Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson (1758-1805)

An oval bust-length miniature of Nelson in watercolour on ivory, turned half to the sitter's right but looking out at the viewer, in an oval gold suspension frame edged with thirty-eight well matched pearls. The portrait itself is a copy from John Hoppner's much copied full-length, painted in 1800-1801, and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1802. The oil is notable for the fact that, while Hoppner completed it to include the Battle of Copenhagen (2 April 1801) as the background, he failed to update the uniform to that of vice-admiral, to which Nelson was promoted in January 1801. The back of the frame bears the finely engraved inscription 'To Captain Louis', suggesting it was a gift to Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Louis, who as a captain served under Nelson at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 and from 1799 to 1802, and was himself promoted rear-admiral in 1804. The miniature's quality, however, is mediocre as a likeness of Nelson, as a copy after Hoppner, and technically, especially in colouring inaccuracies of the medals and decorations, none of which would have impressed a knowledgeable naval eye. These might suggest copying from a print, of which the first (official) one was only issued in 1805, well after Louis's promotion to flag rank. If it was indeed his, and given to him before 1804, he must have valued it for other reasons.
John Hoppner