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Sr. George Bridges Rodney, Rear Admiral of the Blue

May 9, 1780
Not on view
Naval portraiture was a mainstay of Reynolds's career in the seventeen-fifties and sixties. Rodney was born into an aristocratic and military family and became one of the most distinguished British naval commanders of the eighteenth century. Here he is depicted in the uniform of a Rear-Admiral with his right arm resting on the fluke of an anchor and the sea glimpsed behind. The print is based on a splendid portrait by Reynolds whose primary version is at Petworth House, Sussex. James Watson (ca. 1740–1790) ​was the first ​to engrave the latter as a large mezzotint in 1762, wishing to capitalise on Rodney's growing fame–that year his fleet successfully attacked Martinique in the West Indies and captured the islands of Saint Lucia, Grenada and Saint Vincent. This smaller plate was published in 1780 by an unidentified engraver.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Sr. George Bridges Rodney, Rear Admiral of the Blue
  • Engraver: Anonymous, British, late 18th century
  • Artist: After Sir Joshua Reynolds (British, Plympton 1723–1792 London)
  • Publisher: Robert Sayer and John Bennett (British, active 1774–83)
  • Sitter: Sir George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney (British, Walton-on-Thames 1719–1792 London)
  • Date: May 9, 1780
  • Medium: Mezzotint
  • Dimensions: sheet: 6 7/16 x 4 15/16 in. (16.4 x 12.5 cm)
    plate: 5 15/16 x 4 1/2 in. (15.1 x 11.4 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Charles Allen Munn, 1924
  • Object Number: 24.90.746
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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