Portrait of the Duke of Wellington (Goya)

Last updated
Portrait of the Duke of Wellington
Francisco Goya - Portrait of the Duke of Wellington.jpg
Artist Francisco de Goya
Year1812–14
Medium Oil on mahogany panel
Dimensions64.3 cm× 52.4 cm(25.3 in× 20.6 in)
Location National Gallery, London

The Portrait of the Duke of Wellington is a painting by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya of the British general Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, during the latter's service in the Peninsular War. [1] One of three portraits Goya painted of Wellington, it was begun in August 1812 after the subject's entry into Madrid, showing him as an earl in an all-red uniform and wearing the Peninsular Medal. The artist then modified it in 1814 to show him in full dress uniform with black gold–braided lapels and to add the Order of the Golden Fleece and Military Gold Cross with three clasps (both of which Wellington had been awarded in the interim). [2]

Contents

Description

The painting was probably made from life, at sittings in Madrid, and painted in oils on a mahogany panel. Although a successful general, the Wellington depicted by Goya is tired from the long campaigning, having won a victory at the Battle of Salamanca on 22 July 1812 before triumphantly entering Madrid on 12 August 1812. The half-length portrait shows the subject in a three-quarter profile, facing to his right, with the head turned slightly to the left, towards the viewer. He is standing upright, with his head held high, perhaps to combat his relatively modest stature.

The face is carefully painted, but much of the painting was done quickly, with great energy, with the military orders outlined with a few brushstrokes. In some areas, such as the eyes and mouth, the brown priming remains visible to create a stronger contrast between light and dark areas of paint.

His uniform bears the insignia of several military orders. His left breast bears three stars: the British Order of the Bath (top, awarded in 1804), the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword (lower left, awarded in 1811) and the Spanish Order of San Fernando (lower right, awarded in 1812). He wears two broad sashes over his right shoulder: the pink sash of the Order of Bath over the blue sash of the Order of the Tower and Sword. Around his neck hangs the Order of the Golden Fleece (awarded in August 1812) on a red ribbon, the Military Gold Cross lying lower on longer pink and blue ribbons. Wellington was entitled to all nine gold clasps to the Military Gold Cross, but only three are shown, perhaps signifying the battles fought before the painting was started in the summer of 1812.

In 1812, Goya also completed a chalk drawing of Wellington, now held by the British Museum, and a large oil-on-canvas Equestrian portrait of the Duke of Wellington  [ pl ], which was exhibited at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid in September 1812 and is now at Apsley House. X-ray analysis in the 1960 showed that the equestrian portrait has the head of Wellington added to a body painted previously, perhaps Manuel Godoy or Joseph Bonaparte.

Provenance

The painting was acquired by the Duke of Wellington, and came into the possession of Louisa Catherine Caton—wife of Francis D'Arcy-Osborne, 7th Duke of Leeds, and sister-in-law of Wellington's older brother Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley. Her first husband, Felton Hervey-Bathurst, fought with Wellington in the Iberian Peninsula, commanding the 14th Light Dragoons from 1811 to 1814, and then on Wellington's staff in the Waterloo Campaign and Wellingtons representative at the signing of the Convention of St. Cloud on 3 July 1815.

It had descended to John Osborne, 11th Duke of Leeds, by the time it was put up for auction at Sotheby's in 1961. The New York collector Charles Wrightsman bid £140,000 (equivalent to £3,936,285in 2023), but the Wolfson Foundation offered £100,000 and the government added a special Treasury grant of £40,000, matching Wrightsman's bid and obtaining the painting for the National Gallery in London, where it was first put on display on 2 August 1961.

Theft

On 21 August 1961, nineteen days after it was put on display at the National Gallery, the portrait was stolen by a bus driver called Kempton Bunton. [3] Four years after the theft, Bunton contacted a newspaper, and through a left-luggage office at Birmingham New Street railway station returned the painting voluntarily. Bunton confessed in July 1965 that he took the painting and its frame. [4] Following a high-profile trial in which he was defended by Jeremy Hutchinson, QC, Bunton was found not guilty of stealing the painting, but guilty of stealing the frame. [5]

The theft entered popular culture, as it was referenced in the 1962 James Bond film Dr. No . In the film, the painting was on display in Dr. Julius No's lair, suggesting the first Bond villain had the work stolen. [4] [6] The prop painted by Ken Adam was used in the film promotion and was then stolen itself. [7]

The theft of the original was the subject of the October 2015 BBC Radio 4 drama Kempton and the Duke. [8]

The story of the theft and the following trial of Bunton was dramatised in the film The Duke , directed by Roger Michell and starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren, which was released in cinemas in the UK on 25 February 2022. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington</span> British field marshal and statesman (1769–1852)

Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was an Anglo-Irish military officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, serving twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He is among the commanders who ended the Anglo-Mysore Wars when Tipu Sultan was killed in the fourth war in 1799 and among those who ended the Napoleonic Wars in a victory when the Seventh Coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of Wellington (title)</span> Title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

Duke of Wellington is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The name derived from Wellington in Somerset. The title was created in 1814 for Arthur Wellesley, 1st Marquess of Wellington, the Anglo-Irish military commander who is best known for leading the decisive victory with Field Marshal von Blücher over Napoleon's forces at Waterloo in Brabant. Wellesley later served twice as British prime minister. In historical texts, unqualified use of the title typically refers to the 1st Duke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apsley House</span> United Kingdom legislation

Apsley House is the London townhouse of the Dukes of Wellington. It stands alone at Hyde Park Corner, on the south-east corner of Hyde Park, facing towards the large traffic roundabout in the centre of which stands the Wellington Arch. It is a Grade I listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military Gallery of the Winter Palace</span> Portrait gallery in the Winter Palace of Saint Petersburg, Russia

The Military Gallery is a gallery of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The gallery is a setting for 332 portraits of generals who took part in the Patriotic War of 1812. The portraits were painted by George Dawe and his Russian assistants Alexander Polyakov (1801–1835), a serf, and Wilhelm August Golicke.

