Charles Simpson is not only a fine painter, but he has absorbed and gives in his work something of England . . . the England of Richard Jeffries, of W. H. Hudson, of Henry Alken and Ben Marshall; for besides painting the everyday scenes and life of the country and seashores, he has painted the hunting-field and the racecourse. His work produces a feeling of nostalgia in that he gives us those scenes which do not rely upon topographical grandeur for their interest and pictorial appeal, but depict the English countryside that is the treasured heritage of Englishmen and compels the admiration of those who come from overseas . . . the England that has survived changes and wars and defies all who would tamper with that heritage.

Duck Shooting in Northamptonshire, oil, (40 x 60 in.)
(In the collection of Colonel H.E. Sotheby at the time of magazine publication)

In his recently published book, The Fields of Home, Charles Simpson describes the scenes that have inspired him as an artist from earliest childhood. The only son of Major-General C. R. Simpson, C.B., he was brought up in an environment that is not enjoyed by all artists, that of a country life which is slowly passing, one of pleasant farms unspoiled by building estates of very doubtful, if any, architectural beauty; among horses, brightly varnished broughams and pony-traps. He spent his holidays at Pickhurst Manor, in Kent, his mother’s home, and there he first begun to draw and paint animals and birds, the Guernsey cattle on the home farm, the ducks and poultry on the green beside the cowshed which was his first studio. And from the cowman at Pickhurst he learnt much of the lore of farming, sharing his knowledge with one of his sisters who afterwards married and had a farm of her own in Canada. He was mainly self-taught as an artist, though he naturally had access to the work of many contemporary and past painters. Sidney Cooper, R. A., enjoyed a great reputation at the time but Simpson was not greatly impressed or inspired by his work. Rather was he drawn towards Albert Cuyp and the work of other Dutch painters, and particularly towards Cuyp’s portrayal of animals and rendering of light. Constant Troyon and François Millet were also a profound source of inspiration as they have been to so many young artists who seek for greater evidence of feeling than is shown in the majority of purely representational paintings of country scenes.

After the early days at Pickhurst, which he has described in his book, the youthful artist spent further years on the East Coast and at Bournemouth, where his family lived when his father was serving abroad, and there began his love for the sea and seabirds which have formed such a prominent feature of his later work. Then, after a short period at Bushley, studying under miss Lucy Kemp Welch, he came to Cornwall, which, except for eight years in London in the 1920’s has been his home ever since.

There he met and married Ruth Alison, herself a portrait painter and fellow-student under the late Stanhope Forbes, R. A. Her father, Alister Alison, was a friend of Joseph Crawhall, whose paintings of birds, together with the work of Swedish artist Bruno Liljefors, have influenced Charles Simpson in his bird studies more than any other painters. To Liljefors, especially, he attributes the inception of his broad style and treatment of birds in flight, and the subduing of mere ornithological detail to effects of light and atmosphere in his large canvases.

To Youth the Heritage, oil painting by Charles Simpson

His equestrian subjects and sporting pictures are too well known to require comment here. During the eight years when his home was in London, he spent much time in the shires and other hunting counties writing and illustrating his books on the history of famous packs of hounds and incorporating in them a great deal of county history as well, and painting many equestrian portraits. With his friend, Major Guy Paget, he visited many of the historic homes of England when the latter was collecting material for his great book The Melton Mowbray of John Ferneley.

Charles Simpson’s has been and is a full life as his painting and writing show. This would appear to leave little time for anything else, but he manages to enjoy his hobbies of motorcycling (the means by which he has toured all over England for years), gardening and fruit growing, and a keen interest in the theatre. This latter is really more than a hobby; he is chairman of the board directors of the Ring Actors, Penzance, in which capacity he assists in the production of good plays well staged, by a professional company of actors, even painting some of their scenery. His help in the production of The Brontës of Haworth Parsonage was invaluable because of his intimate knowledge of the Brontës and their country, as author of a life of Emily.

Many honours have been bestowed upon him, including the gold medal, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, 1915, at San Francisco; the Silver Medal, Paris Salon, 1923; and the Gold Medal, Exhibition of sporting pictures, VIII Olympiad, Paris 1924. Since 1907 he has exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, except for a few years where his whole time was taken up with books. The books he has written and illustrated include A Pastorale, El Rodeo, Leicestershire and its Hunts, The Harboro’ Country, Trencher and Kennel, Animal and Bird Paintings, Emily Brontë, Composition for Photographers, Photography of the Figure in Colour and Monochrome, and The fields of Home. This is undoubtedly a prodigious output, but we look forward to seeing still more from his ever-ready brush and pen.

Recently he has returned to figure painting, of which his symbolical picture, ‘To Youth the Heritage,’ is an example. And last June he had an opportunity any marine painter would envy, the result being a large canvas of the Western Union Fleet in Mount’s Bay, painted from the roof of Penzance Pavilion Theatre overlooking the promenade, a record of history in the making. In evening light, the picture shows the impressive assembly of warships anchored in the bay, the flagship Implacable and other great aircraft carriers, the French and Netherlands fleets, and in the foreground the crowd and cars – Penzance en fête, gay with flags and bunting.

Wheeling Gulls and Glittering Water, oil, (50 x 40 in.)
Exhibited at The Royal Academy in 1944

(Blocks by courtesy of F. Lewis, Publishers, Ltd., from the book 'The Fields of Home,' by Charles Simpson, R.I.)

This feature is taken from the November 1949 issue of The Artist.
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