Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Sitterback to top

• Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), Field Marshal and Prime Minister. Sitter associated with 339 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Robert Home (1752-1834), Portrait painter. Artist associated with 18 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.

This portraitback to top

This early portrait of the future Duke of Wellington was painted in 1804 while he was serving in India. He is depicted in his major-general's uniform, his glorious victories all still ahead of him. He is not shown wearing the Order of the Bath though he had been awarded it in August 1804. It did not arrive from England until March 1805 and was said to have been pinned on him by a friend as he slept. The novelist Maria Edgeworth described him at this time as 'handsome, very brown … (with) a hooked nose'. Robert Home painted fourteen portraits of Wellington between 1804 and 1806 including one for his commanding admiral and one for the East India Company.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Audio Guide
• Bayly, Christopher, The Raj: India and the British 1600-1947, 1990 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 19 October 1990 - 17 March 1991), p. 163
• Cooper, John, Great Britons: The Great Debate, 2002, p. 94
• Hart-Davis, Adam, Chain Reactions, 2000, p. 110
• Holmes, Richard; Crane, David; Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantics and Revolutionaries: Regency portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, 2002, p. 19
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 650
• Walker, Richard, Regency Portraits, 1985, p. 525
• Woof, Robert; Hebron, Stephen, Romantic Icons, 1999, p. 55

Subjects & Themesback to top

• Regency Empire Portraits
• Regency War Heroes and Military Martyrs