An oval bust-length portrait of George Anson (1697–1762) in flag officer’s full-dress uniform, 1748–67, and a wig. The portrait is surrounded by an oval frame, flanked on the left by a globe, a British ensign, a French ensign and what appears to be a Spanish ensign. A walrus, a sea nymph and two tritons are represented beneath the portrait. The nymph holds a crown under Anson’s portrait, one triton holds a trident and the other blows a conch. This mid-eighteenth-century Dutch print was engraved by Jacob Houbraken after Jan Wandelaar. George Anson is best remembered for his rather fraught circumnavigation of 1740–44, from which he returned immensely rich from his capture the Spanish treasure ship 'Nuestra Senora de Covadonga' off the Philippines. He secured victory over the French at the first Battle of Finisterre in May 1747 and was created 1st Baron Anson of Soberton in June of the same year. He later proved a very able naval administrator as First Lord of the Admiralty during the Seven Years War. (Updated May 2019.)
Technique includes etching.