Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852)
John Lucas (London 1807 – St John’s Wood 1874)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1841 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1676 x 2438 mm (66 x 96 in)
Order this imageCollection
Plas Newydd, Anglesey
NT 1175946
Caption
The Duke of Wellington is standing in a landscape on a battlefield, wearing full military, Field Marshall's uniform, garter star and ribbon, holding his plumed hat and a telescope with a cannon behind him. The portrait was commissioned in 1840 by the 1st Marquess of Anglesey and completed two years later. The Duke said he was 'much flattered by [Lord Anglesey's] desire to possess a portrait of me, and you may rely upon every exertion on my part, that you should have the best that can be painted at present'. He wrote to the artist in December 1841: 'I beg you to recollect...how desirable it is to attend to the size of the head...the Head of those you have painted even that in the robes of the Chancellor of Oxford is too large; I always thought so; and you may rely upon it I am right'.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) by John Lucas (London 1807 – St John’s Wood 1874), signed and dated 1841. A full-length portrait, of the Duke of Wellington, standing in a landscape on the battlefield, wearing full military, Field Marshall's uniform, garter star and ribbon, holding his plumed hat in his left hand and a telescope in his right. A cannon behind him to the left. Commissioned in 1840 by the 1st Marquess and completed two years later. The Duke was 'much flattered by [Lord Anglesey's] desire to possess a portrait of me, and you may rely upon every exertion on my part, that you should have the best that can be painted at present'. He wrote to the artist in December 1841: 'I beg you to recollect...how desirable it is to attend to the size of the head...the Head of those you have painted even that in the robes of the Chancellor of Oxford is too large; I always thought so; and you may rely upon it I am right'. This letter, which suggests that the Duke would have been happier to sit once more for Sir Thomas Lawrence (had he not died ten years earlier), is displayed on one of the tables below, with a full transcript.
Provenance
Commissioned in 1840 by the 1st Marquess of Anglesey and completed two years later; presented by the Duke to his close friend, the 1st Marquess of Anglesey
Makers and roles
John Lucas (London 1807 – St John’s Wood 1874), artist