Wellington: Triumphs Politics and Passions

Lovely exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looking at The Duke of Wellington, the men who served with him and his family and friends to mark 200 years since the Battle of Waterloo.

There was a nice cross section of portraits of Wellington so you could see him age as you moved through the show. I liked an early one by John Hoppner from about 1795 which had a matching picture of his brother who was Governor General of India. I had not realised that Wellington had been based in India. Of course I loved the Goya which had a wall to itself and I was interested to read how Goya had to keep revisiting it to paint on more medals!

I liked the section on the Peninsular War which was based on soldiers sketches particularly Edmund Wheatley’s delightful illustrated diary created for his sweetheart who he later married, the last line was “Never think I have forgotten you”! I also liked Thomas Heaphy’s set of portraits of the generals from the war painted as studies for a larger work which got too crowded to sell!

The Waterloo commemorative works were fun. You have to love any picture which includes Wellington in a chariot with Britannia. It was nice to include medals and commemorative ceramics.

The family section at the end was interesting and included his friend Charles Arbuthnot who went to live at Apsley House when his wife died. Fascinating to see it’s believed Wellington had many mistresses including two former mistresses of Napoleon!

Review
Telegraph


 

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