A half-length sketch slightly to left in a rear-admiral's full dress uniform, 1795-1812. The uniform and background are only loosely indicated. This portrait is one of the half-length preliminary sketches for the whole-length at St James's Palace (Royal Collection), which shows Copenhagen in the background. It was probably done from a sitting in December 1800 before Nelson's promotion to vice-admiral on 1 January 1801.

To achieve a likeness of a sitter, Hoppner was said to 'make as beautiful a face as he could, then give it likeness'. He then continued to work until onlookers felt that he had captured a likeness. Nelson lost the sight of his right eye at the siege of Calvi in 1794 and the portrait shows that he has been carefully positioned so that his blind right eye, on the left, is in shadow. Contemporary accounts commented on the film that was known to cover the damaged eye. A lock of hair has been arranged over Nelson's forehead, to conceal the head wound that he sustained at the Battle of the Nile on 1 August 1798, which strangely altered the shape of his head. This sensitive portrait has therefore been deliberately and carefully constructed and shows Nelson confronting the gaze of the viewer with his left eye.