Lot 15: FRANCIS GUILLEMAND SIMKINSON DE WESSELOW (BRITISH, 1819-1906) - "MONACO"

FRANCIS GUILLEMAND SIMKINSON DE WESSELOW (BRITISH, 1819-1906)
"MONACO"
inscribed with title and dated 'Dec 23rd- 53' l.l; pencil
31.5cm x 49cm; 12 1/2in x 19 1/4in
Francis Guillemard Simpkinson de Wesselow, naval officer and artist, was born on 26 May 1819 in London, the son of Sir John Augustus Francis Simpkinson, barrister and later Q.C., and his wife Mary, nee Griffin, who was a sister of Lady Jane Franklin. In March 1832 he joined the navy as a first-class volunteer in H.M.S. Britannia. In 1836 he joined a surveying ship under Captain Edward Belcher and began a seven year voyage around the world. In Belcher's 'Narrative of a Voyage around the World' (London, 1843) he is mentioned as one of the two midshipmen. In the early 1840s he is said to have been admitted to the Royal Naval College after serving in the China war as gunner's mate. Simpkinson was an accomplished artist and in Hobart he painted a number of landscapes, some of which now belong to the Royal Society of Tasmania and are in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. He was retired as a lieutenant in April 1870. At St Leonard's on 14 December 1858 he had married Emily, daughter of George Henry Malcolm Wagner. They were living at Westminster in November 1869 when Simpkinson added de Wesselow to his surname by deed poll. Later he lived at Cannes where he acquired much property. He died in London on 4 December 1906 and his estate was sworn at more than £70,000. - Australian Dictionary of National Biography