Plaque to Richard & William Westall at The Maltings

Image: © Sean Davis Taken: 22 Oct 2005

Both brothers were painters. Richard was the most acclaimed of the two half brothers. His paintings included portraits of Queen Victoria and Lord Byron. Some of the finest British engravings from the late 18th and early 19th centuries were designed by Richard Westall. During the 1790's he was commissioned by the famous publisher John Boydell to work on his large engravings for the Shakespeare Gallery and The Poetical Works of John Milton. These now famous works of art established Westall as a major designer of individual engravings and engravings for illustrated books. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy 1794. In 1827 he was appointed as the drawing master to then Princess Victoria and remained in the post till his death in 1836. William, also born at Hertford, was a much travelled landscape painter. He was taught to paint by his older brother Richard, who secured him a place at the Royal Academy in 1799. Constable and Turner joined the Academy at this time. His work was noticed by Sir James Banks, the botanist who accompanied Captain James Cook on his expeditions, and a consequence of this, in 1801 he sailed in the Investigator under the command of Matthew Flinders on the famous voyage of discovery to Australia. He was the first professional artist to draw the landscape and outline of Australia and the first European to accurately record Aboriginal cave art. His work helped Great Britain to claim sovereignty over Australia. His sketches and paintings from the journey are still acclaimed to be some of the best of Australian landscape. On reading about William Westall, he was young; he seemed to have had his own agenda and took his time to return with his work. He got shipwrecked on the Porpoise and many of his drawings were lost or damaged. He enjoyed some extra sightseeing in China and Ceylon delaying his return home with his eagerly awaited drawings. This as you can imagine frustrated the British Government as they were in a race with France and other countries to claim Australia as their own. This is on the route of the London Green Belt Way.

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