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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 encompassed both the military and civil achievements of a world in which the British Empire was at its peak. He was a Scot and proudly independent, and although attendant upon a culture in which jingoism was the dominant paradigm, he had a rare understanding of, and empathy with, many cultures other than his own. As such, he became one of that curious breed of peripatetic Britons who thrived on desolate places and exotic peoples - a breed that included the likes of Sir Richard Burton, Mary Kingsley, David Roberts and David Livingstone. In the process, he acquired a broad knowledge of religion, history, ethnography, archaeology, architecture and linguistics marking him as a true polymath. Simpson has come down in history as one of the chief chroniclers of the Victorian era. His paintings are represented in all the major British galleries and exhibitions, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Museum, and the Glasgow Art Gallery. His notebooks and sketchbooks now reside (among other places) in the India Office Library in London, the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection (Brown University, Rhode Island, USA), the Edinburgh Library, and the Turnbull Library in Wellington, New Zealand. He was a man of remarkable talent, perseverance, and intelligence, whose place in history is justly secure.

Excerpt from The Autobiography of William Simpson, R. I: Crimean Simpson In his last years William Simpson occupied the hours of his enforced leisure in writing an account of the memorable circumstances of his life. His career had been eventful and varied far beyond that of most men. He had taken part, as an observer on the spot, in nearly all the great wars and historic events in which his country was interested during a period of forty years. As the earliest of war artists he had gone through the campaign of the Crimea, and this with such distinction as to earn for himself the soubriquet thenceforth of "Crimean Simpson." India after the Mutiny had also been studied and wrought over by him during two years of painstaking travel. Probably no artist before or since has investigated its ancient interests and remote regions with such thoroughness and sympathy. Among his later campaigns he followed Napier to Magdala, and took part in bringing the son of King Theodore home. He went with the Germans to Paris, was arrested as a spy, and passed through the dangerous episodes of the Commune in the French capital. And he took a brilliant part in the Afghan war, was shot at in the Khyber Pass, and by the merest chance escaped assassination with Cavagnari in Cabul. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.