The statue portrays the Iron Duke on a campaign, mounted on his horse Copenhagen, with all hooves planted on the ground. It was executed in bronze by the sculptor Joseph Boehm and unveiled in 1888. The figures at the corners of the pedestal representative British soldiers, a Grenadier, a Scottish Highlander, an Irish Dragoon and a Welsh Fusilier. Wellington has a telescope in his right hand.
The statue faces Apsley House, which was Wellington's London home.[2][3]
This gives the unintended impression that the Duke's back is turned on the processional way that runs through the open space in which the statue stands. The bronze statue stands on a plinth of pink Peterhead granite from Stirlinghill quarry, near Boddam, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The grey dais forming the base is made of Aberdeen granite from the Rubislaw quarry, Aberdeen.[4]
The bronze came from captured French cannons. On one side of the plinth is inscribed WELLINGTON and on the other 1769–1852 in raised bronze characters.
^The Green Park Arch, Wellington Place, Victorian London. Originally published in The Queen's London: a Pictorial and Descriptive Record of the Streets, Buildings, Parks and Scenery of the Great Metropolis, 1896. Accessed September 2014