A three-quarter-length portrait of Charles Stewart (1681–1741) in a plain coat and a long wig. Standing in front of a rocky cliff partially overgrown with foliage, he points with his left hand to a naval engagement in the background and rests his right arm on the barrel of a cannon. His right hand is missing, Stewart having lost it in an engagement with a French ship when he was a midshipman in 1697. Lettered beneath the image with the sitter’s coat of arms and the title, ‘The Honourable Charles Stewart Esqr. Vice Admiral of the White Squadron of His Majestie’s Fleet 1740.’ Also lettered with the production details ‘A. Ramsay pinxt. / J. Faber fecit.’ This print was engraved by John Faber the Younger after Allan Ramsay’s oil painting of 1740, which is now in the National Maritime Museum (see BHC3037).
The fifth son of Lord Mountjoy, Stewart commanded a squadron against the Barbary pirates in 1720. He became Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies from 1729 to 1731, and second in command of the fleet under Sir John Norris in 1734. He became Vice-Admiral of the White in 1735 and Member of Parliament for Portsmouth from 1736 until his death in 1741. The plate for this print was later cut down and re-engraved as a portrait of George Anson (see PAD4655). (Updated May 2019.)