File:Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Graves, circa 1747-1814 RMG BHC2722.tiff

A three-quarter-length portrait to left wearing rear admiral's full-dress uniform, 1795-1812. The star of the KB is visible on his coat. His dress sword is in his left hand and his right hand rests on a rock. In the left background is the 'Defiance', 74 guns, in action at Copenhagen, 1801, and in the right background, a large urn has been included, in memory of the sitter's wife.

As a lieutenant, Graves served with Phipps's Arctic expedition of 1773. The following year he went to North America with his uncle, Admiral Samuel Graves. While there he was employed in the prevention of smuggling and was badly burnt in an encounter with rebels on the Charles River. As captain of the 'Bedford', 74 guns, he fought at the Battle of Chesapeake, 1781, where his cousin Admiral Thomas Graves commanded the fleet. As Commodore Affleck's flag captain he also fought in the 'Bedford' at the Battles of Frigate Bay, St Kitts, January 1782, and the Saints, April 1782. In the French Wars, 1793-1815, Graves remained unemployed until his appointment to the 'Cumberland', 74 guns, in 1800. In 1801, as Rear-Admiral of the White, he was Nelson's second-in-command at the Battle of Copenhagen, flying his flag in the 'Defiance', 74 guns, as shown here. The portrait, painted in 1802 when Graves had retired from active service due to poor health, is both signed and dated. The artist was a pupil and assistant of Reynolds and practised portraiture at Plymouth until 1777, when he went to Italy to study before settling in London in 1781.