William Westall (artist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Westall
"Portrait of William Westall A.R.A." by his son Robert (1845-1890). Pencil and watercolour.
Born	20 October, 1781 Hertford, England
Died	1850
Nationality	English
Field	Painting, drawing, ships artist
Training	Royal Academy
Patrons	British Admiralty

William Westall (20 October 1781 – 22 January 1850) was an English artist who travelled aboard HMS Investigator on her voyage to Australia.

Westall was born in Hertford, England. Westall, like the other botanical artist on HMS Investigator Ferdinand Bauer, was born into an artistic family. His older half brother Richard, was a member of the Royal Academy, and assisted him in securing a place for his younger half brother at the Royal Academy in 1799.

During his studies at the Royal Academy Westall's work came to the attention of Joseph Banks, who was at the time keen to find a landscape artist for Matthew Flinders' expedition aboard HMS Investigator. With the support of Banks, Westall was appointed by the Admiralty in London as landscape and topographical artist on HMS Investigator.

In 1801, at the age of 19, Westall found himself aboard HMS Investigator. The subsequent voyage of discovery to ‘Terra Australis’, has in time come to be regarded as one of the notable scientific and botanical studies ever undertaken.

William Westall, King George's (i.e. George) Sound in Albany, Western Australia

Westall began sketching the Australian landscape almost as soon as he set sight of Australia on Monday 7 December 1801, when he saw King George’s Sound, Western Australia, thereby becoming the first professional artist to draw the Australian landscape painting. Many of the sketches that Westall created were coastal profiles, to assist with the important task of mapping Australian coastline.

The subsequent circumnavigation of Australia took Westall from King George’s Sound in Western Australia, across the Great Australian Bight to the South Australian gulf country, to Kangaroo Island, and thence to Port Jackson and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Particularly notable amongst the works created by Westall during the voyage are his accurate portraits of Aboriginal people and the watercolours of their cave paintings, the first European artist to depict them.

The final drawing Westall made of the journey, View of Wreck Reef Bank Taken at Low Water: Terra Australis 1803, marks the end of Flinders’ ambitious expedition.

Returning to England aboard HMS Porpoise in 1803, the ship was ran aground at Wreck Reef off the Queensland coast in August 1803, with many of Westall’s works being damaged. Surviving the wreck along with Flinders (and his cat Trim), he continued his voyage to England via China and India, arriving there in 1805.

Three years later he exhibited a series of watercolour views based on his Australian drawings, followed by a commission from the Admiralty to provide nine illustrations for Flinders' book, Voyage to Terra Australis. These engravings were also published in a separately issued volume.

In 1812 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy with whom he regularly exhibited his work until his death in 1850. His son gave 160 the original drawings from the HMS Investigator voyage to the Royal Commonwealth Society, London and they are now held in the National Library of Australia.

In 1847 he had a serious accident which greatly affected his health, and he died at London on 22 January 1850.

William Westall, View of Wreck Reef bank taken at low water, Terra Australis, 1803

[edit] Publications

Matthew Flinders, A voyage to Terra Australis : undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty's ship the Investigator (London: G. and W. Nicol, 1814).
William Westall, Great Britain illustrated: a series of original views (London : C. Tilt, 1830). Engraved by, and under the direction of Edward Finden; with descriptions by Thomas Moule.
T.M. Perry and Donald H. Simpson (eds.), Drawings by William Westall, landscape artist on board H.M.S. Investigator during the circumnavigation of Australia by Captain Matthew Flinders, R.N., in 1801-1803 (London, Royal Commonwealth Society, 1962).
Elisabeth Findlay, Arcadian quest: William Westall's Australian sketches (Parkes, A.C.T.: National Library of Australia, 1998)