The Death of General Wolfe

Enlightenment

Benjamin West

The Death of General Wolfe

1770

Oil on canvas, 60 × 84 1/2 in. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

A British general dying at Quebec in 1759, his officers in uniform around him: history painting in modern dress.

Look at

  • The dying general lies in a lit triangle at centre, framed by a dark storm cloud and the raised flag.
  • Red coats repeat across the group, set against the green coat at left and the blue coat beside the general.
  • The battle is pushed into a smoky strip on the horizon, so the foreground group reads like a mourning scene.
  • The Royal Academy showed it in 1771 and Lord Grosvenor bought it; West later made replicas for George III and others.
  • At most four or five of the thirteen figures in the main group were really there; the 2nd Duke of Westminster presented it to the Canadian War Memorials in 1918.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

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