1853–1856
The Crimean War
From 1853 to 1856, Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire fought Russia in the Crimea, on the Black Sea. It is remembered for the doomed Charge of the Light Brigade, for Florence Nightingale's nursing and as one of the first wars photographed. Many more soldiers died of disease than of wounds.
Why artists painted it
Crimea was the first war the public could follow in newspapers, photographs and paintings. Pictures like 'The Thin Red Line' and 'Balaclava' made ordinary soldiers into heroes.
The Thin Red Line · Robert Gibb, 1881
The Thin Red Line
Robert Gibb · 1881
👁️ Painted at the time
The 93rd Highlanders stand in a thin line against the Russian cavalry at Balaclava on October 25, 1854, refusing to retreat, and a newspaper called it the 'thin red line'.
The Battle of Sinop
Ivan Aivazovsky · 1853
👁️ Painted at the time
The Russian navy sets the Ottoman fleet ablaze at Sinop in November 1853, a night battle that helped bring about the Crimean War.
The Battle of the Alma, 1854
Hippolyte Bellangé · 1855
👁️ Painted at the time
French and British soldiers climb the hills above the Alma River on September 20, 1854, the first big battle of the Crimean War.
The Battle of the Alma, 20 September 1854
Eugène Lami · 1855
👁️ Painted at the time
Eugène Lami paints the Battle of the Alma in 1855 with a wide, pale view of the hills where the French and British armies attacked Russian positions.
The Capitulation of Kars
Thomas Jones Barker · 1860
👁️ Painted at the time
After a long siege, the Ottoman fortress of Kars surrendered to the Russians in November 1855 after its defenders ran out of food.
Charge of the Light Cavalry Brigade, 25th Oct. 1854
William Simpson · 1855
👁️ Painted at the time
On October 25, 1854, British light cavalry rode straight down a valley into Russian cannons in the Charge of the Light Brigade, immortalized in Tennyson's poem.
The Taking of the Malakoff
Horace Vernet · 1858
👁️ Painted at the time
French soldiers plant the tricolor flag on the Malakoff tower on September 8, 1855, the attack that finally brought down Sevastopol.
Fighting in the Gorge of the Malakoff, 8 September 1855
Adolphe Yvon · 1856
👁️ Painted at the time
French troops fight hand-to-hand in the trenches of the Malakoff fortress in September 1855 in the final attack on Sevastopol.
The Return from Inkerman
Elizabeth Thompson (Lady Butler) · 1877
👁️ Painted at the time
Tired, silent Grenadier Guards trudge back after the Battle of Inkerman in 1854.
The Siege of Sevastopol
Grigory Shukaev · 1856
👁️ Painted at the time
The Russian painter Grigory Shukaev shows the defense of Sevastopol during the long siege of 1854 and 1855, one of the longest sieges of the Crimean War.
The Battle of Sinop
Alexey Bogolyubov · 1860
👁️ Painted at the time
Alexey Bogolyubov paints the burning ships of the Battle of Sinop in 1860, a few years after the Russian navy destroyed the Ottoman fleet there in 1853.
Cavalry at Balaklava
William Simpson · 1855
👁️ Painted at the time
A wide view of the cavalry battle at Balaklava in October 1854, drawn by William Simpson, who traveled with the army to the Crimea as a war artist.