Goya produced his Equestrian Portrait of the 1st Duke of Wellington when the prominent Anglo-Irish military leader, Arthur Wellesley, was still an Earl, not yet a Duke.

Among other accomplishments, Wellesley defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Goya reused an old canvas to produce this painting, due to the necessities of wartime life. He was green before it was hip!

Authors report the following highly-unlikely story: during one of their many portrait sittings, Goya interpreted a gesture of Wellesley's as one of hostility, so he drew a pistol on him, Wellesley drew his sword, and only their friends' intervention prevented a fight. In a heroic act of MythBusting, Aureliano Beruete y Moret gives all the reasons that this story can't be true, even though several "scholars" print it: Wellesley wouldn't have made such a gesture without motive, Goya wouldn't have threatened a major military figure with a weapon, painters don't usually work with loaded pistols next to their easels, and Goya couldn't have escaped punishment for an act like this during a time of war. Beruete y Moret adds that this is one of many anecdotes told in connection with Goya's legendary grumpiness by writers who think that crazy stories in their work will get them more attention "even though they may inflict injury on the persons to whom that work is dedicated."

The true story is probably much less fit for primetime: the future Duke flew into a rage at one of his subordinates during the sitting, and the deaf Goya, whose lipreading in English was not too good, was relieved to hear that the Duke was not angry about his appearance in the portrait. In fact, when he hung it at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, he reported that Wellesley "manifested a great deal of pleasure" from seeing it.

Another incredible tale, reprinted as fact by authors, goes as follows: out of anger, Goya once took a paintbrush and painted Wellesley's face, saying "I disfigure you, as you have disfigured me in your writings." Although this anecdote seems to come from a book by a reputable publisher, it's probably just too "good" to be true.