Half-length facing left in rear-admiral's undress uniform, 1795-1812 pattern, wearing the St Vincent medal and the star of a Knight of the Bath. Nelson’s empty right sleeve is pinned across the chest. The upper part of the sleeve is closed with ribbons, having been slit open to accommodate the dressing on Nelson’s stump after he lost his right arm at Santa Cruz, Tenerife, in July 1797. This portrait is one of many replica portraits made by Abbott, all of which were based on an oil sketch that the artist made from the life while Nelson was painfully recovering from the amputation of his arm and staying with his old commander Captain William Locker, by this time Lieutenant-Governor of the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich. Nelson gave Abbott two sittings, resulting in an oil study (the so-called ‘Kilgraston Sketch’, now in the British portraits collection at Compton Verney, Warwickshire), upon which the artist based up to 40 subsequent versions. Bought by Huson Morris in about 1830, this version was probably based on BHC2887. It was engraved by Robert Graves in 1847 and remained in the Morris family until 1941, when they sold it for £1000 in order to make a contribution to the war effort at sea during the Secord World War, having publicly stated their view that Nelson would have approved. It was bought for the National Maritime Museum, with the National Art Collection Fund contributing £865 and private donors £135. The proceeds then went to the Board of Admiralty with whom it constituted the origin and nucleus of the Nelson Fund, formed to help protect allied shipping. The sale of the portrait in 1941 was thus symbolically perceived as an instance of Nelson’s continuing potency in Britain’s protection at sea. The portrait’s artist, Abbott, had established his first studio in London around 1780. He painted relatively few women and seems to have specialised in male portraiture, finding particular favour among naval officers. Standing unsuccessfully for election as an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1788 and again in 1798, Abbott failed to gain admission to the inner circles of the artistic establishment but he was recognised for his remarkable skill in capturing likenesses. In his ‘Anecdotes of Painting’ (1808), Edward Edwards wrote that ‘the heads of [Abbott’s] male portraits were perfect in their likenesses, particularly those which he painted from the naval heroes of the present time.’ Suffering from mental illness, Abbott was certified insane in July 1798 and died in what was described by the diarist Joseph Farington as ‘a state of insanity’ in 1803. His portraits of Nelson are among his most famous works. For other versions of this portrait, see BHC2887 and BHC2889. (Updated April 2019.)