A bust-length silhouette portrait of a gentleman wearing a wig or powdered hair. Thinned ink has been used to suggest the details of his coat and hair. Signed and dated beneath the image: ‘Torond 1796’. Francis Torond was a silhouette artist and drawing master who emigrated from France to London in the mid-1770s. He was best known for his complex multi-figure silhouettes but he also produced bust-length portraits. He appears to have been most active as a silhouette artist in the late 1770s and early 1780s, before shifting to practice primarily as a drawing master from 1786 onwards. However, this portrait is dated ‘1796’, suggesting that he continued to produce at least occasional silhouettes in his later career. This silhouette is believed to represent the naval officer George Fowke. It came to the National Maritime Museum together with a collection of personal papers relating to the Fowke family, which can now be viewed in the Caird Archive (see FOW in the archive catalogue). Several generations of the Fowke family served in the Royal Navy. George became a lieutenant in 1790, a commander in 1795 and a post-captain in 1798. He later served in the prison ships ‘Rochester’ and ‘Irresistible’ between 1806 and 1807. He was placed on the retired list in 1825 and made Vice-Admiral (retired) on 12 November 1840. He died in 1843. (Updated April 2019.)