Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852)

Lawrence's monumental portrait of Wellington from 1814 in the Royal Collection belongs to the first phase of the Waterloo Chamber commission, undertaken while the Duke's Peninsular victory was still recent and the final defeat of Napoleon had not yet occurred. Wellington had been created Marquess of Douro and Duke of Wellington in 1814 following the conclusion of the Peninsular War, and this portrait captures the moment of his elevation to the peerage without yet showing the ultimate victor of Waterloo — the defining event of 1815. At 317.1 by 225.7 centimeters, this is one of the largest portraits Lawrence executed, demanding the full resources of his mature compositional and technical intelligence. Wellington sat for Lawrence multiple times across his career, and the various portraits document the evolution of the Duke's physical appearance and social bearing from ambitious general to national monument. Lawrence's ability to capture Wellington's particular combination of composed authority and barely contained energy — the hawk-nose, the compressed vitality — made his representations of the Duke canonical in a way that subsequent painters struggled to displace. The Waterloo Chamber at Windsor, for which this and related portraits were destined, remains one of the most spectacular documentary portrait galleries in European history.

Lawrence captures Wellington's characteristic reserve and aristocratic bearing with restrained elegance. The military decorations and uniform are painted with precision, while the warm flesh tones and lively eyes reveal the portraitist's ability to convey both authority and humanity.