Oval miniature in watercolour [support TBC] in an oval gilt metal presentation frame with a scroll label below inscribed in black letter 'SIR EDWARD SPRAGGE'. The sitter is shown bust length, turned slightly to his left but loooking to the viewer, against a dark background. His eyes are blue and he wears a light brown curled full-bottom wig and an elaborate lace cravat over gilt-studded armour.

Spragge was of Irish military family, with a chequered early seafaring career. He may have been briefly a slave in Algiers, possibly served in Prince Rupert's royalist squadron, and certainly commanded a French privateer before commanding a royalist one, the 'Charles', which was taken by the Dutch in 1660. This early history gave him a reputation for both avarice and intrigue, though his bravery was never in doubt. After the Restoration of Charles II he became a naval captain within Prince Rupert's faction. He was knighted for his gallantry commanding the 'Lion' at the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665, commanded the 'Dreadnought' in the Four Days Battle of June 1666 and was Vice-Admiral of the Blue at the St James's Day fight (25 July). He again fought bravely defending the Medway against De Ruyter's famous incursion in 1667, and avoided attempts to be made a scapegoat for that disaster.

In 1668 he commanded the 'Revenge' and, after briefly serving as ambassador to the Spanish Netherlands, joined Sir Thomas Allin in her in the Mediterranean, largely against Algerine commerce raiding. He succeeded Allin as commander there in September 1670 and scored a spectacular victory over the Algerines at Bugia Bay in May 1671, for which he was rewarded with 3000 ounces of plate and a pension of £1000 a year. Spragge was subsequently a client of James, Duke of York, having lost the favour of Prince Rupert. He commanded the 'London' in 1672 at the start of the Third Dutch War and, after distinguishing himself of the Battle of Solebay (28 May), was appointed Admiral of the Blue. Briefly an ambassador to France early in 1673, he flew his flag in the 'Prince Royal' at both Battles of Schooneveld (May/June) and led his rear squadron against Cornelis Tromp's -with whom he had an old feud- at the Battle of the Texel (11 August). When the 'Prince' was badly damaged by Tromp's 'Gouden Leeuw' he shifted to the 'St George' and, on her becoming disabled, tried to move again to the 'Royal Charles'. On the way, his boat overset and he was drowned, but his body was recovered and buried in Westminster Abbey in September.

This is one of 17 miniatures which Sir James Caird purchased for the Museum from the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch in the 1940s. In his 1917 'Studio' monograph on the Buccleuch collection (p.39) H. A. Kennedy queried the traditional identification as Spragge, based on the 'style of costume'. That is not a good reason: portraits of sea officers, including later ones of Spragge, mostly show them in half-armour, but there are examples in full armour (e.g. BHC3026, of Shovell). The Lely oil portrait which illustrates Spragge's entry in ODNB (in black and white) may help in due course, based on eye colour. If the identification is correct, however, the sitter's age and that of the artist suggest this image probably dates to the mid-1660s.

Peter Cross (c. 1645 -1724) was formerly but erroneously known as Lawrence Crosse, and was a London miniaturist who in 1678 became ‘Lymner in Ordinary’ to Charles II. Cross's family lived in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, as did the more famous Samuel Cooper, and it has been suggested that Cross trained under him. [PvdM 1/11]