Oval bust-length miniature of Sir Thomas Hardy in flag officer's full-dress uniform of the 1830s, executed in watercolour with gum arabic, in a matt-gilded oval wooden picture frame. It bears an inscription identifying the sitter but is clearly copied from the oil portrait of Hardy by Richard Evans of 1833-34 (BHC2746) although probably through one of the prints after it, since there are inaccuracies in colouring of the uniform and decorations. It is only of mediocre artistic quality.

Hardy - Nelson's friend and usual flag captain from after the Battle of the Nile in 1798 until his death at Trafalgar in 1805 - was promoted rear-admiral in 1825 and vice-admiral in 1837. From 1834 to his death he was Governor of Greenwich Hospital.