Sitting Room of H.I.H. The Crown Princess of Germany, Crown Prince's Palace, Berlin

Details

William Simpson (1823-1899)
Sitting Room of H.I.H. The Crown Princess of Germany, Crown Prince's Palace, Berlin
signed, inscribed and dated 'Sitting Room of H.I.H. The Crown Princess of Germany, Crown Prince's Palace, Berlin,- Wm. Simpson. 22. Jan. 1883.' (lower left)
pencil and grey wash heightened with touches of white
11 x 17 3/8 in. (27.9 x 44.2 cm.)

Special notice

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Lot Essay

Simpson's autobiography (The Autobiography of William Simpson, R.I., London, 1903) records his meetings with the Crown Princess of Germany on more than one occasion. Firstly when on his travels with her brother Count Sekendorff in 1875. The second meeting relates to the present watercolour. Simpson recalls 'In the end of the same month [January 1883] I went to Berlin on the occasion of the silver wedding of the Crown Prince and Princess of Germany. Count Seckendorff took me into the Princess and Her Imperial Highness showed me her private sitting-room and her studio with the wedding presents, and gave me liberty to sketch them' op. cit., p. 298.

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