Four oval bust-length portraits of (clockwise from top left) Richard Howe, Earl Howe (1726–1799), John Jervis, Earl of St Vincent (1752–1820), Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson (1758–1805) and Adam Duncan, Viscount Duncan (1731–1804). Howe, St Vincent and Duncan wear admiral’s full-dress uniform, 1795–1812, with naval gold medals and the ribbons and stars of chivalric orders. Howe wears his ribbon over his right shoulder, which is incorrect: as a knight of the Order of the Garter, he should wear a ribbon over his left shoulder. St Vincent wears the ribbon of the Order of the Bath. Duncan wears the ribbon of the Russian Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky. Nelson wears rear-admiral’s undress uniform, 1795–1812, with a naval gold medal and the ribbon and star of the Order of the Bath. His empty right sleeve is pinned across his chest. The portraits are framed by palm fronds, oak branches, swags of drapery and fictive stone tablets. The drapery is lettered with the places and dates of the four admiral’s notable victories (‘Ushant June 1st 1794 / St Vincent Feby. 14th 1797 / Camperdown Octr. 11th 1797 / Nile Augt. 3rd 1798’) and the fictive stone tablets are lettered with titles for each portrait: ‘Richard, Earl Howe, K.G. Amiral of the Fleet, and General of Marines. From the Original Picture in the Trinity House, London. Painted by Gainsborough Dupont. / John, Earl of St. Vincent, K.B. Admiral of the Blue. From the Original Picture in the Possession of Mrs Rickets Painted by F. Cotes R.A. / The Right Hon. Adam, Lord Viscount Duncan, of Camperdown, Admiral of the Blue, and Knt. of the Imperial Order of St Alexander Newsky. From the Original Picture in the Possession of V. Green Painted by R. M. Paye. / The Right Hon. Horatio, Baron Nelson, of the Nile, K.B. Rear Admiral of the Blue. From the Original Picture in the Possession of Willm. Locker Esq. Lieut. Governor of Greenwich Hospital, Painted by L. F. Abbott.’ Lettered below the image with the title and a dedication to the King: ‘The British Naval Victors. / To the King (by his Most gracious permission) this Plate is most humbly Dedicated by his Majestys devoted and most dutiful Subject and Servant, Valentine Green.’ Also lettered with the production details and the publication line: ‘Engraved by V. Green, Mezzotinto Engraver to his Majesty & the Elector Palatine. / Published & Sold by V. Green No.21 New Road, Opposite Fitzroy Square, London, Feby, 11th 1799. Sold also by R. Green No. 12 Berners Street, Oxford Street.’ This print was engraved and published by Valentine Green. Howe’s portrait is after Gainsborough Dupont’s full-length portrait of 1794 at the Trinity House in London with added ribbon and star. St Vincent’s portrait is after Francis Cotes’s three-quarter-length of the sitter as a captain in 1769, now in the National Portrait Gallery, with updated uniform and added medal, ribbon and star. Duncan’s portrait is after a miniature by Richard Morton Paye. Nelson’s portrait is after the prime version of Lemuel Francis Abbott’s half-length portrait of 1797, which was owned at the time of engraving by Nelson’s former commander William Locker and is now in a private collection. The National Maritime Museum holds another version of Abbott’s painting (see BHC2887). Green exhibited this print at the summer exhibition of the Royal Academy in April–June 1799, three months after the print had been published, leading the critic in the ‘London Packet’ newspaper to complain that ‘being already in the print shops, [this engraving’s] room in the Exhibition might have been spared to something better’ (8–10 May 1799). (Updated June 2019.)