The greatest criticism of Youth and Pleasure came from The Morning Chronicle, a newspaper which had long disliked Etty's female nudes. It complained "no decent family can hang such sights against their wall", and condemned the painting as an "indulgence of what we once hoped a classical, but which are now convinced, is a lascivious mind", commenting "the course of [Etty's] studies should run in a purer channel, and that he should not persist, with an unhallowed fancy, to pursue Nature to her holy recesses. He is a laborious draughtsman, and a beautiful colourist; but he has not taste or chastity of mind enough to venture on the naked truth." The reviewer added "we fear that Mr. E will never turn from his wicked ways, and make himself fit for decent company."
