New Monthly Magazine

'The New Monthly Magazine' No 8 Sept 1814 Vol 2 p141
Exhibition of a Selection of the Works of Richard Westall RA at the New Gallery Pall Mall, next door to the British Gallery, including Two Hundred and Fifty Pictures and Drawings which have never before been exhibited.
Mr Westall's reputation and style of art are so well known, that it will be needless to expiate on them; and on the propriety of exhibiting the works of one artist collectively, and by themselves, there can be but one opinion, as they form in this way a better whole, than in the motley groupings of pictures of opposite and different styles. The pictures are arranged on the walls of an elegant well-proportioned gallery, according to the necessary distances and height from the eye, and the drawings very properly by themselves, on divisional screens, and small cabinets. Much as we have been accustomed to admire the facility of composition and industry of Mr Westall, we must acknowledge our astonishment at the number of his works, which, after all, are but a selection, as we well remember many equal to the generality of those in the room that have not found a place in them.
Amog the most prominent are, - No 11 A Storm in Harvest, the property of R.P. Knight Esq which is well known by Meadows's beautiful print after it. No 31 Queen Judith reciting to Alfred the Great, when a Child, the songs of the Bards, describing the Heroic Deeds of his Ancestors, belonging to Sir G.P. Turner, Bart. No 32 Dionysius and Damocles, to Thos Hope Esq, which is one of the most splendid, tasteful and elegant cabinet pictures of any modern master. 38 Christ when a Child reasoning with the Doctors, belonging to Mr Westall himself. 57 Helen on the Scaen Gate come to view the Combat between Paris and Menelaus, the Earl of Oxford. This picture must be well remembered in the Royal Academy two or three years ago, as being one of the most attractive historical pictures in an exhibition more than usually fruitful in productions of that class. The distant army and camp are peculiarly happy. 66 Dionysius and Damocles, R.P. Knight Esq a beautiful variation of the same composition as No 32. 67 Elijah raising the Widow's Son, which the governors of the British Institution have stamped with their fiat, by purchasing for their permanent gallery of master-pieces of the British school. 71 Jupiter disguised as a Swan, pretending to seek the protection of Leda from the attack of an Eagle, the Earl of Aberdeen. It is not too much to say, that this is one of the most exquisite little productions in the room. 83 A Herd attacked by Lions - one of the Compartments of the Shield of Achilles, also the property of the Earl of Oxford, who, with distinguished taste and knowledge of art, has possessed himself of some of the finest pictures in the collection. 108 A Marriage Procession of the Greeks - one of the Compartments of the Shield of Achilles, R.P. Knight Esq; a splendid copy in oil of the beautiful and highly finished drawing that was formerlyexhibited in Mr Westall's private gallery. 115 The Lst Parting - from Shawe's Monody on the Death of his Wife, belonging to Mr Sharpe. If it is one of the provinces of painting to move the passions, and excite virtuous emotion, the painter of the most affecting scene has succeeded to the utmost: the pathetic, feeling, and affectionate regard of the dying wife to her distracted husband is touchingly expressed. The painter like Timanthes, has concealed the face of the latter; for what art can adequately depict the grief of such a parting, when it takes place in the bloom of youth, from the most affecting of all causes, and when nothing but the truest love and harmony has subsisted: the curtain must be dropped: it is even too affecting for recollection.
We shall recur to this collection in a future number.

The New Monthly 9 Oct 1814 pp248/9
Mr Westall's Gallery.
Having discharged our duty as far as our limits will permit towards the oil pictures in Mr Westall's gallery, we shall now proceed to examine his watercolour pictures; a branch of art to which he has given a new and decisive character, being among the first, with the late lamented Royal Academician Hamilton, who elevated the art of historical and poetical composition in watercolours above the meagre common-place productions of the Wales and Gwynns of the last century, and imparted to illustrative book prints a higher character than they had before obtained in this country. In saying this our graphic readers may be assured that the inventive Stothard has not escaped our memory.
Our labour here is lessened, as most of the drawings are well known through the multiplying influence of the graver: they consist of a variety of subjects from our most popular dead and living authors of celebrity. Among the principal must be particularly noticed a portion of the series of biblical subjects, to which we shall advert as a seperate publication in a subsequent number*. Nor should we forget the beautiful illustrations of Marmion and the Lady of the Lake, from the graver of Mr Charles Heath.
* not found

NOTE: The full listing of pictures in Westall's Gallery with their owners is in the catalogue which can be found at the British Library. I will be producing this catalogue at some future date. Several of the paintings mentioned by the New Monthly can be viewed on the web. The head of Elijah is on this blog.