The Death of Nelson , 21 October 1805 The Death of Nelson , 21 October 1805 is an 1807 painting by Arthur William Devis portraying the death of Horatio Nelson at 16 : 30 on 21 October 1805 , below decks on his flagship during the Battle of Trafalgar . It is now in the National Maritime Museum , Greenwich . Inception . Only a month after Trafalgar , on 22 November , a press advert by the publisher Josiah Boydell announced he would give a prize of 500 guineas for the best " Death of Nelson " painting , which he would then engrave . Devis and Benjamin West were the two most notable entrants . Devis was released from debtors ' prison to produce such a painting , in order to pay off his debts , and – possibly with help Alexander Davison ( Nelson ' s banker and one of Devis ' s patrons ) – was allowed to spend a week on board off Portsmouth after her return from Trafalgar . There he made sketches , a model of the place Nelson died , notes and studies for the individual portrait heads ( including a sketch of Nelson ' s body and the bullet that had killed him , during the autopsy on 11 December by Dr Beatty , the ship ' s surgeon , as the ship sailed from Portsmouth to the Nore for Nelson ' s lying - in - state ) , as well as a separate portrait of Dr Beatty . Beatty also commissioned Devis to produce a half - length painting of Nelson as vice - admiral from the autopsy sketches , which he lent to Emma Hamilton ( who later lost it in an accident whilst travelling ) , and illustrations for his " Narratives " . Reception . West criticised Devis ' s treatment , which was in contrast to West ' s own " Epic Composition " ( which even more inaccurately showed Nelson dying on " Victory " ’ s quarterdeck where he had first been shot , and was refused by the Greenwich Royal Naval Hospital on West ' s death – it is now in the Walker Art Gallery Liverpool ) . However , it was Devis ' s work that won Boydell ' s commission , though it was only printed in 1812 despite having already gained 800 subscribers by August 1806 and despite the chosen engraver , William Bromley , having promised to have it done in two years from December 1806 . West ' s painting had made it to print by 1811 and the two had equally great success in the short term , though the Naval Gallery ( housed in the Painted Hall at Greenwich Hospital ) refused to buy Devis ' s painting from Boydell . However , Devis ' s was purchased by Nicholas Vansittart , Lord Bexley ( envoy to the Danes at the time of the Battle of Copenhagen ) , who in 1825 presented it to the Naval Gallery , from which point onwards it became the better known of the 2 works . Devis ’ s large oil sketch for it was bought in 1852 by Queen Victoria , from 1892 or earlier to 1992 a waxwork tableau at Madame Tussaud ’ s reproduced the painting , a smaller copy was placed near Nelson ' s place of death during restoration of " Victory " in the 1920s , and the original was placed as the Painted Hall ’ s central painting by the late 19th century . In this position , it was at the heart of the Hall ' s role as a major Nelsonic and naval shrine . Accuracy and iconography . As with its model , Benjamin West ’ s 1777 " The Death of General Wolfe " ( engraved by Boydell ' s uncle John ) , this painting takes liberties with the actual setting and people present . The place of death on the ’ tween - deck was actually far shorter than depicted , and Hardy ( standing behind Nelson ) was not present at the moment of death . The grouping , with Nelson ' s posture against a large timber of the ship ' s hull and role as the main light source in an otherwise dark painting , recalls the Deposition of Christ from the cross .