‘Cassandra prophesying the Fall of Troy,’ exhibited in 1796 at the Royal Academy, is in the South Kensington Museum. The British Museum possesses several examples of the years 1793–4, ‘A Shepherd in a Storm,’ exhibited in 1795, and three large drawings dated 1799, ‘The Boar that killed Adonis brought before Venus,’ ‘Judith reciting to the Young Alfred the Songs of the Bards,’ and ‘Cardinal Bourchier entreating Elizabeth Grey to let her Son leave the Sanctuary of Westminster Abbey.’ The last two subjects were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1800. In the same collection are specimens of Westall's work in other styles—landscape, portraiture, and book illustration. There are also thirteen drawings in various styles in the Dyce collection at the South Kensington Museum.
Westall's large pictures in oils were not successful, though one, ‘Elijah raising the Widow's Son,’ was purchased by the directors of the British Institution for four hundred and fifty guineas in 1813. He held an exhibition of his pictures and drawings at his house in Upper Charlotte Street in 1814. He ceased to paint historical subjects in oils when he found that they did not sell. His pictures are now little known, and it is probable that some of them pass under other names. A large picture by him, ‘Buffalo-hunters surprised by Lions,’ has been reproduced as a work of James Ward. ‘Christ crowned with Thorns,’ by Westall, is the altar-piece of All Souls' Church, Langham Place. He exhibited in all 313 works at the Royal Academy, and seventy at the British Institution (Graves, Dict. of Artists).
A large number of Westall's pictures were engraved. Among the historical subjects, in addition to those from Shakespeare, may be mentioned: ‘Queen Elizabeth receiving the News of the Death of her Sister Mary,’ and ‘Joan of Arc receiving the Consecrated Banner,’ engraved in 1792; ‘Charles V resigning the Crown of Spain,’ ‘Telemachus and Calypso’ (two subjects), 1810. Several large engravings of rustic subjects—such as ‘Rural Contemplation’ and ‘Rural Music,’ by T. Gaugain, 1801; ‘The Sad Story’ and ‘The Woodcutter and Cowboy,’ by John Ogborne, 1802; ‘A Storm in Harvest,’ 1802; and ‘Reapers,’ 1805, by Robert Mitchell Meadows—show Westall's talent in a more favourable light. Later works in this style are ‘A Gleaner’ and ‘The Reaper returning by Moonlight,’ 1814. ‘Venus and her Doves,’ ‘Cupid Sleeping,’ ‘The Birth of Shakespeare,’ and ‘The Birth of Otway,’ 1802, are graceful fancy compositions. Twelve subjects illustrating the rites and ceremonies of the church of England, engraved by Agar, Cardon, and Schiavonetti, enjoyed great popularity. Some larger compositions of similar subjects were engraved by R. M. Meadows. Of the portraits by Westall, that of Byron, engraved in mezzotint by Charles Turner, is the best known. Westall was himself an engraver, and published etchings, aquatints (some printed in colours), and (in 1828) mezzotints, from his own pictures or drawings. He also made a few lithographs in the early days of that art.
From 1816 to 1828 Westall lived at 6 South Crescent, Bedford Square, and from 1828 to 1836 at 4 Russell Place, Fitzroy Square. In his later years he lost most of his earnings by imprudent dealings in old pictures and other speculations, and was reduced to such poverty as to need relief from the Royal Academy. He and a blind sister who lived with him were also assisted by the Duchess of Kent. Westall's last professional occupation was as instructor in painting and drawing to the Princess Victoria. He died on 4 Dec. 1836. He was short and slight of figure, and delicate in health. His portrait appears in the engraving of the royal academicians by C. Bestland (1802), after Henry Singleton.
[Gent. Mag. 1837, i. 213; Sandby's Hist. of the Royal Academy, i. 306.]
WESTALL, WILLIAM (1781–1850), topographical painter, a younger brother of Richard Westall [q. v.], was born at Hertford on 12 Oct. 1781. As a boy he lived at Sydenham and Hampstead, and was taught drawing by his brother. At the age of eighteen, while a probationer at the schools of the Royal Academy, he was recommended to the government by the president, Benjamin West, for the appointment of landscape draughtsman to an exploring expedition which was about to start for Australia. This appointment had just been resigned by William Daniell [q. v.], who had become engaged to Westall's eldest sister. The Investigator, commanded by Matthew Flinders [q. v.], sailed from Spithead on 18 July 1801. After a cruise of nearly two years the Investigator was left, as unseaworthy, at Port Jackson, while Westall and most of the ship's company embarked on the Porpoise to return to England. This ship was wrecked on a coral reef off the north-eastern coast of Australia, but no lives were lost, and Westall's sketches were preserved. After eight weeks the shipwrecked party were rescued by schooners sent from Port Jackson, to which Flinders had made his way in an open boat, and Westall proceeded in the Rolla to China.
