A half-length portrait of Sir Joseph Yorke, Admiral of the Blue, when a captain and wearing a captain's (under three years) undress uniform 1787-95. He is facing almost full-front with his head turned towards the left with his left arm outstretched. His jacket has gold braid and gold naval buttons and he wears a necktie. In the background the inclusion of the sea denotes his naval career. According to the memorial for Yorke's wife in St Andrew's church, Hamble, Hampshire, Admiral Yorke was accidentally drowned 'by the upsetting of a boat on the 5th of May 1831.' In fact, the small yacht in which he was travelling from Southampton to Portsmouth was struck by lightning.
Yorke entered the Navy in 1780 and was promoted lieutenant on 27 June 1789. He was promoted commander on 19 November 1790 and appointed to the 'Rattlesnake' until being made captain of the 'Circe' and later the 'Stag'. He was knighted in June 1810 and promoted rear-admiral on 31 July the same year. In January 1811, with his flag in the 'Vengeur', he was sent to Lisbon with army reinforcements - it was his last service at sea. Yorke then joined the Admiralty Board, 1810-18. He was a Tory MP between 1790 and his death in 1831, sitting for various family, Admiralty and nomination boroughs.

Even in this small half-length, the pose has a dynamic tension often characteristic of Danloux's work. His best known portraits, in which this is even more apparent, are the large full-lengths of Admiral Duncan, victor of Camperdown, 1797 (now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery), and of Admiral Lord Keith taking the Cape of Good Hope in 1796 (Bowood House, Wiltshire).