William Simson (1798/9929 August 1847) was a Scottish portrait, landscape and subject painter.

Biography

Simson was born at

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

in 1798/99. He studied under Andrew Wilson at the Trustees' Academy on Picardy Place in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, and his early pictures of landscape and marine subjects found quick sales. He then turned his attention to figure painting, producing the ''Twelfth of August'' in 1829, which was followed by ''Sportsmen Regaling'' and a ''Highland Deer-stalker'' in 1830. Once finished his studies at the Trustees Academy, he adopted a teaching role there, his pupils including Andrew Somerville RSA. Wikisource:Somerville, Andrew (DNB00) In 1830 he was elected as a member of the Scottish Academy. Having acquired some means by portrait-painting, he spent three years in Italy. On his return in 1838 he settled in London, where he exhibited his ''Camaldolese monk showing Relics'', ''Cimabue and Giotto'' ''Dutch Family'' and ''Columbus and his Child at the Convent of Santa María de la Rábida''. Simson was most talented as a landscapist; his ''Solway Moss Sunset'', exhibited in the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

of 1831 and now in the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

in Edinburgh, ranks as one of the finest examples of the early Scottish school of landscape. His elder brother George (1791–1862), a portrait-painter, was also a member of the Royal Scottish Academy, and his younger brother David (died 1874) practised as a landscape-painter. He died in London on 29 August 1847.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simson 1799 births 1847 deaths 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art Artists from Dundee 19th-century Scottish male artists

Biography

See also

References