Lord Cornwallis is shown wearing a general’s uniform with the ribbon and star of the Order of the Garter. He was a soldier and administrator and by the age of 29 he was colonel of the 33rd Foot Regiment. He served during the American War of Independence and from 1780, commanded the British forces in South Carolina. He was forced to surrender his besieged army to George Washington in 1781, effectively ending the war in America. From 1786-93, he acted as Governor General and Commander of the British army in Bengal, India, where he introduced the permanent settlement, dealing with land ownership, and judicial and revenue reforms, and defeated Tipu Sahib of Mysore. He was moved to Ireland in 1798 as Lord Lieutenant. He presided over the Act of Union in 1800, but resigned a year later after the government’s refusal to grant Catholic emancipation. He died at Ghazipur soon after he returned to India.

This portrait is thought to be a copy of the miniature painted for his son Charles, the 2nd marquess, by William Grimaldi (1751-1830), and sent to India on 31 May 1810: ‘A large miniature of the late General Marquess Cornwallis, 100 guineas’ as noted in Grimaldi’s accounts. The artist painted a duplicate for himself. It is not a copy of any known portrait but Cornwallis may have sat for Grimaldi after his return to England in February 1794.

Grimaldi was the son of the 7th Marquess Grimaldi and the grandson of Alessandro Maria Grimaldi, a Genoese nobleman and artist who had settled in England after the bombardment of Genoa in 1684. He succeeded to the title in 1800. Grimaldi was trained by his uncle Thomas Worlidge and worked for several years in Paris (1777-83), although he exhibited regularly in London from 1768 to 1830. He was appointed miniature painter in turn to the Duke and Duchess of York in 1791, and to George IV when Prince of Wales in 1806, and then when king in 1824.

The miniature is signed on the lower left Grimaldi, and inscribed on an accompanying card: The Most Noble Marquis Cornwallis / Lieutt and Governour Genl of Ireland; Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter and Commander in Chief India. / Painted by W. Grimaldi Enamel Painter to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales; & Enamel & Miniature Painter to their Royal Highnesses the Duke & Duchess of York. / 1812. 37 East Street, Lambb’s Conduit Street.