Richard Westall, RA - Cupid Sleeping - Romantic 18th Century British watercolour

RICHARD WESTALL, RA.
(1765-1836).

Cupid Sleeping; from a poem of Mrs Robinson.

 - The Duchess of Devonshire Discovers the Sleeping Cupid.

Watercolour, oval.

36 by 44.5 cm., 14 ¼ by 18 in. 
(frame size 55 by 66 cm., 21 ¾ by 26 in.).

Exhibited:
London, Royal Academy, 1792, no.448.

Richard Westall was bon in Reepham, near Norwich.  Initially apprenticed to a London silver engraving he began studying at the Royal Academy Schools from 1785 and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy between 1784 and 1836.  Westall became an Associate member of the Royal Academy in 1792 and a full member in 1794.

Westall painted in both oil and watercolour, his works being romantic and neoclassical in style.  He contributing to both Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery and Fuseli’s Milton Gallery and was also a prolific book illustrator of both fiction and poetry including works by Sir Walter Scott and Byron, whose portrait he also painted.  For a time he was also art master to the young Princess Victoria.

This is probably Westall’s 1792 Royal Academy exhibit (no.448).  The subject was inspired by the poem Cupid Sleeping by the poetess-actress Mary Darby Robinson, which had been published in the previous year. The poem was dedicated to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and the picture show the Duchess discovering the sleeping cupid who she then relieves of his bow and arrows.  Mrs Robinson was not only the Duchess’s protégée but also the first public mistress of the Prince of Wales.  William Nutter’s engraving of Westall’s picture was also dedicated to the Duchess of Devonshire.

Price

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

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