A three-quarter length portrait to right in armour and wearing a fair full-bottomed wig. The sitter holds a baton in his right hand. This portrait is either a copy of, or based on an earlier original. Duquesne was a French naval officer during the administrations of Richelieu and Colbert who decisively defeated the combined fleets of Spain and Holland in 1676. After distinguishing himself against the Spanish in the late thirties and early forties he took service with the Swedish navy in 1643 and defeated the Danes. His most famous victory was for his own country when France was in conflict with Spain and Holland in the Mediterranean, and after a series of indecisive engagements against the combined fleet, he defeated it utterly at Catania in 1676, killing its admiral, the great de Ruyter.

This painting is on loan from the Greenwich Hospital Collection to whom it was presented by King Louis Philippe in 1839.

The painting is signed and dated '1838'.