Wellington’s little-known campaigns in India form the focus of Apsley House’s interesting exhibition

Young Wellington In India 

Apsley House, London                                                    Until November 3 

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This small show at Apsley House has everything: sex, war, empire and, of course, a hero: Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, whose home this was.

By the time he bought the neo-classical mansion known as No 1 London in 1817, Wellington was world-famous, the man who had liberated Spain from the French, vanquished Napoleon at Waterloo and saved Europe. 

But none of this would have been possible without his early campaigns in India, the little-known nine-year period of his life that the paintings, sketches and silverware here illustrate.

This small show at Apsley House brings to light the importance of the future Duke Of Wellington's (above in a portrait by John Hoppner, 1804) early India campaigns

This small show at Apsley House brings to light the importance of the future Duke Of Wellington’s (above in a portrait by John Hoppner, 1804) early India campaigns

Wellesley was 27 when he left England in 1796, desperate to advance his career but also smarting from being dismissed by Lord Longford after asking permission to marry his daughter, Kitty Pakenham. 

A portrait by John Hoppner completed just before he left shows Wellesley red-coated, looking for war and the chance to restore his dented pride. 

The opportunity came when his older brother Richard was made governor-general of India and decided to depose Tipu Sultan, the fabulously rich ruler of the kingdom of Mysore.

The house (which Wellington bought when he was already world famous in 1817) is filled with souvenirs from his travels, one highlight being a silver-gilt Deccan dinner service (above)

The house (which Wellington bought when he was already world famous in 1817) is filled with souvenirs from his travels, one highlight being a silver-gilt Deccan dinner service (above) 

Wellesley excelled in battle. Tipu’s captured sword is here and other souvenirs Wellesley brought back from early exploits, but the most impressive piece of craftsmanship is the Deccan dinner service, a wonderfully over-the-top, silver-gilt dining set given to Wellesley by his fellow officers on their return from India.

The show begins in the basement and threads through the floors above, where, among the permanent collection, there is a series of vivid portrait drawings of Wellesley’s fellow officers in India by Thomas Hickey. 

Hickey also painted Isabella Freese, an officer’s wife rumoured to have been Wellesley’s mistress.

The best thing about this show is the chance it offers to discover the duke’s wonderful art collection, including works by Ribera, Rubens & Velázquez (The Waterseller Of Seville, above)

The best thing about this show is the chance it offers to discover the duke’s wonderful art collection, including works by Ribera, Rubens & Velázquez (The Waterseller Of Seville, above) 

The best thing about this show is the chance it offers to discover the duke’s wonderful collection of art, including works by Murillo, Ribera, Rubens, Velázquez and Dutch Golden Age painters such as Jan Steen. 

Don’t miss the strange equestrian portrait of Wellington painted by Goya in 1812. The great man didn’t like it, possibly because it isn’t him but a heftier figure to which Goya added the duke’s head after he had liberated Madrid.

By then Wellesley’s reputation was made. He returned from India with £5,000 in prize money and a knighthood – a change in his affairs that meant he was, after all, good enough for Kitty Pakenham, whom he married in 1806.

 

Yorkshire Sculpture International

Across Leeds and Wakefield                                               Until September 29 

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Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth were both born in Yorkshire, but 18 other artists are in the inaugural Yorkshire Sculpture International this summer to remind us that the area has a rich tradition of sculpture. 

YSI does not really stretch countywide – taking place almost wholly in the cities of Leeds and Wakefield – but there’s still plenty to see.

Damien Hirst is the biggest name involved. He’s showing seven works, including two on the streets of Leeds, his home town. His finest offering, Black Sheep With Golden Horns, is on view amid the permanent collection of Victorian paintings at Leeds Art Gallery. 

The inaugural Yorkshire Sculpture International may underwhelm overall but the retrospective of US sculptor David Smith (Untitled (Candida), 1969, above) at YSP is well worth a visit

The inaugural Yorkshire Sculpture International may underwhelm overall but the retrospective of US sculptor David Smith (Untitled (Candida), 1969, above) at YSP is well worth a visit

It consists of a dead black sheep with gold-plated horns preserved in formaldehyde and kept in a vitrine. The twist is that such an animal seems exactly the sort of subject a Victorian artist might have painted to tell a symbolic tale of sin.

Over at the Henry Moore Institute American artist Rashid Johnson fills an eye-catching room with yellow forms created out of shea butter. 

Upstairs, an entertaining installation by Sean Lynch tells the story of 19th-century fraudster Flint Jack, who sold ‘prehistoric’ urns and axe-heads to museums across the country – his fraud being that he’d forged these pieces himself.

Not all of the festival is a hit. Given so many disparate elements in so many spots, that was perhaps inevitable. Huma Bhabha’s insipid sculpture, Receiver, outside Wakefield City Hall, looks like an alien that’s just landed, with zero connection to its surroundings.

The festival highlight comes at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where a retrospective of the abstract expressionist sculptor David Smith is being held. He specialised in works of welded steel and the visitor follows Smith’s career from early pieces influenced by Picasso and Giacometti to those of great originality later on. 

This is the US sculptor’s first show of note in Britain since a big exhibition at Tate Modern in 2006, but with the advantage of works appearing both indoors (in galleries) and outdoors in the park’s fields.

Smith alone is reason enough to visit Yorkshire. And that actually highlights the key problem with YSI. It’s concentrated in four key venues (Leeds Art Gallery, the Henry Moore Institute, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Hepworth Wakefield), institutions that surely would have organised strong commissions and shows anyway, festival or no festival. 

Elsewhere, there’s little of impact – certainly not in the slim offerings on the streets. That said, this is only YSI’s first year, and one feels confident that future editions (already in the planning) will be bigger and stronger.

Alastair Smart  

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