None The Canadian War Museum, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Art Gallery of Ontario are the unique venues that offer access to these six paintings. Earlier versions of the descriptions of these paintings first appeared in 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die , edited by Stephen Farthing (2018). Writers’ names appear in parentheses. The Death of General Wolfe (1770) The American artist Benjamin West moved in 1763 to England, where he quickly gained a reputation as portraitist to King George III before painting his most famous and monumental work, The Death of General Wolfe. When it was first exhibited at London’s Royal Academy in 1771, it was initially criticized for being overambitious. However, by the end of the century, opinion had changed. Three full-scale copies were commissioned from West, including one for the king, while smaller prints of the work became one of the best-selling reproductions of the period. This Neoclassical painting depicts British Major-General James Wolfe dying at Quebec in 1759, during the war that established Canada as British colony. Wolfe won this fight but lost his life, and West presents him as a modern, noble hero. Flanked by fellow officers and a Native American, each figure responds to Wolfe’s death, focusing the viewer’s attention on this central scene. West has distorted actual events to heighten the painting’s drama. Here, the battle is in full swing right behind the dying general; in fact he died further afield as the battle was ending. Wolfe’s body in the painting also alludes to Christ’s descent from the cross, and the shape of the brooding clouds echoes his slumped figure. West also unconventionally depicts his figures in contemporary dress, rather than working within a classical or allegorical manner, thus emphasizing the work’s veracity.