RICHARD WESTALL RA (1766-1836)

Provenance

Richard Payne Knight, Downton Castle, Ludlow, Shropshire, commissioned from the artist
By descent in the family; to 2006

Literature

Michael Clarke & Nicholas Penny, The Arrogant Connoisseur:
Richard Payne Knight 1751-1824, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester 1982

Exhibition History

London, Royal Academy, 1809, number 139
Manchester, Whitworth Art Gallery, Richard Payne Knight 'The Arrogant Connoisseur', 1982, number 203
London, Courtauld Institute, Richard Payne Knight 'The Arrogant Connoisseur', 1982, number 34

Description / Expertise

Born in Reepham in Norfolk on the 2nd January 1765, Richard Westall was apprenticed to a heraldic silver engraver in London in 1779 before joining the Royal Academy School of Art in 1785. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1794 and also served as drawing master to Princess Victoria, later Queen Victoria, in the last year of his life. Westall participated regularly in exhibitions at the Academy until his death in 1836.

Richard Westall painted portraits of Queen Victoria, Lord Byron and Richard Ayton and his illustrations for books include an edition of the Bible and of John Milton’s poems and he painted genre and Shakespearean scenes. His Patrons included Richard Payne Knight, Thomas Hope, the Earl of Oxford, Samuel Rogers and the Prince Regent.

Richard Payne Knight, who commissioned Flora unveiled by Zephyrs and its companion piece, Vertumnus and Pomona, was a classical scholar and member of The Society of Dilletante. Inheriting a fortune from his grandfather, Knight’s wealth allowed him the luxury of travel and having spent time in Italy, he developed a profound interest in classical art.

The scene from Ovid depicts Flora, goddess of flowers, in the garden given to her by Zephyr. The flora symbolises various mythical figures that were transformed into flowers on their death. Ajax was transformed into larkspur, Clytie became a sunflower and Adonis an anemone. Zephyr, the west wind who brought flowers in the springtime, is represented by the amoretti behind the central figure. (1)

1. Michael Clarke & Nicholas Penny, The Arrogant Connoisseur:
Richard Payne Knight 1751-1824, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester 1982, page 186