A full-length portrait slightly to left in a rear-admiral’s full dress uniform, 1795-1812, but with vice-admiral’s epaulettes. He wears the star and ribbon of the order of the Bath and the St Vincent and Nile medals. He holds his hat and sheathed sword in his left hand. The background shows the buildings of Santa Cruz burning in the background on the left and the right. Nelson lost his right arm at Santa Cruz, Tenerife on 24 July 1797 and the portrait shows the empty sleeve pinned across. Abbott had two sittings from Nelson during the autumn of 1797, and from this many subsequent portraits were taken, mostly posthumous like this one. The original painting was engraved by William Barnard in May 1798.