Location

Country: Ukraine
City: Kiev
Place: British Embassy

Watercolourist and painter William Simpson was born in Glasgow, the son of a marine engineer and mechanic. He trained as a lithographer under David Macfarlane and later Allan and Ferguson, and also studied at the Glasgow School of Design. In 1851 he moved to London to work for the lithographers Day & Son. He was sent to cover the Crimean War in 1854, after which he became known as ‘Crimean Simpson’. In 1866 he became an artist for the ‘Illustrated London News’, travelling in India, Russia and Afghanistan, and covering several major military campaigns of the 19th century. In 1874 he became a member of the Institute of Painters in Watercolour. He was also an amateur archaeologist and a prolific writer. Simpson died in London, aged 75.

Places

Ukraine

Subjects

horseback, topography, horse, military uniform, flag (as Subject), Order of the Bath, sword, soldier, dais, steps

Materials & Techniques

lithograph, coloured lithograph

Artist

Day and Son
Edmond Morin (1824 - 1882)
William Simpson (1823 - 1899)

Title

The Investiture of the Order of Bath. At the Head Quarters of the British Army Before Sebastopol

Date

published 29 October 1855

Medium

Coloured lithograph

Acquisition

Purchased from Abbott and Holder, March 1995

GAC number

16902