Benjamin West, The Death of General Wolfe, 1770, oil on canvas, 152.6 x 214.5 cm. © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Transfer from the Canadian War Memorials, 1921 (Gift of the 2nd Duke of Westminster, Eaton Hall, Cheshire, 1918)  

West's groundbreaking painting The Death of General Wolfe helped legitimize the artistic depiction of modern  action-drama. In this work West was able to invest a contemporary tragedy with a level of grandeur formerly attributed only to the antique.