William Simson

Background

Simson was born at Dundee in 1798/99.

Education

He studied under Andrew Wilson at the Trustees" Academy on Picardy Place in Edinburgh, and his early pictures of landscape and marine subjects found quick sales. Once finished his studies at the Trustees Academy, he adopted a teaching role there, his pupils including Andrew Somerville Republic of South Africa .

Career

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. Having acquired some means by portrait-painting, he spent three years in Italy. Simson was most talented as a landscapist.

His Solway Moss Sunset, exhibited in the Royal Scottish Academy of 1831 and now in the National Gallery in Edinburgh, ranks as one of the finest examples of the early Scottish school of landscape.

He died in London on 29 August 1847.

Achievements

• Simson was most talented as a landscapist; his Solway Moss Sunset, exhibited in the Royal Scottish Academy of 1831 and now in the National Gallery in Edinburgh, ranks as one of the finest examples of the early Scottish school of landscape.

Membership

In 1830 he was elected as a member of the Scottish Academy.