The Hospital Florence Nightingale worked in during the Crimean War.
SIMPSON, William.
Scutari. "Hospital and Cemetry at Scutari." London, Paul and Dominic Colnaghi & Co. 13 & 14 Pall Mall East. Publishers to her Majesty. April 26th 1856.
Tinted lithograph of the hospital and cemetry at Scutari from Simpson's "
The Seat of War in the East…"
The view shows the massive Barrack hospital on the ridge, with the British cemetry in the foreground; a funeral is taking place whilst two Muslim grave diggers rest nearby, one praying. There is a small mosque and landing stage on the shore; in the background a glimpse of Istanbul.
The Barrack Hospital at Scutari,was Florence Nightingale's base during the Crimean War; Scutari was the Greek name for the district of Istanbul now known as Üsküdar located on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus right opposite the peninsula of Stamboul. Tinted lithograph, generally bright; minor light spotting to blank margins; dark water stain to upper edge 15mm from image [can be covered by mount.]
William Simpson ( 1823 – 1899)
Simpson arrived off the Crimean peninsular on 15 November and could hear distant firing. While he had missed the early battles, he was able to record the events before Sebastopol. He made numerous acquantances who helped him with details for his pictures, but he was also struck by the plight of the common soldiers, "miserable looking beings...covered with mud, dirt, and rags," he wrote.
Throughout his time at the front, he would send back his water-colors to London where the lithographers of Day & Son would transfer them to stone. Simpson was paid 20 pounds for each picture. For the color, a separate stone was used for each tone. Colnaghis exhibited some of the water-colors including a show at the Graphic Society in February 1855. The first advertisements for the lithographs appeared in May 1855 and in the following month, a second series was announced. In all, the Colnaghi's produced two large portfolios containing over eighty lightographs entitled The Seat of the War in the East. Two thousand copies of the complete set were produced. Simpson dedicated the series to Queen Victoria whose patronage he enjoyed for the rest of his life, and he was a frequent visitor to Windsor Castle and Balmoral. So popular were his pictures that he became affectionately known at 'Crimean Simpson'.
"After the Crimean war broke out Simpson was engaged upon views of the Baltic battles for Colnaghi & Son; and when that firm decided to publish a large illustrated work on the Crimean campaign from sketches made on the spot, Simpson was selected for the work on Day's recommendation. He started on short notice, arrived at Balaclava in November 1854, and remained with the British army till the fall of Sebastopol. Simpson was thus the pioneer war-artist, and received several commissions to paint incidents in the war for the queen. The Seat of War in the East was published in two volumes by Colnaghi in 1855-6, and is still regarded as a brilliant example of lithographic work" (DNB).
"These plates are indeed an impressive piece of work, not only artistically and technically, but also as pictorial reporting. Simpson must in this way rank as an early war correspondent" (Abbey).
Abbey Travel 237. 313 by 467mm (12¼ by 18½ inches) Image without title; 370x555mm size of page.
ref: 2382
€300