WYATT, Matthew Cotes - b. 1777 London, d. 1862 London

English painter and sculptor, member of a family of artists. He was the son of James Wyatt, and the brother of Benjamin Dean Wyatt, both architects. He was educated at Eton College and in 1800 joined the Royal Academy Schools.

The marble cenotaph to the memory of Princess Charlotte in St George’s Chapel, Windsor made Wyatt’s reputation, and in 1832 a committee of subscribers commissioned Wyatt to execute the bronze equestrian statue of George III.

It was Wyatt who executed the enormous bronze equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington which stood on the top of the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner. Erected in 1846, it was the subject of a hail of criticism and it was finally removed in 1883 to Aldershot. It was replaced by Adrian Jones’ “Quadriga”.