A three-quarter-length portrait of Edward Boscawen (1711–1761) wearing flag officer’s undress uniform, 1748–1767, and a wig. Boscawen stands on the rocky shore, and with his back to a stormy sea. A ship is visible in the distance on the left. Lettered beneath the image with the title and publication line: ‘The Honble Edward Boscawen Admiral of the Blue Squadron of His Majesty’s Fleet And One of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Cape Breton taken 1758. Five French Ships of the Line taken & burnt 1759. London: Printed for Robert Sayer, Map & Printseller, No. 53 in Fleet Street.’ This portrait was engraved in mezzotint by James Macardell and published by Robert Sayer after an original full-length painting by Joshua Reynolds, which was painted between 1755 and 1757. Reynolds’s painting is currently owned by Lord Falmouth but the National Maritime Museum holds a nineteenth-century copy of the picture (see BHC2565). Macardell had initially engraved Reynolds’s painting as a full-length in 1757 (see PAH5398). This smaller, three-quarter-length version was produced in late 1759 after Boscawen was involved in two high-profile actions, which are referred to in the print’s inscription: the capture of the French fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton island in early summer 1758 (‘Cape Breton taken 1758’) and the Battle of Lagos in August 1759 (‘Five French Ships of the Line taken & burnt’). Portrait prints of naval officers were often published shortly after their subjects were engaged in notable actions as print makers and publishers sought to capitalise upon public interest in recent events. (Updated April 2019).