Oval bust-length miniature of Ferdinand IV, King of Naples and Sicily, in an oval gilt metal suspension locket. He is half turned to sitter's right, in a powdered wig and wearing a Neapolitan naval uniform of blue coat with a red collar and anchor insignia. The stars of three chivalric orders hang on the left breast, with a red and blue sash under the coat. A smaller insignia on the left lapel may be that of the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece, from its configuration. A landscape of trees appears behind, the whole being in watercolour on paper. The back bears an attached paper label marked 'N...V' and the painted letters 'NW' (for Nelson-Ward).

Ferdinand, 'the Golden Monarch' was more commonly called King of the Two Sicilies, well before he formally adopted that title (as Ferdinand I) in 1816. His kingdom - one of the last bastions of 18th-century 'ancien regime' corruption, display and extravagance - proved a valuable foothold for British Mediterranean operations from the start of the French Revolutionary War in 1793 until after Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Ferdinand then foolishly provoked a French attack that in 1799 briefly seized Naples, with local republican support. Nelson - who had equally foolishly encouraged him - soon helped defeat the Vesuvian or Parthenopean Republic which they set up, and the king exacted bloody revenge on those who had rebelled against him. In 1806 however, he again lost Naples to Napoleon, not recovering it until the French finally left Italy. Ferdinand's much more astute and domineering queen, Maria-Carolina, was a daughter of the Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria and sister of Queen Marie-Antoinette of France, who had been beheaded in 1793. Though popular with the Neapolitan mob, Ferdinand was mainly interested in hunting and the Queen was the controlling influence in government, manipulating Nelson through her friendship with Lady Hamilton.