William Westall (12 October 1781 – 22 January 1850) was a British landscape artist best known as one of the first artists to work in Australia.
Early life Westall was born in Hertford and grew up in London, mostly Sydenham and Hampstead. The son of brewery manager Benjamin Westall (d.1794) and his second wife Martha née Harbord, William Westall had four step-siblings, the eldest of whom, Richard Westall, was a reputable painter and illustrator. William was interested in painting from a young age; Rienitz and Rienitz (1963) suggest that he looked up to his half-brother, and was ambitious to follow in his footsteps. There is evidence to suggest that Westall's parents did not support this career choice; however Richard became head of the family upon the death of Benjamin Westall in March 1794, and must have approved Westall's artistic ambitions, as from that time forward William Westall was given a thorough art education. At the age of sixteen he won a silver palette in a competition run by the Society of Artists of Great Britain, and at eighteen was enrolled at the prestigious Royal Academy.Rienitz & Rienitz (1963)
Voyages In 1800, whilst still a probationary student in his first year, Westall was approached by Sir Joseph Banks to serve as landscape and figure painter to a voyage of exploration under Matthew Flinders, aboard . The position had first been offered to Julius Caesar Ibbetson, who declined; and then William Daniell, who accepted but subsequently pulled out. Daniell was a fellow student of Westall, and was engaged to one of Westall's stepsisters, so it seems likely that Westall prevailed upon Daniell to recommend him as his replacement; however one source states that Westall was recommended by Benjamin West, President of the Royal Academy. Elisabeth Findlay reconciles these claims by suggesting that Daniell "contrived" to have West put Westall's name forward.Findlay (1998): xiii. "Operating through Benjamin West, the President of the Royal Academy, Daniell contrived to have Westall's name put before Banks."
Westall's nomination was approved by Banks; thus Westall, at just 19 years of age, was appointed to what has come to be regarded as one of the notable scientific expeditions ever undertaken, as a member of a team of scientists that included botanist Robert Brown and botanical artist Ferdinand Bauer, both now revered as amongst the very best in their respective fields.
Madeira Leaving London on 18 July 1801, the expedition reached Madeira, its first landfall, on 1 August. The following day Flinders, Brown and Bauer rowed to Bugio Island. The gardener Good records that he was not permitted to go with them, so instead he and Westall rowed around Investigator in search of turtles and birds, obtaining one of each.Good (1981): 36–37. A day later Investigator anchored at Funchal, Madeira Island, and the following morning Westall went ashore with the other scientists, walking around Funchal and the vineyards north and east of the town.Brown (2001): 58–59. The next day the scientists went ashore again, with the intention of climbing the highest peak, Pico Ruivo. They walked all day, then spent an uncomfortable night in an unfurnished room in a chapel, probably the old chapel at Alegría. Early the next morning Westall returned alone to Funchal, the others continuing on for a few hours before turning back.
Westall was charmed by the island and seems to have been enthusiastic in his work. However, on returning to the ship, their boat was swamped, Westall was almost drowned, and all of his sketches were lost. This event seems to have profoundly affected him: it is claimed that he subsequently nearly died from exposure and stress, and even three years later he was claiming that "his head had been affected" by the accident. Throughout his life he maintained that the swamping was a deliberate act.
Cape Colony
The next landfall was at Simon's Town, in the Cape Colony just east of the Cape of Good Hope. Anchoring in False Bay on 16 October, Investigator remained eighteen days, during which time the scientists spent a good deal of time ashore. Nothing is known of Westall's movements in the first week, but Good, travelling with Brown, Bauer and ship's surgeon Hugh Bell, reports falling in with him at Devil's Peak on 26 October, Westall having set out from Simon's Town with mineralogist John Allen two days earlier; the two men had become separated, and Westall had "fared very indifferently and slept one night at Constantia." The following day Westall accompanied Bauer and Bell towards Cape Town, while Good and Brown climbed Table Mountain. Good and Brown slept that night in the Tokai home of a German named Johann Gasper Loos, and woke in the morning to find Westall and Bell there too, the latter two having lost their way to Cape Town, and arrived at Loos' house late in the evening. All four men then returned to the ship together.Good (1981): 43–44.
As with Madeira, Westall was delighted with the landscapes on offer at the Cape, and worked conscientiously, making some highly detailed sketches. Seven of Westall's field drawings from the Cape are extant.
Australia
Investigator came in sight of Australia on 6 December, and the following morning Westall made his first sketch of Australia, a coastal profile from about off Cape Leeuwin. He made two further coastal profiles the following day, one of Chatham Island (Western Australia), the other of the Eclipse Islands. Late that night the Investigator anchored alongside Seal Island in King George the Third's Sound (now King George Sound); they remained in King George Sound for almost four weeks.
The next morning, the 9th, Westall sketched Seal Island from the anchorage. Later that day he went with Flinders and others, firstly to examine Seal Island and search for a bottle and parchment that George Vancouver had left there ten years previously. They then went across to Possession Point and the opposite shore, and examined Princess Royal Harbour.
