ilkie was only thirteen years old when Seringapatam fell in 1799, and he did not receive the commission for portrait until five years after Baird's death on 25th August 1829. The following year, Wilkie was appointed Painter to George IV and was knighted in 1836.

A full length oil painting from the life, by the great Scottish artist, Sir Henry Raeburn, and a marble bust by the Perthshire sculptor, Lawrence Macdonald, were Wilkie's prime sources for his great posthumous portrait. The artist took great pains to obtain a true likeness of Baird, and made numerous compositional sketches, as well a preparatory studies in oil. 'The interest of the subject I find grows as I proceed,' he wrote in June 1837. 'The subordinate figures and the back-ground I generally leave till the principal figures are painted in.' Although some of the figures were representative, rather than specific portraits - the soldier on Baird's left, for example, is merely described as 'Highland soldier, a M'Leod of the 71st.' - Lady Baird insisted that the figure of young Colonel Wellesley should be included, and Wilkie placed him behind Baird's right shoulder. By this date, Wellesley had become the great Duke of Wellington, and had recently sat to Wilkie for his portrait.

Despite all Wilkie's research and preparation, critical reaction to the portrait was generally unfavourable, and this was directed especially at the central figure of Baird himself, which seemed awkward and unconvincing. Certainly Hickey's drawing of 1799 and the watercolour of 1802, attributed to De Loutherburg offer far more convincing portraits of the brave Scot.