A three-quarter-length portrait slightly to the right showing Hanway in a drab coat, dark waistcoat and long bob wig; his left hand is tucked into his waistcoat and, in his right, he holds a letter. A table with pen, inkwell, sealing wax and wafers stands to his right. The painting is inscribed: 'Jonas (son of Thomas) Hanway, Esq., ye founder of Marine Society 1756, Governor of Foundlings Hospital, and commissioner of victualling office. Born 1712, died 1786.' There is further inscription: 'For the Hon'ble Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge at London.'
The NMM 'Concise Catalogue' (1986) lists this as 'style of' Beare. An attribution to Beare and the date as 'about 1754' are those of the 'Preliminary Catalogue' of 1961, but if that date is about right Beare could not have painted it since he died in 1749. The received attribution when it entered the collection as a purchase of Sir James Caird's in 1935 (and printed in the Caird Collection catalogue), was to Jonathan Richardson. No further work has yet been done to resolve the authorship but the picture bears an original inscription with Hanway's biographical details and a line suggesting it was painted for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London. Hanway was a merchant, philanthropist, a governor of the Foundling Hospital and a commissioner on the Naval Victualling Board, but most important as prime founder in 1756 of the Marine Society, the well-known charity which took in destitute orphan boys and raised them for sea service. He was also responsible for popularizing the umbrella in England, and attracted Dr Johnson's ridicule on that account. [PvdM 7/11]