Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, a red chalk drawing over graphite

This drawing was the basis of several finished oil portraits of the 1st Duke of Wellington which Goya painted following the British general's victory over the French at Salamanca on 23 July 1812, during the Peninsular War (1808-14). These include an equestrian portrait of Wellington (now in Apsley House, London), which was first shown in Madrid at the Real Academia in September of that year, and a lively bust portrait, now at the National Gallery, London.Goya may have intended to make an etching from the drawing, a possibility which is suggested by the blank space below the design for the engraving of a suitable inscription. The traces of folds around the sheet indicate that the drawing could have been transferred to a copper plate. However no impressions of such an etching are known.