Recent William Westall Picture Discoveries

AUSTRALINA May 2008 to view images
Recent William Westall Picture Discoveries by Richard J. Westall

The voyage of the Investigator, captained by Matthew Flinders, which sailed from England in the summer of 1801 to circumnavigate Australia between December of that year and the autumn of 1803, has been well researched (1). The contribution of the young landscape and figure artist on board, William Westall (1781 – 1850), has also received substantial coverage (2).

However fresh items have appeared in recent decades claiming to be by the hand of that artist and stemming from the voyage. In portraying the art Westall produced associated with the Investigator voyage I will concentrate on the emergence of these significant pictures.

There are several aspects to Westall’s Australian artistic output: the drawings & sketches which he drew whilst on the journey; the coastal profiles or seascapes which he recorded during the voyage; the watercolours which were completed either on the expedition or on Westall’s return to England; the oil paintings which he completed for the Admiralty between 1807 and 1812 and the engravings completed for Flinders’ account of the journey.(3)

Apart from Australia there were brief visits to South Africa in 1801, to Timor in 1803, to China (1803/4), India (1804)(4) and a stop at St Helena (1804). Following his return to England in 1805 Westall visited Madeira (1805), where the Investigator had called in 1801 and Jamaica (1806).

Research into the production of nine oil paintings for the Admiralty (1807 – 1812) has given some new insights into the influences that led to their production.

Westall’s subsequent life and career is not convered here, except to mention that he exhibited at the Royal Academy and the British Institution throughout his life and was substantially associated with the publication of topographical views (5).

The most interesting new discovery is a painting which the art dealer Spinks of London had in the 1980s. It is a pencil and watercolour picture 19 3/4 x 23 5/8 ins described as An Ambush by Aborigines on two Europeans in the bush.. I was kindly provided with a negative and photograph of this painting by Anthony Spink who wanted my opinion. Although unsigned there is no doubt that this is a William Westall painting depicting the episode on January 21st, 1803 when Mr Whitewood, the master’s mate on the Investigator, was speared after his approach to Aborigines was misunderstood. This was followed by the fatal shooting of an Aborigine. Westall drew a sketch of the dead man (Westall’s Drawngs 102 Blue Mud Bay : body of a native on Morgan’s island). There is every indication that the watercolour Spinks owned had probably been completed by Westall whilst on the Investigator. It is striking, not only for the scene of the attack, but for the beautifully executed drawings of the trees towering over the scene, which is totally portrayed in shades of brown.

Why was this painting never publicised? Clearly the subject matter may have caused problems. It was perfectly in order for pictures of a dead Aborigine, killed
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probably by master carpenter John Aken against the orders of Flinders, to be known about, but the hostility of Aborigines and their successful ambush of a European may have been an unwanted fact resulting from the expedition to Australia. It is nonetheless a very important historical painting and among Westall’s most accomplished of Australia. I am not aware of how the painting came into the possession of Spinks but members of the family were disposing of his Australian work in the 1970’s.

Another photograph of a painting was sent to me in 1983 by Chris Deutscher, Director of Deutscher Fine Art of Carlton, Victoria on the suggestion of Bernard Smith as the picture bore “some similarities with Westall’s work”. They were unable to identify not only the artist but the location. It is an oil on canvas unsigned 56 x 83 cm entitled Mountainous Landscape with Shelter in foreground (Small temple or lookout structure on top of mountain in background). The provenance of the picture was that is had been purchased from an unidentified dealer in London. In a subsequent letter Chris Deutscher advised me that “the canvas and stretcher certainly appear to be early 1800’s”.

I replied that the painting “Is almost the same size as some of the Admiralty oils and is similar in a number of ways. The log is similar in execution to a tree in his (Westall’s) painting Part of King George III Sound on the South Coast of Australia (New Holland)which is engraved in the Flinders’ account of the voyage. The trees are very like the ones found in some of the drawings illustrated in Westall’s Drawings. It is quite possible that Westall painted this picture for himself at the time of his Admiralty commissions”. It was suggested that a location which would be credible might be a view directed towards Mount Westall, in which case the “temple” must be a “lookout”.

I am not aware what final attribution Deutscher’s finally put on this painting but I would now suggest that John Glover (6) be another possible attribution. It would be interesting to know whether the unidentified dealer who sold the painting was Spinks.

