During the Crimean War, William Simpson became a pioneer war artist. Commissioned by the printsellers P & D Colnaghi, he recorded the naval battles in the Baltic Sea and then went on to Balaklava in November 1854 to make accurate sketches on the spot. The drawings which he made during that terrible winter were submitted to Lord Raglan, sent home to England, and shown to Queen Victoria by the Minister of War, the Duke of Newcastle. After the fall of Sevastopol he was attached to the Duke's party of exploration in Circassia.
On his
return to England, Simpson, complete with a brown beard long enough to button
into his waistcoat, had an audience with the Queen, during which he showed her
his sketches and was much impressed by her grasp of every detail of the war.
Eighty of his Crimean drawings, including the lot offered here, were
lithographed in 'The Seat of War in the East' which was dedicated with
permission to Queen Victoria, whose patronage he enjoyed for the rest of his
life.
When the original watercolours were exhibited at Colnaghi's gallery, Lord Elcho and other MPs called for them to be bought by the nation as an historic record of the war. On the advice of Sir Charles Eastlake, this proposal was rejected and the watercolours were sold off separately.
