Portrait of Duke of Wellington

This painting belongs to the 1812 War Gallery in the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg.

Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), was one of the leading military and political figures of the nineteenth century. He rose to prominence as a General during the Peninsular Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, and was promoted to the rank of field marshal after leading the Allied forces to victory against the French and the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. Following Napoleon’s exile in 1814, he served as the ambassador to France and was granted a Dukedom. During the Hundred Days in 1815, he decisively defeated Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.