Major General August de la Motte

In 1783, the City of London commissioned Copley to create a large public painting commemorating Britain’s victory over the French and Spanish navies at the Siege of Gibraltar in 1782. These portraits were preparatory studies for that painting. Committed to a new kind of history painting that would be grounded in factual and visual accuracy, Copley hoped to incorporate life portraits of soldiers who had participated in the battle. In the summer of 1787, he traveled to Germany to paint De La Motte (1942.179), von Hugo, and von Schlepegrell (1942.180), German officers who had helped the British to defend Gibraltar. Among the liveliest and most engaging works in Copley’s oeuvre, these portraits are both character studies and experiments in composition, as the extensive underdrawing around each figure suggests.