William L. Pressly, 'James Barry: Artist as Hero', London: The Tate Gallery, 1983, p 59-60, no 8
Description:
'This painting, which depicts General Wolfe dying at the Battle of Quebec in 1759, is Barry's only canvas treating a modern subject in the rhetoric of history painting. Two Louisbourg Grenadiers support Wolfe, while to the left stand a grieving naval officer and a midshipman. Behind them can be seen sailors pulling cannons up the cliff forming the north bank of the St Lawrence River with a glimpse of the masts of the anchored fleet beyond. At the lower left, daringly cropped by the frame, are the bodies of two of the vanquished - a French officer and his Indian ally. At the right Lt Browne points to the troops advancing across the Plains of Abraham toward the upper town of Quebec as he brings news of the British victory to the expiring general. In choosing this subject Barry was following in the footsteps of Benjamin West, who had exhibited a similar painting at the Royal Academy in 1771.'(Pressly, 60)
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