Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis

Two years before Gainsborough painted this, Cornwallis had surrendered his army to George Washington at Yorktown in 1781, the defeat that effectively ended the American War of Independence and lost Britain the thirteen colonies. He came home, and rather than being disgraced he was barely dented by it. Early in 1783 he sat to Gainsborough in his red lieutenant-general's coat, blue facings and gold at the shoulder, for a portrait he and a fellow officer from the American war had made to exchange with each other. It went to the Royal Academy that year and was thought a good likeness. Three years later he sailed for India as its governor-general.