William Simpson (1823 - 1899) was a distinguished watercolourist and war artist. Having established his reputation by documenting the Crimean war in 1854, Day and Sons, the London lithography firm, commissioned him to sketch well-known sites in and around Delhi associated with the Revolt of 1857 by Indians against the rule of the British East India Company.

Simpson arrived in Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1859 and travelled widely. His rapid pencil drawings formed the preparatory studies for his finished watercolours done after his return to London in 1862. His detailed journal, sketches and pictures from India resulted in these highly coloured, evocative, and romantic interpretations of the landscape and architecture.

Simpson completed the painting of the battle scene at the Chaulakhi Kothi at the Kaiserbagh Palace Complex in Lucknow, India in 1864. The Kaiserbagh Palace was built between 1848 and 1850 for Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (r. 1847-56). It consisted of an immense courtyard surrounded by living quarters, royal mansions, baradaris (pillared pavilions) and cupolas. A large part of the Kaiserbagh Palace Complex was destroyed during the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58 (known in India as the First War of Indian Independence) by the British. The scene is an imaginary one and was painted a few years after the events depicted.