Dr William Simpson (University of British Columbia Vancouver)
William Simpson is widely-known known today as the War Artist whose first-hand depiction of the Crimean War helped bring home the reality of that ill-managed campaign to the British public. His were the surrogate eyes of Empire in many Victorian military adventures, and he reported faithfully and, indeed, sometimes disapprovingly, on what he saw. Simpson was the first of the Victorian "Special Artists" whose primary focus was war, a group that has now yielded place to embedded war correspondents and photographers. But Simpson was more than just a War Artist - his artistic stock in trade...
William Simpson is widely-known known today as the War Artist whose first-hand depiction of the Crimean War helped bring home the reality of that ill-...