A three-quarter-length portrait, to right, showing Barnett in a blue coat. Wearing a waistcoat frogged with gold and a white dress wig, the sitter holds a telescope in his left hand. A private two-decker is in the background to the right. In 1742, he was in the Mediterranean, and in 1744, was Commodore of a squadron to the East Indies. In 1745, he arrived in India to drive the rival French shipping away. He died in 1746, during this service.

Apart from being the principal portrait painter to Frederick Prince of Wales, from 1736, Ellys was also tapestry maker to the Crown and official keeper of lions in the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London.