A bust-length portrait of Samuel Hood (1724–1816) in admiral’s undress uniform, 1787–1795. Lettered beneath the image with the title and publication details: ‘Admiral Lord Viscount Hood, From an Original Picture by F. Abbot, in the Possession of John McArthur, Esq. Drawn by W. Evans, Engraved by C. Picart. / Published March 1, 1809, by T. Cadell & W. Davies, Strand, London.’ Inscribed in ink at the bottom left: ‘Commanded Rodney's van Squadron April 9th 1782.’ This portrait was engraved by Charles Picart after an intermediary drawing by William Evans of an original painting by Lemuel Francis Abbott. Abbott was commissioned by the Corsican Parliament House to paint a full-length portrait of Samuel Hood, who had occupied Corsica at the invitation of the island’s President Pasquale Paoli. He started work on the portrait when Hood returned to London from the Mediterranean in October 1794 but, by the time the portrait was finished, Corsica had been recaptured by the French. The painting therefore passed to Hood’s family, in whose possession it remained until it was loaned to the National Maritime Museum in 1937 before transferring to Loders Court in 1963. Abbott also produced a three-quarter-length version of the portrait (now in the National Portrait Gallery), after which this print was engraved. The three-quarter-length version may have been commissioned John McArthur, the founder editor of the ‘Naval Chronicle’, who (as the inscription on this print notes) owned the painting in 1809. The print was published by Thomas Cadell and William Davies in 1809 for their ‘The British Gallery of Contemporary Portraits’. (Updated May 2019.)
Stipple engraving.