20634 GP & SO Catalogue_v5 03/11/2011 13:02 Page 18
GPFA
14 RICHARD WESTALL, R.A. Hertford 1765–1836 London
Exhibited: London, Appleby Brothers, Early English Watercolours, Oct. – Nov. 1961, no.105 New York, The Drawing Shop, English Drawings and Watercolours, Oct. – Nov. 1962, no.32
The Three Witches appearing to Macbeth and Banquo
This shows the Three Witches appearing to Macbeth and Banquo on the heath in Act I, Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s play. It may be an unused design for Boydell’s illustrated edition of Shakespeare’s plays, for which Westall produced a number of illustrations, including two subjects from Macbeth in the late 1790s.
Watercolour heightened with bodycolour and scratching out 269 x 202 mm., 10 1/ 2 x 8 in. Provenance (as Fuseli): Canon Smythe, Sussex Appleby Brothers, London, November 1961 Bernard Black Gallery Castellane Gallery 18