A full-length portrait of Samuel Hood (1724–1816) in admiral’s undress uniform, 1797–95, holding his hat in his left hand and resting his right hand on the hilt of his sword. Hood leans against a large rock in front of a view of his fleet at Corsica. Lettered beneath the image with the sitter’s coat of arms and the title, ‘The Right Honble. Lord Hood. Admiral of the Blue, And Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s Fleet in the Mediterranean.’ Also lettered with the publication details: ‘Painted by L. F. Abbott. / Engraved by V. Green Mezzotinto Engraver to his Majesty & to the Elector Palatine. / Published by L. F. Abbott, Caroline Street, Bedford Square Decemr. 1st 1795.’ This portrait was engraved by Valentine Green after an original painting by Lemuel Francis Abbott, who also published the print on 1 December 1795. Abbott was commissioned by the Corsican Parliament House to paint a portrait of Samuel Hood, who had occupied Corsica at the invitation of the island’s President Pasquale Paoli. He started work on the portrait when Hood returned to London from the Mediterranean in October 1794 but, by the time the portrait was finished, Corsica had been recaptured by the French. The painting therefore passed to Hood’s family, in whose possession it remained until it was loaned to the National Maritime Museum in 1937 before transferring to Loders Court in 1963. A three-quarter-length version of the portrait, possibly commissioned by John McArthur, the founder editor of the ‘Naval Chronicle’, is in the National Portrait Gallery. (Updated May 2019.)