Robert Home was trained at the Royal Academy Schools; he studied further in Italy and worked in Dublin before departing for Indian in 1790 where he spent the remainder of his career. He accompanied the British army during the Third (1789-92) and Fourth (1798-9) Mysore Wars and published engravings of his travels in Mysore (1794) and specifically Seringapatam (1796).

The Hon Sir Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington) fought with great distinction in India between 1797 and 1805, his greatest victory coming at the Battle of Assaye in 1803. This portrait was painted in India for one of Wellington's Indian allies, the Maharaja of Mysore, and must date from after February 1805 when news arrived of his appointment to the Order of the Bath. Wellesley stands in uniform of a Major-General with his distinctive white trousers, wearing the ribbon and star of the Order of the Bath. He stands in front of the interior of a tent in an army camp. He appears to be wearing standard Hessian boots, with tassels at the top of the tibia. The removal of these, combined with the lowering of the boot to calf-length - according to the sitter's design - later created the boot bearing his name.