Edited by Tim McLoughlin

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Letter from DUKE OF RICHMOND to JAMES BARRY, written 4 November 1772, at London

Source: MS James Barry Papers and Letters, Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.

Charles Lennox (1735-1806), 3rd Duke of Richmond, friend of Edmund Burke and of the Whig leader Lord Rockingham, was a Vice-President of the Society of Arts; he writes about the sketch Barry was doing for him, mentioned earlier by Burke (Burke to Barry, 24 July, 1772). The letter is not signed, but ends with a bold stroke to divide the final sentence from the date.

The Duke of Richmond presents His Comp^ts Compliments to M.^r Barry, He sends him back His sketch of General Wolfe's Picture,1 but begs He would not go on with it till the D. of Richmond sees M.^r Barry again as upon a second Examination of it He would wish some Alteration in the Figure of Gen: Wolfe which the D. of R. will explain when He sees M.^r Barry.

The D. of R. is going out of town to day to-day 2 but will probably return before the end of the month.

Nov: 4^th. 1772.

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1 ^
Wolfe's Picture]

General James Wolfe (1727-59) commanded the British expedition to capture Quebec, Canada, from the French in 1759; he succeeded on 13 September, but was killed at the moment of victory. The incident was the subject of several paintings, notably by Benjamin West (1738-1820) in a painting exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1771. [img]

Barry exhibited his picture The Death of General Wolfe [img], for which this sketch may have been a start, at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1776. For a discussion of Barry's picture, see Pressly, Life and Art, pp. 58-61.See also Debra Daly Hartin and Peter Vogel, 'The Rewarding Challenges of Treating the Death of General Wolfe': [go] .

2 ^
out of town today] Probably to spend time at Goodwood, his country residence near Chichester, some 65 miles south of London; he wrote to Edmund Burke from there on 15 November.