A three-quarter-length portrait wearing captain's undress uniform of over three years, 1812-25. He carries his sheathed sword in his right hand and points purposefully to the left of the picture with his left. He is portrayed standing on deck with a carronade to his right, and San Sebastian in Northern Spain in the background.

Early in 1814, he took the two new frigates 'Newcastle' and 'Leander', both 60 guns, out to the American coast, flying his broad pendant as Commodore in the 'Leander'. His last service was in 1818 and he committed suicide six years later.

The artist trained as a lawyer before entering the Royal Academy Schools, London, in 1772 where he may have studied with Johan Zoffany. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1776 and throughout his career he produced competent portraits since he had no shortage of clients. In 1793 he was named portrait painter to Queen Charlotte and undertook a number of royal commissions. His straightforward style perfectly suited the stolid and conventional taste of the royal family. In 1795 John Opie described Beechey's pictures as 'of that mediocre quality as to taste & fashion, that they seemed only fit for sea Captains & merchants'.