{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O74893"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O74893/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AH4397/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AH4397/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AH4397","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O74893/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O74893","accessionNumber":"1163-1869","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"Flour mill","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"William Simpson (1823 - 1899) was a distinguished watercolourist and war artist. Having established his reputation by documenting the Crimean war in 1854, Day and Sons, the London lithography firm, commissioned him to sketch well-known sites in and around Delhi associated with the Revolt of 1857 by Indians against the rule of the British East India Company. \r\n\r\nSimpson arrived in Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1859 and travelled widely. His rapid pencil drawings formed the preparatory studies for his finished watercolours done after his return to London in 1862. His detailed journal, sketches and pictures from India resulted in these highly coloured, evocative, and romantic interpretations of the landscape and architecture.\r\n                  \r\nSimpson completed the painting of a flour mill driven by oxen in 1865, after his return to London. ","physicalDescription":"Painting of a flour mill driven by oxen in India. The grinder is enclosed within a simple wooden hut supported by a long horizontal beam made from a tree trunk. A young boy pours the grain into a funnel like vessel connected to the large grinder in the centre. A woman and her child drive the oxen in a circular path to work the primitive machine.  ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Simpson, William RI FRGS","id":"A10511"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on paper","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006AH4397"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES403504"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Painting","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1865","earliest":"1865-01-01","latest":"1865-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased from Messrs Day and Son Ltd (London) in 1869","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"9.5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"13.75","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Flour mill. Wm. Simpson 1865.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"Simpson, William (1823-1899).  Painter and lithographer.  Simpson was apprenticed to a lithographer in Glasgow and in 1851 came to London where he made views of the Great Exhibition.  He became well known for his paintings with commissions by Queen Victoria  to paint various important events in her reign. In 1859 the publishers, Day and Son, commissioned him to make drawings of India.  On his return he produced \"India, ancient and modern\" (London, 1867), a series of illustrations of the country and its people.  Later in 1876, he accompanied the Prince of Wales to India and published \"Shikare and Tomasha, a souvenir of the visit of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to India\" (London, 1876).","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Painting of Flour mill driven by oxen, India, by William Simpson, pencil and watercolour on paper, London, 1865","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Registered File number RF/1869/6716"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"flour mill","id":"AAT6286"},{"text":"ox","id":"x30395"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["1163-1869"],"accessionNumberNum":"1163","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1869,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-24","recordCreationDate":"2003-02-23","availableToBook":true}}