Kempton Cannon Bunton was a disabled British pensioner and unemployed bus driver who confessed to taking Francisco Goya's painting Portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London in 1961. The story of Bunton and the painting was the subject of the October 2015 BBC Radio 4 drama Kempton and the Duke, and the 2020 film The Duke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Campbell (British Army officer, born 1776)</span> British Army officer and colonial governor

Lieutenant-General Sir Colin Campbell was a British Army officer and colonial governor.

<i>Danaë</i> (Titian paintings) Several paintings by Titian

The Venetian painter Titian and his workshop made at least six versions of the same composition showing Danaë, painted between about 1544 and the 1560s. The scene is based on the mythological princess Danaë, as – very briefly – recounted by the Roman poet Ovid, and at greater length by Boccaccio. She was isolated in a bronze tower following a prophecy that her firstborn would eventually kill her father. Although aware of the consequences, Danaë was seduced and became pregnant by Zeus, who, inflamed by lust, descended from Mount Olympus to seduce her in the form of a shower of gold.

<i>Equestrian Portrait of Charles V</i> Painting by Titian

Equestrian Portrait of Charles V is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Titian. Created between April and September 1548 while Titian was at the imperial court of Augsburg, it is a tribute to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, following his victory in the April 1547 Battle of Mühlberg against the Protestant armies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Féréol Bonnemaison</span> French painter

Féréol Bonnemaison was a French portrait painter, lithographer, restorer, and art dealer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sempronius Stretton</span> British Army officer (1781–1842)

Sempronius Stretton was a British Army officer who served in numerous campaigns including the Battle of Waterloo. He is also known for his sketches that recorded early Canadian life.

<i>Equestrian Portrait of Charles I</i> Painting by Anthony van Dyck

The Equestrian Portrait of Charles I is a large oil painting on canvas by Anthony van Dyck, showing Charles I on horseback. Charles I had become King of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1625 on the death of his father James I, and Van Dyck became Charles's Principal Painter in Ordinary in 1632.

The Wellington Collection is a large art and militaria collection housed at Apsley House in London. It mainly consists of paintings, including 83 formerly in the Spanish royal collection, given to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, who was prime minister as well as the general commanding the British forces to victory in the Napoleonic Wars. It also includes his collection of furniture, sculpture, porcelain, the silver centrepiece made for him in Portugal around 1815, and many other artworks and memorabilia relating to his career.

<i>The Duke</i> (2020 film) 2020 British comedy-drama film

The Duke is a 2020 British comedy drama film directed by Roger Michell, with a screenplay by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman. It is based on the true story of the 1961 theft of the Portrait of the Duke of Wellington by Francisco de Goya. The film stars Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Fionn Whitehead, Anna Maxwell Martin and Matthew Goode. It was Michell's penultimate film before his death on 22 September 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish royal collection</span> Art collection of Spanish monarchs

The Spanish royal collection of art was almost entirely built up by the monarchs of the Habsburg family who ruled Spain from 1516 to 1700, and then the Bourbons. They included a number of kings with a serious interest in the arts, who were patrons of a series of major artists: Charles V and Philip II were patrons of Titian, Philip IV appointed Velázquez as court painter, and Goya had a similar role at the court of Charles IV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington</span>

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, commanding the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars and serving twice as prime minister. He has frequently been depicted in various cultural media.

<i>Portrait of the Duke of Wellington</i> (Lawrence) Painting by Thomas Lawrence

Portrait of the Duke of Wellington is a portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Lawrence of the Anglo-Irish soldier and politician the Duke of Wellington. It was begun in early 1815 following Wellington's success in the Peninsular War and shortly before his victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and the subsequent allied occupation of France under Wellington's command. It is now in the collection of Apsley House, the Duke's London residence. Wellington is shown in military uniform displaying various honours including the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of the Bath. He has been described as "impassive and aloof" in the painting. Lawrence's depiction of Wellington was used on the British five pound note between 1971 and 1991.

<i>Portrait of the Duke of Wellington</i> (Phillips) Painting by Thomas Phillips

Portrait of the Duke of Wellington is an 1814 portrait painting by the English artist Thomas Phillips depicting the Anglo-Irish soldier and politician Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington. Wellington had recently returned to London from Continental Europe where he had been serving without break since 1809. His success in the Peninsular War was followed by an invasion of Southern France before the Treaty of Paris brought peace. The following year he would lead Allied forces to victory at the Battle of Waterloo following the escape of Napoleon and the Hundred Days campaign.

References

Notes
  1. National Gallery catalogue entry
  2. Kauffmann, Jenkins & Wieseman 2009 , pp. 125–127
  3. Iqbal, Nosheen; Jonze, Tim (22 January 2020). "In pictures: The greatest art heists in history". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  4. 1 2 Nairne 2011
  5. Serpell, Nick (14 November 2017). "The QC, Lady Chatterley and nude Romans". BBC News .
  6. Forbes Magazine 2006
  7. Dee, Johnny (17 September 2005). "Licensed to drill". The Guardian . London. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  8. Writer: David Spicer; Kempton Bunton: Kevin Whately; Producer: Liz Anstee (6 October 2015). "Kempton and the Duke". Radio 4 drama. BBC. BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  9. "The Duke | Sony Pictures Classics".
Sources