Oval miniature in watercolour and gum arabic on ivory, mounted with 26 others on a (degraded) velvet-covered wooden backing. The original frame exists separately. The sitter is shown bust-length, facing out but with his head tirned to his right, against a dark background suggesting night-sky and battle (possibly alluding to the Battle of the Nile). He wears the 1795-1812 captain's undress uniform with both epaulettes (denoting over-three-years' seniority) and his captain's medals for Cape St Vincent and the Nile.

Foley was commissioned lieutenant in 1778, promoted commander in 1782 and captain in 1790. He was second flag-captain under Hood at the siege of Toulon in 1793 and under Jervis at Cape St Vincent, 1797. He led the attack at the Battle of the Nile in the 'Goliath' , 74, and commanded the 'Elephant', 74, at the Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson's temporary flagship in that action. It was to Foley that Nelson reputedly directed his celebrated remark there about having only one eye and not seeing Parker's signal to retreat. In 1802 Nelson asked him to become his Captain of the Fleet in the Mediterranean but he declined on health grounds (being replaced by Thomas Hardy) and so missed Trafalgar. He became a rear-admiral in 1808 and had risen to Admiral of the White by the time he died during his final appointment (from 1830) as Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth.

This item has previously been attributed to William Grimaldi or Robert Bowyer. It cannot be Grimaldi, however, a list of whose works was published in 1873 and which only included two named naval officers (Captain Edward Berry and Admiral Lord Duncan), plus an unnnamed captain and unnamed admiral. It is probably by the miniaturist and print publisher Bowyer, since it appears to to be the one engraved in his plate commemorating the Battle of the Nile (PAH5670), which suggests the other thirteen captains shown there and the rest of the group of 26 were also by him, or at least done under his supervision given that their quality varies considerably.