Explore the Reception and theft of this artwork.
The painting was acquired by the Duke of Wellington, and came into the possession of Louisa Catherine Caton—wife of Francis D'Arcy-Osborne, 7th Duke of Leeds—and sister-in-law of Wellington's older brother Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley. Her first husband, Felton Hervey-Bathurst, fought with Wellington in the Iberian Peninsula, commanding the 14th Light Dragoons from 1811 to 1814, and then on Wellington's staff in the Waterloo Campaign and Wellingtons representative at the signing of the Convention of St. Cloud on 3 July 1815.  
It descended to John Osborne, 11th Duke of Leeds, by the time it was put up for auction at Sotheby's in 1961. The New York collector Charles Wrightsman bid £140,000 (equivalent to £3,315,375 in 2021), but the Wolfson Foundation offered £100,000 and the government added a special Treasury grant of £40,000, matching Wrightsman's bid and obtaining the painting for the National Gallery in London, where it was first put on display on 2 August 1961. It was stolen nineteen days later on 21 August 1961 by bus driver Kempton Bunton. Four years after the theft, Bunton contacted a newspaper, and through a left-luggage office at Birmingham New Street railway station, returned the painting voluntarily. Bunton confessed in July 1965 that he took the painting and its frame. Following a high-profile trial in which he was defended by Jeremy Hutchinson, QC, Bunton was found not guilty of stealing the painting, but guilty of stealing the frame.The theft entered popular culture, as it was referenced in the 1962 James Bond film Dr. No. In the film, the painting was on display in Dr. Julius No's lair, suggesting the first Bond villain had the work stolen.
The prop painted by Ken Adam was used in the film promotion and was then stolen itself.The story of the theft and the following trial of Bunton was dramatised in the film The Duke, directed by Roger Michell and starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren, which was released in cinemas in the UK on 25 February 2022.
Wolfson Foundation Louisa Catherine Caton Jeremy Hutchinson, QC John Osborne, 11th Duke of Leeds left-luggage Charles Wrightsman Helen Mirren Felton Hervey-Bathurst Ken Adam Birmingham New Street railway station Roger Michell Waterloo Campaign The Duke Sotheby's Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley James Bond National Gallery Francis D'Arcy-Osborne, 7th Duke of Leeds London 14th Light Dragoons Jim Broadbent Dr. No Julius No Kempton Bunton Convention of St. Cloud Duke of Wellington