Saving General Wolfe

The painting, by J S C Schaak, was sold at auction to a private collector on 6 June, after the National Army Museum were outbid for the portrait. After export of the portrait was temporarily stopped by the MLA’s Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, the museum, which preserves the heritage of Britain’s armies from 1066 to the modern day, has formally expressed interest in adding Wolfe’s portrait to its Collection.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, General James Wolfe was Britain’s most celebrated military hero. After entering the army at fourteen, he fought at Dettingen and Culloden before commanding the expedition to capture Quebec in 1759. There, in the early hours of 13 September, Wolfe led his soldiers in an audacious manoeuvre that saw them scale the Heights of Abraham to overwhelm the French force in a surprise attack from above. Fatally wounded at the outset of the battle, Wolfe lived long enough to be told of his victory.

Curator of Fine & Decorative Art, Pip Dodd, said, “This is the most important portrait of Wolfe in this country, and we believe it should remain here, on public display. Wolfe’s victory at Quebec was crucial to the rise of Britain’s military, commercial and political power, and it laid the foundations of empire. Our Collection already holds a number of personal artefacts relating to Wolfe, but Schaak’s painting is based on a drawing by Wolfe’s aide-de-campe Harvey Smyth, and it is the closest we’ll ever get to an authentic portrait of James Wolfe - at the time, and place, of his death.”

The National Army Museum has launched an appeal to raise funds to save the painting, and has already secured pledges for £128,000 of the £300,000 needed to keep Wolfe’s image in public memory. -- www.national-army-museum.ac.uk