Richard Westall RA, St Paul and the Viper – Original 1806 watercolour painting
Richard Westall RA, St Paul and the Viper – Original 1806 watercolour painting
Richard Westall RA, St Paul and the Viper – Original 1806 watercolour painting
Richard Westall RA, St Paul and the Viper – Original 1806 watercolour painting

Richard Westall RA St Paul and the Viper

€923,95
€923,95
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An original 1806 watercolour painting, Richard Westall RA, St Paul and the Viper.

This superbly painted biblical scene, at small scale in watercolour, displays the rich detail for which Richard Westall RA (1769–1836) is celebrated. Within a sheet of just 13 x 10.5cm (5 x 4"), Westall assembles nine finely modelled figures, centred around the dramatic encounter of Paul the Apostle with a venomous snake. The composition achieves a fullness of effect despite its small size, with the dramatic juxtaposition of light and dark, foreground detail and background atmosphere.

Westall is known for his historical, literary and biblical subjects; the story of Paul and the Snake is told in Acts 28 of the New Testament, recounting Paul's journey from his arrival in Malta to finally settling in Italy. Here, on the shore in Malta, the people of the island build a fire to welcome him, but a snake is forced out by the fire and ascends Paul's arm. The people believe that Paul is being punished—but when he is unharmed by the snake's poisonous bite he is proven good. Paul's survival of the bite can be seen as fulfilling the prophetic assurance of God’s protection over His apostles as they spread the gospel.

Westall's work in the late 18th century, encouraged by his chief patron, the taste-maker Richard Payne Knight, was innovative in helping to elevate the medium of watercolour closer to that of oil paintings. He used an intensity of colour and detail at a smaller, cheaper scale that appealed greatly to the market, and in 1795 Westall was pronounced in The St James’s Chronicle as 'the Founder of a particular School of Drawing in Water-Colours'.

Westall was a prolific book illustrator of both fiction and poetry. His commissions included works for John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery and for Henry Fuseli's Milton Gallery, as well as illustrations to the works of Sir Walter Scott, Oliver Goldsmith, William Cowper, Thomas Gray and Byron. Byron greatly admired his work, stating of his illustrations that 'the brush has beat the poetry'; Westall painted several portraits of Byron. He also illustrated editions of the Bible, including one with John Martin.

In watercolour on card.

Please note the small size of this artwork.

+ Read the Artist Research

Richard Westall RA (1765–1836)

Richard Westall RA (1765–1836) was born at Reepham, Norfolk, the family residence being Kerdistone Manor. After his mother's death in 1770, his father was declared bankrupt, but soon remarried and moved to Hertford, where Richard's younger brother, the artist William Westall (1781–1850), was born. Following this period of difficulty, the young Richard moved to London, where in 1779 he became apprenticed to John Thompson, a heraldic engraver on silver; he also studied at an evening school run by Thomas Simpson. The Norfolk artist John Alefounder instructed Westall in the execution of miniatures and advised him to become a painter.

In 1784 he exhibited the first of 384 pictures at the Royal Academy. He was admitted as a student of the Academy Schools in the following year, became an associate of the academy in 1792, and was made a full academician in 1794. Around this time he began what was to be a life-long friendship with the artist Thomas Lawrence, the pair living together for several years.

Westall's paintings in watercolour garnered significant praise: Horace Walpole described the figure of Sappho in Sappho Chanting the Hymn of Love (exh. RA, 1796) as ‘beautiful beyond description’ and his Hesiod Instructing the Greeks (exh. RA, 1796) as ‘by far one of the finest compositions ever painted in England’. Joseph Farington recorded in his diary that ‘the King particularly dwelt on Westall's drawings and said he had never seen anything equal to them’.

In the 1790s Westall contributed to Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery and to Fuseli's Milton Gallery, beginning a prolific period providing literary illustrations which included Sir Walter Scott's novels, the works of Byron, William Cowper, James Thomson and Robert Burns. Byron even declared that Westall's illustrations for Don Juan were 'superb—the brush has beat the poetry’.

In 1795 Westall was pronounced 'the Founder of a particular School of Drawing in Water-Colours' by the St James’s Chronicle, and junior artists such as Turner and Girtin studied his innovative techniques. In 1814 the critic in the Repository of Arts commented: 'That honour which Great Britain has derived from the discovery of the art of painting in transparent water colours, and which most enlightened foreigners have so willingly accorded to us, is in great degree to be ascribed to Mr Westall. His drawings for many years formed the principal feature of attraction at the exhibitions of the Royal Academy.'

From around 1815 onwards Westall's reputation slowly declined. Almost bankrupt, for the last nine years of his life he worked as drawing master to Princess Victoria.

COA
+ Artwork Details

Dimensions: Height: 13.1cm (5.16") Width: 10.8cm (4.25")

Presented: Unframed.

Medium: Watercolour

Age: Early 19th-century

Signed: Signed verso.

Inscribed: Inscribed verso, including 'Reepham', which was the village near Norwich where Westall was born.

Dated: Dated verso.

Condition: Overall in good condition for its age. There is a small stain lower centre, and the odd tiny scattered mark or abrasion. Slight wear to the corners of the card. There are historic adhesive marks and/or paper remnants to the verso, from previous mounting. Please see photos for detail.

Stock number: KB-495