A three-quarter-length portrait, very slightly to right in flag officer's full-dress uniform, 1748-67. He wears a tie wig and the ribbon and star of the Order of the Bath, and holds a baton in his right hand. The portrait is one of three of Warren (one of which is now at the National Portrait Gallery) which Hudson seems to have painted in 1751 or 1752 according to a payment made by his widow after his sudden death in July 1752. They came to a total cost of £114.19s, which probably included the frames.

From 1735 on, Warren spent most of his career on the American station amassing a fortune in prize money as Commodore in the Leeward Islands, 1744, from capturing the French Canadian fortress at Louisburg in 1745. This is shown in the background with his squadron sailing in. In 1747, in the 90-gun 'Prince George', he was second-in-command to Vice-Admiral George Anson at the Battle of Finisterre, at which he played a principal part. He distinguished himself by giving the advice for a general chase and for capturing the 'Serieux', 64 guns, and disabling the 'Invincible', 74 guns, with the support of the 50-gun 'Bristol'. The outcome was that eleven out of twelve in the French line, with three of their convoy were taken.

The painter, Hudson, was both pupil and son-in-law of another notable portraitist, the elder Jonathan Richardson, and was in turn the early master in London of Joshua Reynolds. Regarded as a safe man for a dignified and flattering likeness, he was the leading society portraitist of his time, with a huge practice. Though he did his sitters' faces, his use of assistants to paint much of the rest of his portraits was well known although far from unusual. The painting is inscribed in the bottom right corner, 'Admiral Sir Peter Warren, K.B. Buried at Westr. Abbey 1752 aet 48'. Acquisition method: Macpherson Fund.