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Abstract
Two hundred years ago on the Heights of Abraham the battle of Quebec was fought, in which the British general heroically died. “Oh Wolfe!” exclaimed a writer in 1760, “what a melancholy Fall was this for thy Country, yet, glorious and honourable to thee.”1 Contemporary artists, as is well known,2 drew inspiration from the event of 1759, and painted several versions of the death of General Wolfe. Romney in 1763, Penny in 1764, and Benjamin West in 1771 exhibited paintings of this subject. The fourth artist to exhibit a Death of Wolfe was James Barry, whose picture was shown in the Royal Academy of 1776, and who had to compete against the wide popularity of West's version. It was, indeed, in January of the same year that Barry exhibited his Wolfe that the Woollett engraving of West's picture was published.