The Minister’s ruling follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, administered by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The Committee recommended that the export decision be deferred on the grounds that the painting is of outstanding significance for the study of the iconography of Wolfe, the dissemination of a popular image and the cult of heroic celebrity.

This is an important picture of General James Wolfe, victor of the Battle of Quebec and hero of the Seven Years War. His conquest of the city ensured the British conquest of Canada and his death at the moment of victory earned him a reputation as a patriotic martyr that was unmatched by any British hero until Nelson.

This painting by Schaak, which is the only full-length oil portrait of General Wolfe, was painted shortly after his death, from a lifetime sketch by a fellow officer, and contains a depiction of his celebrated victory. It was the first publicly exhibited likeness of Wolfe, was widely circulated though engraved copies and set in motion the visual culture that accompanied the growing cult of Wolfe. The authority of the portrait is supported by the fact that it was owned by Lt Col Henry Fletcher, commander of the 35th Regiment at the Battle of Quebec, who knew Wolfe personally. The picture remained in the Fletcher family until 1966. It was then loaned to the National Trust and displayed at Quebec House, Wolfe’s childhood home, between 1976 and 2006.

This small painting depicts General Wolfe in an attitude of command standing on the shore of the St Lawrence River as his troops scale the Heights of Abraham beyond. He is shown with unpowdered hair, wearing a tricorn hat with cockade and a plain red coat with a black armband indicating mourning for his father. 

Tim Knox, Reviewing Committee member, said: “This is very interesting as a symbolic portrait of a hero in action.”

The decision on the export licence application for portrait will be deferred for a period ending on 8 January 2008 inclusive. This period may be extended until 8 April 2008 inclusive if a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer to purchase the painting at the recommended price of £300,000 excluding VAT (£308,750 including VAT) is expressed.

Anyone interested in making an offer to purchase the painting should contact the owner’s agent through:
 
The Secretary
The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council,
Victoria House,
Southampton Row
London WC1B 4EA

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Notes to Editors

1. Media enquiries on the operation of and casework arising from the work of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) should  be directed to Communications Manager,  John Harrison, on 020 7273 1402, email: john.harrison@mla.gov.uk

2. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, serviced by MLA, which advises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria. Where the Committee finds that an object meets one or more of the criteria, it will normally recommend that the decision on the export licence application should be deferred for a specified period. An offer may then be made from within the United Kingdom at or above the fair market price.

3. Pictures of this item are available. Please email john.harrison@mla.gov.uk (MLA no longer subscribes to the PixMedia website service.)

4. Further details about the painting can be found on the Sotheby’s website . The auction date was 6 June 2007 and the painting was Lot Number 28.

5. Little is known about the identity of J. S. C. Schaak (fl.1760-70). He is listed as a portrait painter in Westminster in 1763 and is recorded as exhibiting at the Free Society of Artists and the Society of Artists of Great Britain. Of the sixteen signed works that have survived, all are portraits and date from 1762 –70. Three show military figures - the 1766 James Wolfe and two equestrian portraits of unknown sitters. Two of his signed works are in public collections: Charles Churchill, c.1763-4, National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG 162) and Matthew Boulton, 1770, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Soho House, Handsworth. To these may be added the bust-length portrait of Wolfe attributed to Schaak in the National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG 48).

6. General James Wolfe (1727 – 59) was born at Westerham, Kent, the eldest son of Lieutenant-General Edward Wolfe. He entered the army in 1741, aged fourteen. At the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, he caught the attention of the Duke of Cumberland, who actively promoted Wolfe’s early career. He fought at Culloden in 1746 and saw further service in Scotland and Ireland during the 1750s. His radical tactical theories and significant improvements to firing and bayonet techniques would be posthumously published as General Wolfe’s Instructions to Young Officers (1768). Travelling to Canada under General Amherst, he distinguished himself at the siege of Louisburg in 1757 and was appointed Major General in command of the expedition to capture the city of Quebec in 1759. Wolfe experienced months of frustration and ill health and many thought the operation would fail. Then, in the early hours of 13 September, Wolfe led his men in an audacious manoeuvre, scaling the Heights of Abraham to surprise the French from the plain above. Wolfe was fatally wounded at the outset of the battle but lived long enough to hear of his victory. His body was returned to England and interred in the church of St Alfege, Greenwich. His heroic death seized the public imagination to an extraordinary extent and he quickly assumed a quasi-divine status, a martyr to patriotism and a paragon of martial virtue.

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