Provenance

Sir Francis Chantrey trained as a woodcarver and painter before becoming a sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in the early nineteenth century producing busts and statues of notable figures of the time.

This bust of the Duke of Wellington is one of a number of copies - there are three in the Royal Collection (RCINs 2011, 35332 and 35422) - of a primary version commissioned by Lord Liverpool in 1820 when the Duke was a member of his Cabinet.

This copy, marked 1837, was probably acquired by William IV for his Temple of Military Fame which he had built at Kew in 1837.