Arthur, 1st Marquess (later Field Marshal, 1st Duke) of Wellington KG, 1813 (c)

Marble bust by Peter Turnerelli (1774-1839) after Joseph Nollekens (1737-1823).

Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852) was born in Dublin in 1769. Gazetted an ensign in 1787, he saw action in the Netherlands, India and Denmark before being promoted lieutenant-general in 1808 and appointed to command the Allied Armies in the Peninsula in 1809. It was this campaign that established his reputation as one of Britain's finest soldiers, with victories such as Vimiero, Oporto, Talavera, Bussaco and Fuentes de Oñoro, Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo. In 1812 he was created Marquess of Wellington and, following the defeat of the French Army and Naploeon's abdication in 1814, he was created Duke of Wellington.

This sculpture is a copy of a marble bust of Wellington by Joseph Nollekens. The original bust had proved so popular that Nollekens himself produced a number of copies of it, and there is an example in Apsley House, London. However, according to a contemporary 'Nollekens complained much of the conduct of Turnarelli [sic], the sculptor, who, he said, had copied his (Nollekens') bust of Lord Wellington and now sold it as his own performance.'

However Turnerelli did receive the patronage of the sitter's brother, Richard, Marquess of Wellesley: a marble portrait bust of Wellington, which had been made for him, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1813 (No. 920). Nollekens also exhibited a bust of Wellington at the Royal Academy in the same year (No. 935). There are other busts of Wellington by Turnerelli in many collections, including the Foreign Office, the Guildhall, and the Bank of Ireland.