William Westall Britain, Australia, 1781-1850
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by William Westall
Auction Houses
About William Westall
Born in England in 1781, Westall studied at the Royal Academy. At 19, while still at the Academy, he was appointed artist to Matthew Flinder's expedition to Australia. During the voyage he made a large number of pencil sketches of topographical subjects. Many of these were damaged when 'HMS Porpoise' ran aground on Wreck Reef, but they were later taken to England and restored. Westall, meantime, travelled widely in the East before returning to England, where he was commissioned to paint a series of pictures to illustrate Flinder's book, 'A Voyage to Terra Australis'. He continued working as a painter and illustrator until his death.
Our database records art auction sales of works by William Westall from 1973 and in total 45 works by the artist have been offered for sale, of which 25 (56%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $198,000 for Distant View of the Town of Sydney, from Between Port Jackson and Botany Bay sold by Christies in July 1992. This year one work has been offered for sale. Works by William Westall are held by the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and a further two major public national galleries (see list below).
William Westall is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 1015
- Kerr, Joan. Dictionary of Australian Artists, Painters, Sketchers, Photographers and Engravers to 1870. Oxford University Press, Australia, 1993. Page 849
- Campbell, Jean. Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 to the Present Day. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1989. Page 379
- Dictionary of Australian Artists Online, an online resource for biographical data about Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
No, ineligible. The artist has been deceased for more than 70 years.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
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