Not much is known of Westall's subsequent movements, but on 14 December he was on shore with Brown, Good, Westall, Allen, and possibly Bauer and a man named White, when they made the first contact with an Australian Aborigine, who initially advanced on them, shouting and brandishing a spear, but then retreated before them, setting fire to the grass behind him. On 23 December Westall was one of a large party who set off on a grueling two-day overland expedition to Torbay Inlet and back.
By 30 December Investigators men had established amicable relations with the Aborigines. That day Westall sketched an Aboriginal man named Warena, and showed it to him. Warena was pleased, and bared his body to the waist so that Westall could complete the drawing. A sketch of an Aboriginal man survives, and Rienitz and Rienitz assume that this is Warena,Rienitz & Rienitz (1963): 90. "In the Royal Commonwealth Society's collections there are four landscape sketches and a pencil study of a native, presumably Warena." but Vallance et al. (2001) note that the sketch does not match Brown's description of Warena as a "middle aged stout man".Brown (2001): 105. "The old man & the middle aged stout man with a name we supposed was Warena...". Footnote 1: "The only sketch of a King George Sound native reproduced in Perry & Simpson (1962) is Westall 12. It bears no sign of the subject's name but clearly the man was not 'stout'."
On 1 January 1802, Westall landed with Bauer, apparently in company with Brown, and apparently at Limeburner Point. Westall and Bauer subsequently went exploring together, and discovered the Western Australian Pitcher Plant (Cephalotus follicularis).Brown (2001): 105–106. Brown is thought to have landed near Limeburner Point on 31 December; see Footnote 1 for 31 December 1801. The following day he returned to the same place, apparently in company with Westall and Bauer; see Footnote 2 for 2 January 1802. Westall and Bauer found C. follicularis that day; see entry for 2 January 1802: "Mr Good went in search of the pitcher plant wch Messrs Bauer & Westall had found yesterday in flower."
From this time on, the surviving drawings by Westall decrease markedly in both number and quality. Findlay assumed that nearly all of Westall's drawings have survived, and sees the Westall's low output as indicative of his growing disillusionment with the Australian landscape, which he perceived as lacking in the picturesque qualities he sought. Rienitz and Rienitz, on the other hand, perceive Westall as diligent enough, and assume that many of his drawing have been lost.
Only five sketches and a watercolour are extant from Westall's time in King George's Sound, and he seems to have made only one sketch during the five days spent in Lucky Bay. At Cape Catastrophe, where eight men were drowned, Westall sketched Thistle Island, and painted a snake.Findlay (1998): 3–11.
The arrival of Investigator at the settlement at Port Jackson (now Sydney) on 8 May 1802 seems to have revitalised Westall. During there ten-week hiatus there, he produced a great deal of work, including no fewer than thirteen detailed drawings of the Hawkesbury River, with which he was much taken. He also sketched some local Aborigines, and was commissioned by the Governor, Phillip Gidley King, to paint Government House. The resulting watercolour is one of a very few paintings that Westall completed during the voyage.Findlay (1998): 12–13.
Heading north up the east coast, Westall continued drawing coastal profiles, but put less effort in than ever. Anchoring in Port Bowen on 21 August, the scientists went ashore to explore, and Flinders offered to name the highest mountain over whoever reached the peak first. Westall won; hence the name of Mount Westall. Continuing north, Investigator found a passage through the Great Barrier Reef, passed through Torres Strait, and anchored off Murray Island, where about fifty Torres Strait Islanders came out in canoes to trade. From this time onward, Westall largely eschewed landscapes in favour of portraying events and people. Amongst his work in this period is the watercolour Murray Isles, which depicts the islanders coming out to trade; The English Company's Islands: Probasso, a Malay Chief, a portrait of a Macassan trepanger chieftain; and several watercolour copies of Aboriginal cave paintings. The last of these makes Westall the first European artist to depict Aboriginal cave paintings, and, more generally, one of the first Europeans to document Aboriginal artworkFindlay (1998): 14–15, 39. when on 14 January 1803 Flinders' party made landfall on Chasm Island.
Within the island's rock shelters, they discovered an array of painted and stenciled patterns and Flinders enlisted Westall to record these images. In his journal, Flinders not only detailed the location and the artworks but also authored the inaugural site report:In the deep sides of the chasms were deep holes or caverns undermining the cliffs; upon the walls of which I found rude drawings, made with charcoal and something like red paint upon the white ground of the rock. These drawings represented porpoises, turtle, kanguroos [sic], and a human hand; and Mr. Westall, who went afterwards to see them, found the representation of a kanguroo [sic], with a file of thirty-two persons following after it. The third person of the band was twice the height of the others, and held in his hand something resembling the whaddie, or wooden sword of the natives of Port Jackson; and was probably intended to represent a chief. They could not, as with us, indicate superiority by clothing or ornament, since they wore none of any kind; and therefore, with the addition of a weapon, similar to the ancients, they seem to have made superiority of person the principal emblem of superior power, of which, indeed, power is usually a consequence in the very early stages of society.