Isle of Arran, Scotland. Variants Besides the original, at least four other additional versions of the Death of General Wolfe were also produced by West. The primary copy of The Death of General Wolfe is currently in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, with further examples kept at the Royal Ontario Museum (as part of the Canadiana art collection) and the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan. The fourth copy produced resides at Ickworth House, Suffolk, England. Each reproduction had its own variation in the depiction of Wolfe's death. A fifth autograph copy was commissioned by George III in 1771 and is still in the Royal Collection. Artistic interpretation West's depiction of Wolfe's death in the midst of battle is figurative, rather than literal. The painting, though widely celebrated, has also been heavily criticised in its historically-inaccurate portrayal of Wolfe's death itself. For example, the prominent figures surrounding and observing Wolfe as he lay dying are a great example of artistic interpretation. There is no evidence that any of the figures surrounding Wolfe in the painting were actually present at his death. All of them were senior military figures and would have been busy elsewhere in battle because Wolfe died at the height of the battle itself and not afterward. However, West's choice to show Wolfe's death in the figurative manner of a dying martyr, many comparing it to Christ, transforms Wolfe's death from a simple casualty of war to one of a hero that symbolized the British cause. Legacy Despite the fact that the painting is a more dramatized version of Wolfe's death than reality, West's work was groundbreaking for art of its time. Previously, contemporary scenes were painted in a Greek and Roman setting. Others advised West against using realistic 18th-century visuals such as modern costumes. Although Wolfe's death had already been painted by at least two other artists before West, and both paintings also strove to portray Wolfe and his death in a more realistic style, the success of West's painting helped to further establish a new style of art that others had already begun to pioneer. Wolfe's death and the portrayal of that event by Benjamin West make up half of Simon Schama's historical work Dead Certainties: Unwarranted Speculations (1991). See also Great Britain in the Seven Years' War Notes References Ayers, William, ed., Picturing History: American Painting 1770–1903, Fryd, Vivien