The Victory of Assaye, September 23, 1803 and The Battle of Vimiera, August 21, 1808
Thomas Stothard British
Printer McQueen & Co. British
Not on view
In 1814 Stothard won a competition to design a large gilt-silver ceremonial shield honoring Arthur Wellesley, duke of Wellington, for his military successes in the Iberian peninsula. Wellesley's leadership in the Peninsular War (1808–14), helped push French forces out of Portugal and Spain, unseat Napoleon, and reopen British trade with the Continent. A group of London merchants and bankers sponsored the competition and Stothard's designs were cast by the silversmith Benjamin Smith, working for the firm of Green, Ward and Green. In 1822 the shield was presented to the duke and put on display at Apsley House in London. Two years earlier, Stothard had etched his designs at the same scale as the shield. The first border panel commemorates an early victory in Wellesley's career, when he was serving as a general in India during the Second Maratha War, something he always held in high estimation. The second panel descibes the Battle of Vimiera, in 1808, at the outset of the Peninsular War.
