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A notable feature of the early Royal Scottish Academy was the election to its ranks of several English artists as Honorary members (HRSAs) who hailed from the north of England. Some of these, including the York born William Etty, felt a closer affinity with their Scottish counterparts than with fellow English artists connected with the Royal Academy in London. With his painterly depictions of the naked human form, Etty held a distinctive position in British nineteenth century painting. In Scotland probably only Sir Joseph Noel Paton RSA depicted quite so much naked flesh in his artworks but of a more sterile type. The RSA purchased a group of paintings by Etty which he considered included several of his master works and elected him HRSA in 1829, alongside his great life-long friend and fellow north-of-England painter John Martin. It can be no coincidence that that same year the Academy drafted its first set of laws for a Life Class. The first exhibition mounted by the RSA that was not its Annual Exhibition, opened in 1831 and comprised the Diploma Collection deposits and the Etty oils. Etty's influence was profound, not least on the likes of David Scott RSA and his paintings important inspirational sources. The majority of these were amongst the pictures transferred by the RSA to the National Galleries of Scotland in 1910. Sadly, Etty's reliance on bitumen mixed with his oil paint has been a major factor in the poor physical condition of these historically important works, which accordingly have not been seen in public for many years.