The Evening Star that Rises over Sevastapol by Henry Hope Crealock 1855

CREALOCK, Major-General Henry Hope, CB, CMG (1831–1891).
Sevastopol: The Evening Star that Rises over Sevastopol at Sunset.
 
Signed and dated lower right: “H. Hope Crealock / Septr. 6th 1855.” Pen and brown ink on fine wove tissue paper, inscribed below image “The Evening Star that rises over Sevastopol at sunset!! visible from the Eagle’s Nest with the naked eye of a clear evening / from my Journal of the Campaign in the Crimea”; annotation in Crealock’s hand on verso, “damp the back of it / will come straight.” 270 × 410 mm (image), mounted to 410 × 550 mm overall. A couple of small, closed tears to upper edge, toning and handling, overall, very good and a well-preserved survival.
 
Drawn in the final days of the Crimean campaign, this delicately executed sketch by Major-General Henry Hope Crealock captures a hilltop view of the siege of Sevastopol. Working in fine brown ink on thin tracing paper, Crealock depicts an officer and a lady seated together on a ridge overlooking the devastated city and harbour, the sun setting quietly over the Black Sea. 
 
The inscription suggests the drawing was taken “from my Journal of the Campaign in the Crimea,” not as a literal journal page but as part of Crealock’s wider visual record of his time in the Crimea. The use of tissue-weight paper, common among military topographers, allowed sketches to be folded into campaign folios and traced over for engraving.
 
Crealock, educated at Rugby, served in the 90th Light Infantry and landed at Balaklava in December 1854. He was mentioned in despatches for gallantry at the assaults on the Redan and went on to distinguished service in India, China and Africa, along with illustrating Wolf-Hunting, or Wild Sport in Lower Brittany (1875) and contributing drawings to the Illustrated London News. This original ink sketch from the very beginnings of his career as an illustrator is scarce.