
to whom Etty had an introduction from Mr. Sharp, member 
for Hull. Opie passed him on to Fuseli, Keeper of the 
Academy, and by him Etty was admitted as student on 
January 15th, 1807. Etty’s fellow students at that time, who 
nearly all became well-known painters long before he developed 
