The Death of General James Wolfe (1727-1759)
Benjamin West (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 1738 - London 1820)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1779 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1525 x 2160 mm (60 x 85 in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 851783
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Death of General James Wolfe (1727-1759) by Benjamin West PRA (Swarthmore 1738 - London 1820), signed and dated: bottom left: B. West 1779. Scene of battle in background, and harbour on right with frigates at anchor. Dark grey overcast sky on right, lighter clouds on left. Figures in foreground around Wolfe in brilliant red, green or blue uniforms. Blue, pink and grey standard above Wolfe's head. The seated Indigenous warrior is not known to be the likeness of a particular individual. He wears a pouch from the artist's collection which was made by the Northeast Peoples of the Great Lakes. The scene includes the following likenesses: the surgeon Robert Adair holds a handkerchief to Wolfe's heart, supporting Wolfe on the other side are Captain Sir Hervey Smythe, 3rd Bt (1734-1811) an ADC and Colonel Williamson, holding the flag is Lieutenant Henry Browne. The group on the left, from left to right, are Sir William Howe, later 5th Viscount Howe, Lieutenant-Colonel Simon Fraser, Master of Loval, Captain Debbieg, Brigadier Robert Monckton and Colonel Napier. On the right stands one of Wolfe's servants and a grenadier. The 1770 prime version which was the first painting the artist exhibited in public (RA 1771) is in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
Provenance
Possibly commissioned by the Earl-Bishop (Frederick, 4th Earl of Bristol & Bishop of Derry) and sent to Ballyscullion, 1802; acquired by Frederick William Hervey, 1st Marquess of Bristol (1769-1859) (his handwritten list of around 1837); thence by inheritance and descent to Frederick William, 4th Marquess of Bristol (1863–1951), at whose death, valued for probate; accepted by HM Treasury in lieu of tax and transferred to the National Trust in 1956.
Credit line
Ickworth, The Bristol Collection (acquired through the National Land Fund and transferred to The National Trust in 1956)
Marks and inscriptions
West, Benjamin
Makers and roles
Benjamin West (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 1738 - London 1820), publisher
Exhibition history
Entangled Pasts: 1768 - now, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2024 American Adversaries West and Copley in a Transatlantic World, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2013 - 2014, no.61
References
Von Erffa & Staley 1986 Helmut von Erffa & Allen Staley, The Paintings of Benjamin West, New Haven & London 1986, pp. 214-15, no.96 Laskin and Pantazzi 1987 Myron Laskin, Jr. and Michael Pantazzi (ed), Catalogue of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. European and American Painting, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts, 1300-1800, Ottawa, 1987, Vol.1, pp.299-305 Solkin 2015 David H. Solkin, Art in Britain 1660 - 1815, Pelican History of Art, Yale University Press, 2015, p. 163-4, fig. 164 Artist and Empire, Facing Britain's Imperial Past (ed. A. Smith, D. B. Brown & C. Jacobi), Tate Britain, London, 25 November 2015 - 10 April 2016, p. 90-91 Sarah Lee, 'Sites of Power: Conflict and Ambition', Entangled Pasts 1768 - Now: Art, Colonialism and Change, exh.cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London 2024, pp. 65-89, cat.no. 76.
