Public Library & Temple Of The Winds William Simpson Lithograph Crimean War Walk

Description: The burning of the public library and Temple of the Winds during the Crimean Campaign, illustated by William Simpson William Simpson was a Scottish artist best known as war artist and correspondent, notably during the Crimean War. William Simpson was born to an impoverished family in Glasgow on 28 October 1828. He was sent to live with his grandmother in Perth in 1834, where he received his only formal schooling. He subsequently found work as an apprentice at Macfarlane, a Glasgow lithographic firm. In the evenings he attended the Andersonian University and the Mechanics Institute. He began working for London publishers Lloyd’s, Day & Son and the firm of Paul and Dominic Colnaghi of 13 & 14 Pall Mall East. In 1854, Lloyd’s commissioned him to prepare an image of the fall of Sebastopol so that they had something ready as soon as news of the event reached them; Simpson found this a challenge as he had almost no information to base his illustration on. The need for sketches drawn at the front became apparent and the Colnaghis contracted Simpson as a war artist and he arrived off the Crimean peninsular in November 1854 and remained on the front until the autumn of the following year, during which time he produced a great many sketches. Where he had missed a battle, he was able to obtain authentic information from soldiers who had been involved and he was himself a witness of Lord Raglan’s expedition to Ketch and the eventual fall of Sebastopol. During this period he sent many watercolours back to London where they would be lithographed by Day & Son; some of the paintings (for which Simpson received £20 each) were displayed at the Graphic Society in February 1855. Colnaghi produced two large portfolios of lithographs entitled The Seat of the War in the East, which established the artist in the minds of many as ‘Crimean Simpson’. The series was dedicated to Queen Victoria, whose patronage Simpson enjoyed for the rest of his life. Lithography by E Walker Overall page size approx 37 x 55.5cm Please see photos of signs of age Post daily

Price: 45.95 GBP

Location: Thirsk

End Time: 2024-11-29T12:18:00.000Z

Shipping Cost: 37.83 GBP