General the Hon. Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole, GCB (1772-1842)

Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole was a distinguished Peninsular War general who served under Wellington at Albuera, Badajoz, and Vitoria. Hayter’s 1819 portrait, now held by the National Trust, was painted four years after Waterloo when the military heroes of the Napoleonic Wars were in greatest demand as portrait subjects. Cole later served as Governor of Mauritius and the Cape Colony, extending his service from the battlefield to imperial administration.

Military bearing dominates the composition, with Cole’s medals and uniform rendered in fine detail. Hayter captures the weathered face of a combat veteran with more directness than his typical society portraits.