Following this incident the Investigator sailed to Timor. A watercolour by Westall entitled The Island of Timor 1808 was sold by Sotheby’s, London on 28th January 1971. It is 20.3 x 31.7 cm, 8 x 12 ½ in and signed W. Westall 1808. It appears as a colour reproduction in Outlines of Australian Art by Daniel Thomas (7). The author notes that Westall was in Coupang in March – April 1803 and that in London views of Timor were engraved for the Naval Chronicle after Westall’s drawings (1806 & 1808) but he suggests that this watercolour was probably painted for Westall’s exhibition in April 1808. This seems feasible, although without seeing the original I would query the date of 1808 and suggest the written figure 3 might have been mistaken for an 8.
Another view of Timor by Westall signed with initials was sold by Christie’s, S. Kensington on June 6th 1988 (7 ¼ x 10 ¾ ins). Both the above views were not used by the Naval Chronicle.

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Christie’s also sold a watercolour (4 x 7 7/16 in, 10.2 x 18.9 cm) by Westall of Port Jackson (28 May, 1987), being the original of the Naval Chronicle engraving published on 30 November 1809. A colour reproduction (actual size) of this scene is reproduced. Christie’s again sold (24 May 1990) a watercolour delightful seascape by Westall, probably of the Queensland coast signed and dated 1802. Its provenance was to my father’s cousin Mrs McN. Lester. A label on the backboard read: “Investigator in full sail off a hilly coastline, and to its left the Lady Nelson, which acted for a while as the Investigator’s tender.” The vessels were together between 21 July and 18 October 1802 and the view is not among those engraved for Flinders. Another view of Queensland, taken from the shore, in pencil (18 x 26 cm) and signed, appeared at a sale by Phillipson & Neale on 22 December 1986. A final illustration of interest was executed on Westall’s return from India. It is entitled St Helena – Lot and his Daughters signed and dated 1804 12 ½ x 17 1/4in. (8).

Following William Westall’s return to England in early 1805 he was elected to be a Fellow of the Linnean Society in December of that year (9) before he departed to revisit Madeira, perhaps because his original drawings of the island in 1801 had been lost when he almost drowned there when the Investigator called. After Madeira he travelled to Jamaica where he is known to have drawn several studies of trees and some panoramic views similar to his coastal profiles of Australia (10).

In 1805 and 1806 views of New South Wales and Madeira by Westall were exhibited at the Royal Academy (11) being shown again together at the British Institution in 1807. In 1808 Westall organised an Exhibition of his foreign views.

Westall had sent his Australian work from India in 1804 under the custody of Lieutenant Robert Fowler who arrived in England in August 1804 and handed them over to the Admiralty. Sir Joseph Banks wrote to the Admiralty on 22 August (ADM 1/4378, No 27): “I have been informed …that the Drawings of Mr Westhall (sic) are by no means in a secure state they having been damaged by water…and not yet sufficiently freed from the effects of salt water. His Elder Brother Mr Westhall Royal academician, wishes much to be allowed to examine them & put them in a secure state which he thinks he can do”. The drawings were transmitted to Richard Westall after Admiralty approval. In a letter to the Investigator’s naturalist, Robert Brown, Banks commented that Westall’s “finished drawings were all spoiled in the Wreck”. Banks sent the drawings back to the Admiralty stating that they were “now in a situation to be preserved if kept in a dry place.” Although a list of the drawings was mentioned it has unfortunately not been discovered(12).

On the return of Matthew Flinders, after his imprisonment on Mauritius, substantial work depicting scenes from the voyage to Australia was carried out. Richard Westall and Banks campaigned on William Westall’s behalf to persuade the Admiralty to commission pictures. On the basis of two oils exhibited William was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1812. A total of nine oil paintings were completed and are now owned by the British Ministry of Defence. (13)

Comparison between Westall’s original drawings in Australia and his finished oil
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paintings lead one to recognise contemporary artistic pressures. Richard Westall had succeeded in establishing himself at this period as among the leaders of style in fashionable London (14). He was particularly praised by a leading connoisseur of the picturesque Richard Payne Knight (15). Furthermore in 1807 he exhibited four paintings depicting scenes from the life of Nelson which the ranked as “among the most interesting in the whole Exhibition” in the St. James’s Chronicle (May 7-9, 1807).

An indication of the appreciation William had of Richard’s influence is noted by Joseph Farington (16) on 30 April 1808 when he recorded that William had taken lodgings away from Richard so that “he should be seen as an artist distinct from his brother”. Farington also reported (28 April, 1811) : “Westall (Richard) took his brother Wm Westall into the Exhibition room yesterday to touch upon His picture which had been injured, but Turner & Calcott finding Him so employed wd. Not allow Him to proceed.” (17) Although is not clear which “Him” Farington is referring to it appears that Richard’s influence on his brother may have gone beyond advice. The painting in question was of Rydal Lake not Australia.

