General Sir David Baird, 1757 - 1829. Soldier (Study for Sir David Baird discovering the body of Tippoo Sahib)

This oil study of General Sir David Baird (1837) was preparatory for Wilkie's large-scale history painting depicting Baird's discovery of Tipu Sultan's body after the Siege of Seringapatam (1799). The subject — Baird himself had been a prisoner of Tipu Sultan for four years — is charged with Romantic themes of military heroism, colonial adventure, and personal vindication. Wilkie undertook extensive research, including travel to the Middle East late in his career. The study captures Baird's weathered authority as a preparatory exercise for the final composition's central figure.

As a study, the work shows Wilkie working rapidly to establish character and pose. The handling is looser than in finished portraits, with concern for structural form and the play of light on a soldier's face. Expression and bearing — the essentials of the final composition — are the study's primary concerns.