Lawrence was the most fashionable and also the greatest portraitist of his generation. He was made Principal Painter to George III in 1792 after Reynolds’s death, and received occasional commissions; however it was only after 1814 that George IV began to employ him in earnest. Lord Wellesley was the Duke of Wellington’s elder brother who had a distinguished career as colonial administrator (governing various provinces in India between 1797 and 1805 and serving as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1821 to 1828 and again 1833 to 1834) and member of the Royal Household (Lord Steward 1832-3 and Lord Chamberlain in 1835). This portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1813; it was commissioned by the sitter and presented or bequeathed by him to Queen Victoria, who placed it in the Grand Corridor. Lord Wellesley sits in a red upholstered open armchair, wearing a black ensemble with the riband and Lesser George of the Order of the Garter and the Garter itself round his leg.