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Lot Essay
The present watercolour dates from a highly creative and important period of Westall's career, when he was sharing a house at 57 Greek St, Soho, with his friend Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830). While lodging together, Lawrence became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1791, Westall the following year, and both were elected full-members in 1794 - the year Lawrence was appointed Painter-in-Ordinary to His Majesty King George III. Westall was to become Queen Victoria’s first Drawing Master, before her ascension to the throne.
Dating from the year of Westall's acceptance to the R.A., this watercolour is comparable to The Wallace Collection’s Nymph and Cupids (indistinctly dated ‘179[?]’, cat. P757), acquired by Francis Seymour-Conway (1777-1842), 3rd Marquess of Hertford, (who hung it in his bedroom), the mid-1790s saw Westall exhibiting and returning to similar subject-matter on a number of occasions.
Dating from the year of Westall's acceptance to the R.A., this watercolour is comparable to The Wallace Collection’s Nymph and Cupids (indistinctly dated ‘179[?]’, cat. P757), acquired by Francis Seymour-Conway (1777-1842), 3rd Marquess of Hertford, (who hung it in his bedroom), the mid-1790s saw Westall exhibiting and returning to similar subject-matter on a number of occasions.