William Westall in China & India (2)

The Westalls had some associations with India before William went there in 1804. William Daniel, who with his uncle, Thomas travelled through India married William Westall's half-sister Mary Westall, in 1801. (see 'Early Views in India - Picturesque Journeys of Thomas and William Daniell 1786 - 1794' by Mildred Archer Thames & Hudson 1980 for their complete aquatints of the country.) Also William Hodges had married William 2nd cousin Anne Carr as his third wife. Richard Westall had shared an address with John Alefounder in 1784, an artist who had taught him miniatures. Alefounder left for India in the following year and died in Calcutta in 1795.
On his arrival in India at Bombay on 30 April 1804 William undertook a journey into the neighbouring mountains, known as the Western Ghats,of the Maratha country with a passport obtained from Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) then Major-General commanding East India Company and British forces in the area, and while in the mountains William encountered some of these troops. In later years (1817 and 1824) he exhibited two pictures of the Ghats at the Royal Academy (see my blogpost on these paintings). They showed an artillery unit winding down the extraordinary Bhor Ghaut pass. It is about 90 miles from Bombay and according to the 'Imperial Gazetteer of India' (1908) 'in former times the Borghat was considered the key to the Deccan. In 1804 General Wellesley gave Bombay greater facilities of access to the Deccan by making the Borghat practicable for artillery'. I am told the site of these paintings is now a motorway.
William also made drawings of the excavated temples of Karli and Elephanta. In Bombay he gave drawing lessons to the daughters of Sir James Mackintosh, the Recorder of Bombay.
William spent about three months in India before his departure in August 1804. The 'Bombay Courier' of 18 August 1804 includes him ina list of passengers who had left 'by a recent opportunity'. (see 'British Artists in India 1760 - 1820' by Sir William Foster - Walpole Society 1930/31). Robert Westall wrote movingly about his father time in India, where he witnessed a terrible famine, in his memoir of William.

William travelled via St Helena to Britain and had arrived by 19 February 1805, when Richard Westall called upon Joseph Farington advising him his brother had returned.

In 1808 William's exhibition of foreign views resulted in the sale for £50 of a view of Bombay and he provided drawings for 'The Naval Chronicle' and between 1811 and 1814 nine plates from his hand appeared, three being Indian views: 'Bombay Castle'; Mosk (sic) in Panwell river Dekkan and Panwell River, Dekkan. The National Maritime Museum has a different and better engraving of Bombay Castle. Two further Indian views are known: 'An Indian Shrine' (at Leeds Museum) and a view which could possibly be of the Panwell river (in private hands, but a photo can be seen at the Witt Library. Some of William's most important pictures were engraved for Grindlays 'Costume and Archtecture chiefly on the Western Side of India' published in two volumes by R.Ackermann (Vol 1 1826) and Smith, Elder & Co (Vol 2 1830). They totalled 15 in number, with six based on drawings by serving soldiers - one picture is of Ceylon. A partial re-issue of these volumes in 1892 has eight of William's views, four being based on amateur drawings. A volume not seen was published by Ackermann in 1827 'Views in the Cities, Palaces etc of the River Ganges and Jumna'. It is possible some of these views may have been used by Charles Knight for his publication 'The Hindoos', which appeared in 1834. There are 24 wood engravings, all from William's illustrations, but they are of modest quality.

Richard Westall also provides further evidence of interest in India. In 1814 he exhibited a portrait of Fry Magniac, listed as a Magistrate/Judge in Bengal. He also completed a portrait exhibited in the same year of Charles Magniac. Both these portraits were owned at the time byFrancis Magniac. In 1820 an edition of 'The Tales of the Genii or Horam the son of Asmar' appeared with engravings after Richard Westall drawings. This book was published in 1764 and went through numerous editions. Purportedly a translation from the Persian manuscript by 'Sir Charles Morell, at one time Ambassador to the Great Mogul. Morell was in fact a pseudonym for the Rev James Ridley (briefly an East India chaplain and son of Dr Glocester Ridley) and the tales are entirely his work.

Listings of known Indian and related illusrations to follow.