At the time, there were no public art galleries in England with permanent collections.
In 1816, in the face of his continued lack of success, Etty decided to spend a year in Italy to study the artworks held in the great Italian collections.
He had made a brief visit to France in early 1815, but other than this had never been abroad.
The 28-year-old Etty had fallen in love, and fretted about the difficulties a potential marriage would cause, and whether it would be right to travel to further his career even though it would mean taking his new wife to a foreign country.
In the event, the woman rejected him, and he set out for the Continent in early September 1816.

Etty landed in Dieppe, and made his way to Paris via Rouen.
Although he admitted to finding France a beautiful country, he was unhappy throughout his stay there, suffering from severe homesickness; shortly after his arrival in Paris he wrote to his cousin Martha Bodley that "I hope I shall like Italy better than Paris, or I think I shall not feel resolution to stop a year.
If I don't, I shall content myself with seeing what I think worth while; and then return."
He travelled onwards via Geneva, but found Switzerland frustrating; although he had brought his own tea-making equipment with him, in the remoter mountain villages he found it difficult to obtain milk for his tea.
Travelling through the Simplon Pass to Piedmont revived his spirits somewhat; he found the variety of colour in the landscapes of northern Italy fascinating, and in late September arrived in Florence.

Despite the grandeur of Florence, Etty was severely depressed, writing to his brother on 5 October that "I feel so lonely, it is impossible for me to be happy" and complaining of "the vermin in the bed, the dirt and the filth" which he considered "such as no Englishman can have any idea of, who has not witnessed it".
His emotional state made it impossible for him to study, and within a month of his arrival in Italy, he began the journey back to England, stopping in Paris on 26 October 1816.
There he enrolled in the atelier of Jean-Baptiste Regnault but found the atmosphere rowdy and the studio too full of Frenchmen, and he left after a week.
While in Paris he also attended the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and amassed a large quantity of prints from the art shops of Paris.
Still homesick, Etty left Paris, returning to London in November.

Notwithstanding his unhappiness, Etty appears to have developed as a painter during his travels.
For the first time, his two paintings exhibited at the 1817 Summer Exhibition (Bacchanalians: a Sketch and Cupid and Euphrosyne) attracted a favourable review in the press, in this case from William Paulet Carey writing in the Literary Gazette who considered Bacchanalians "a fine classical invention" and Cupid as showing "splendid promise".
Carey was later to take great pride in being the first critic to recognise Etty's potential, and continued to champion him throughout his career.
In 1818 Etty entered a copy of Damiano Mazza's The Rape of Ganymede—at the time thought to be by Titian—in one of the Royal Academy's painting competitions.
Easily the most accomplished entry in the competition, Etty was due to win until two of the other contestants complained that he had technically breached RA rules by briefly removing the painting from Academy premises to work on it at home; they further complained that Etty was technically a professional artist and thus ineligible for the contest despite his still being a student.
Etty was disqualified from the competition, but the high quality of his work further raised his prestige within the Academy.
Although his income was still low and he was surviving on gifts from his brother, at some point by 1818 Etty hired an assistant, George Henry Franklin.
At the time, there were no public art galleries in England with permanent collections. In 1816, in the face of his continued lack of success, Etty decided to spend a year in Italy to study the artworks held in the great Italian collections. He had made a brief visit to France in early 1815, but other than this had never been abroad. The 28-year-old Etty had fallen in love, and fretted about the difficulties a potential marriage would cause, and whether it would be right to travel to further his career even though it would mean taking his new wife to a foreign country. In the event, the woman rejected him, and he set out for the Continent in early September 1816.
Etty landed in Dieppe, and made his way to Paris via Rouen. Although he admitted to finding France a beautiful country, he was unhappy throughout his stay there, suffering from severe homesickness; shortly after his arrival in Paris he wrote to his cousin Martha Bodley that "I hope I shall like Italy better than Paris, or I think I shall not feel resolution to stop a year. If I don't, I shall content myself with seeing what I think worth while; and then return." He travelled onwards via Geneva, but found Switzerland frustrating; although he had brought his own tea-making equipment with him, in the remoter mountain villages he found it difficult to obtain milk for his tea. Travelling through the Simplon Pass to Piedmont revived his spirits somewhat; he found the variety of colour in the landscapes of northern Italy fascinating, and in late September arrived in Florence.
Despite the grandeur of Florence, Etty was severely depressed, writing to his brother on 5 October that "I feel so lonely, it is impossible for me to be happy" and complaining of "the vermin in the bed, the dirt and the filth" which he considered "such as no Englishman can have any idea of, who has not witnessed it". His emotional state made it impossible for him to study, and within a month of his arrival in Italy, he began the journey back to England, stopping in Paris on 26 October 1816. There he enrolled in the atelier of Jean-Baptiste Regnault but found the atmosphere rowdy and the studio too full of Frenchmen, and he left after a week. While in Paris he also attended the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and amassed a large quantity of prints from the art shops of Paris. Still homesick, Etty left Paris, returning to London in November.
Notwithstanding his unhappiness, Etty appears to have developed as a painter during his travels. For the first time, his two paintings exhibited at the 1817 Summer Exhibition (Bacchanalians: a Sketch and Cupid and Euphrosyne) attracted a favourable review in the press, in this case from William Paulet Carey writing in the Literary Gazette who considered Bacchanalians "a fine classical invention" and Cupid as showing "splendid promise". Carey was later to take great pride in being the first critic to recognise Etty's potential, and continued to champion him throughout his career. In 1818 Etty entered a copy of Damiano Mazza's The Rape of Ganymede—at the time thought to be by Titian—in one of the Royal Academy's painting competitions. Easily the most accomplished entry in the competition, Etty was due to win until two of the other contestants complained that he had technically breached RA rules by briefly removing the painting from Academy premises to work on it at home; they further complained that Etty was technically a professional artist and thus ineligible for the contest despite his still being a student. Etty was disqualified from the competition, but the high quality of his work further raised his prestige within the Academy. Although his income was still low and he was surviving on gifts from his brother, at some point by 1818 Etty hired an assistant, George Henry Franklin.
William Etty