Footnotes

Provenance
Sale, Christie's, London, 2 April 1971, lot 69 (as The Property of a Nobleman), where purchased by the present owner's family

The present portrait was painted by Guzzardi during Nelson's stay in Palermo between January 1799 and June 1800, which followed the dramatic escape of King Ferdinand and Queen Maria Carolina of the Two Sicilies in December, 1798, when they left their home in Naples ahead of the impending French invasion, escorted by Nelson. Guzzardi, about whom very little is known, was probably an artist attached to the Neapolitan Court. He is today renowned for not having shirked from showing the scar on Nelson's forehead and his missing eyebrow (injuries sustained at the decisive Battle of the Nile). Most artists who painted the naval hero chose to paint more flattering portraits, glossing over these wounds; while a number of institutions that owned those paintings that did show his wounds often had his scars painted over or lightened his facial disfigurement.

Nelson is depicted here wearing the Chelengk in his bicorn, displaying his Naval gold medals, the Ottoman Order of the Crescent and the Order of the Bath. The Chelengk was a plume of more than 300 diamonds with a unique rotating central feature surrounded by exquisite enamelled flowers. Like the Order of the Crescent, it was presented to Nelson by Sultan Selim III, along with the cloak that is seen here draped over the chair beside him, in recognition of his daring 1798 defeat of the French fleet in the Battle of the Nile, when Egypt was still under the control of the Ottoman Empire.

A large full-length version of this portrait, which is probably the original, hangs in the Admiralty Boardroom but formerly belonged to Sir William Hamilton. Several other portraits of Nelson by Guzzardi are known, including: two in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (inv. nos. BHC2895 and BHC2896); one of a very similar size was offered at Phillips, London, 8 June 1996, lot 27; a bust-length portrait in the Government Art Collection; and a mezzotint by John Young from 1800 speaks to the popularity of the image.