Duke of Wellington

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was a soldier and politician. He was the leading military figure of the 19th century and led the allied troops to victory against Napoleon’s army at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Wellington was also Prime Minister on two occasions. This bust appears to be a cast of the 1851 lifesize portrait exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1852. Wellington is depicted wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece, a Roman Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by the Burgundian duke, Philip the Good, in 1430.