Details

Object type

watercolour

Title

Divers at Singapore

Artist/Maker

William Simpson maker

Place Associated

Singapore (place depicted)

Date

1872

Materials

pencil and watercolour, paper

Dimensions

unframed: 193 mm x 305 mm

Description

Watercolour depiction of nine divers around a pool, on the shore. Two figures wave on the left hand side. 5 figures are diving into the water. Some figures sit on the side. Some boats and oars are also in the scene. Signed and dated (Sep 1872). In 1872, William Simpson left for a long trip to Egypt, China, Japan & USA. The sketches he made were engraved for the Illustrated London News. At this time, he came to an agreement with the ILN that his sketches would be returned to him after they had been engraved. As well as being exhibited in the Burlington Gallery in London in 1874, some, including this one, were also reproduced using the Heliotype process in a book called Meeting the Sun: A Journey all Round the World, published in the same year. This illustration is reproduced in Meeting the Sun on page 98, with the following description: "Singapore is really a most beautiful spot. The approach from the sea is very fine. There is a large open bay surrounded by islands of various sizes, all green with foliage from the sea to their highest point. The bay, thus protected, forms a magnificent harbour. The Peninsular and Oriental Company have a wharf in a narrow channel formed by one of these islands. Close to their ground is the residence belonging to the Rajah of Johore; and behind that again is a hill with a flagstaff, from whence every ship coming down the Straits is seen and signalled. The Malay peninsula is noted for its Fauna, and when a Peninsular and Oriental steamer comes in, men and boys appear with birds of every plumage for sale. Should you sail in a boat here, and watch the bottom of the water where it is shallow, you would see wonderful denizens of the deep, and the natives come round with coral, shells, and whatever is likely to sell. The air, the sea, and the land are all rich and beautiful their productions ; flowers and fruits are plentiful. The diving boys here are very clever; they surround a vessel as soon as she arrives, and hover round her till under weigh again. Really they seem quite as much at home in the water as if they had been born with fins and scales. When a sixpence is dropped over it never reaches the bottom ; the boys tumble in after it, and fight and struggle below for the prize—the successful one coming up again to the surface with an air of triumph. They are noisy, amusing rascals, and talk a peculiar kind of

broken English."

ID Number

MLSC.128384.2

Location

In storage