The Duke of Wellington (1769–1852)

The Laing Art Gallery version of the Duke of Wellington portrait, at 261.6 by 158.8 centimeters and dated around 1800 — an impossible date if this represents the Duke, who was not yet the Duke until 1814 — is almost certainly a later studio version or copy of one of Lawrence's Wellington portraits, possibly made after Waterloo when the demand for Wellington imagery was essentially unlimited. Lawrence's studio produced multiple versions of his most celebrated portraits, and the Wellington image was among the most reproduced of the post-Waterloo decade. The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle holds this work as part of the regional collection that reflects the national demand for images of Britain's military hero — Newcastle, as a significant commercial and military port city, had its own particular investment in national military celebrity. The composition's large scale and formal military presentation reflect the conventions of heroic portraiture that Lawrence had developed through his Waterloo Chamber commissions; the specific handling of the military costume and the compositional authority of the standing figure demonstrate the formula that made the Wellington portrait type so widely replicated.

The painting demonstrates the artist's mature command of technique, with accomplished handling of color, form, and atmospheric effects that reflect both personal artistic development and the broader stylistic conventions of the Romantic period.