Another interesting report from Farington on 14th April, 1809 comes from William’s brother in law William Daniell which involved Westall’s drawings in Madeira that had not been used as engravings because “He placed Convents where there are none, & made other alterations so unsatisfactory in respect of fidelity as to cause” the plan for engravings to be abandoned. Daniell said that William Westall’s drawings were made subject to (his) “notions of what is picturesque”. Further Daniell suggested that considering the time Westall was absent from England he had made “but few drawings” also “He (Westall) did not think of what might be interesting to the Topographer but only what would, in His opinion ‘come well’ (picturesque)” (18)

This tension between Westall’s need to be accurate and his notion of the picturesque is at the heart of his Australian work. It is clearest in his oil paintings which were for the Royal Academy as well as the Admiralty. For Jeffrey Auerbach (19) they are “especially important because they are so clearly at odds with his written description” of Australia as being a “barren land”. Through “picturesque devices” he conveyed an impression of Australia which defied his own opinion.

The Royal Academy paintings are fine pictures and they achieved for William Westall his Associate of the Royal Academy status, setting him on his artistic career. They demonstrate perhaps a compromise between his independence of mind and the prevailing constraints of the day.




1 Two recent books being Matthew Flinders and His Scientific Gentlemen
edited by Juliet Wege, Alex George et al (Western Australia Museum, 2005) & The Fever of Discovery by Marion Body (New European Publications, 2006).



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2. Westall’s Drawings edited by Thomas Perry & Donald Simpson (Royal Commonwealth Society, London 1962) ; Early Artists in Australia by Rex & Thea
Reinits (Angus & Robertson, Sydney 1963); William Westall in Australia by Richard J. Westall (Art & Australia Vol 20 No 2, Summer 1982 pp 252 – 256); European Vision and the South Pacific by Bernard Smith (Yale University Press 2nd edition 1985); Arcadian Quest by Elisabeth Findlay (National Library of Australia, Canberra 1998) and Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2002) by Richard J. Westall. See website www.bradonpace/westall on both Richard & William Westall.

3. A Voyage to Terra Australis 1801 – 1803 by Matthew Flinders (G & W Nicol 1814) 2 Vols & Atlas. Nine engravings after W. Westall ARA FLS and 28 land profiles.

4. See The Westall Brothers by Richard J. Westall (Turner Studies Vol 4 No 1 Summer 1984 (Tate, London) and William Westall in India by Richard J. Westall (Marg publications, Mumbai Vol XLVII No 4 June 1996 pp 94 – 96).

5. A listing of Westall’s book illustrations (some 700) can be found in William Westall – A Catalogue of his Book illustration by Richard J. Westall (Antiquarian Book Monthly Review Vol XIII no 12 issue 152, December 1986, Oxford).

6. 1767 – 1849.

7. Outlines of Australian Art: The Joseph Brown Collection by Daniell Thomas (Macmillan Sydney 1973).

8. See Early English Watercolours by Iolo Williams.

9. Westall applied for membership on June 4, 1805, and was elected on 3 December, 1805.

10.See my article in National Library of Australia News ( Canberra December 2007). For the panoramas see William Westall boxes at the Witt Library, Kings College, London.

11. The Australian picture was: View of the bay of Pines, New South Wales
Long 150 30, lat 22 20. Feb 1802.

12. I am indebted to Library Notes (Royal Commonwealth Society July 1965 for this information.

13. A possible tenth oil is mentioned above.

14. In 1814 at Richard Westall’s own exhibition in Pall Mall the catalogue which can be seen at the British Library indicates the proprietors of his pictures included Richard


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Payne Knight, Thomas Hope, the Earls of Oxford, Carlisle & Harrowby, Lord Byron, Samuel Rogers, the Prince Regent, D’Israeli and William Daniell among many others.

15. Analytical Enquiry into the Principles of Taste (1805 ed) in which Knight wrote p. 304 : “Some of the most interesting and affecting pictures that art has ever produced, are taken from similar events (tragedies taken from common life), and are treated in similar style; such as Mr West’s General Wolfe, Mr Westall’s Strom in Harvest and Mr Westall’s Storm In Harvest, and Mr Wright’s Soldiers Tent; in all of which the pathos is much improved, with the picturesque effect being at all injured, by the characters and dress being taken from familiar life.”

16. The Diary of Joseph Farington (Yale University Press. New Haven & London 1982).

17. The Diary of Joseph Farington op. cit.

18. The Diary of Joseph Farington op. cit.

19. The picturesque and the homogenisation of Empire, British Art Journal (London)Vol V No 1, Spring/Summer 2004.