File:Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, 1758-1805 RMG BHC2888.tiff

A half-length portrait facing left in rear-admiral's undress uniform, 1795–1812, with the St Vincent medal and the star of a Knight of the Bath. The empty right sleeve is pinned across with the upper part slit and tied with ribbons to accommodate the wound dressing following the loss of Nelson's right arm at Santa Cruz, Tenerife, in July 1797.

It is probably based on BHC2887, the second of many replica portraits of Nelson made by Abbott (after an original finished one), and all based on the only oil study of him that the artist made from life. That was done after July 1797, while Nelson was painfuly recovering from loss of his right arm, and staying with his old commander Captain William Locker, by this time Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich. Nelson gave Abbot two sittings there and the resulting oil study, known as the 'Kilgraston sketch' from its later ownership by Francis Grant of Kilgraston, is now in the British portraits collection at Compton Verney, Warwickshire. Locker is reported to have based up to about forty subsequent versions on it.

Bought by Huson Morris in about 1830, this version was engraved by Robert Graves in 1847 and remained in the Morris family until 1941, during the Second World War, when they sold it for £1000 in order to make a contribution to the war effort at sea, having publicly stated their view that Nelson would have approved. It was bought for the Museum, with the National Art Collection Fund contributing £865 and private donors £135. The proceeds then went to the Board of Admiralty with whom it constituted the origin and nucleus of the Nelson Fund, formed to help protect allied shipping. Thus the sale of the portrait in 1941 was symbolically perceived as an instance of Nelson’s continuing potency in Britain’s protection at sea. See also BHC2887 and BHC2889. [updated PvdM 11/10 and 9/12]