London’s National Portrait Gallery launches appeal to buy unfinished Duke of Wellington portrait by Thomas Lawrence

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1829) (Image: © Private Collection)

The National Portrait Gallery in London is launching an appeal to buy a £1.3m portrait of the Duke of Wellington by Thomas Lawrence. Begun in 1829, the painting was unfinished at the artist’s death the following year. Only the face is nearly complete, with the rest of the body loosely sketched in.

The portrait was commissioned by Sarah Villiers, Countess of Jersey, who was probably having an affair with Wellington. The historian Andrew Roberts describes it as a “love token”. For some reason the picture was never finished and Sarah did not allow a studio assistant to complete it after Lawrence’s death. Although Wellington was best known as the military leader of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, the oil painting depicts him as a statesman in civilian dress. He was a Tory prime minister in 1829.

The Jersey descendants sold the painting in 2013 at Sotheby's for £962,500 to a private UK collector. The name is not being disclosed, but he is Timothy Clode. The gallery has many depictions of Wellington, but its director Nicholas Cullinan says that none are really significant. Wellington is “the biggest gap in our collection”, he says.

In launching the appeal, Cullinan announced that the gallery has already raised £1m, including £350,000 from the Art Fund. A further £300,000 needs to be raised by next March. The portrait has been on loan to the National Portrait Gallery since 2014.