Youth on the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm [SEP] collection
Youth on the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm
Youth on the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm (also known as Fair Laughs the Morn and Youth and Pleasure) is an oil painting on canvas by English artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1832 and currently in Tate Britain. Etty had been planning the painting since 1818–19, and an early version was exhibited in 1822. The piece was inspired by a metaphor in Thomas Gray's poem "The Bard" in which the apparently bright start to the notorious misrule
"Youth on the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm" was purchased at the time of its exhibition by Robert Vernon for his important collection of British art. (The price Vernon paid for "Youth and Pleasure" is not recorded, although Etty's cashbook records a partial payment of £250—about £ in 2020 terms—so it is likely to have been a substantial sum.) Vernon later purchased John Constable's "The Valley Farm", planning to hang it in the place then occupied by "Youth and