File:Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1758-1805, 1st Viscount Nelson RMG BHC2900.tiff

An unfinished head-and-shoulders portrait of Nelson in profile to left. He is in vice- admiral’s undress uniform, 1795-1812, and wears the riband of the Order of the Bath. Done from life, the original sketch is claimed to be one of the portraits that Nelson thought a close likeness. He is shown with weather-beaten skin, grey hair fashioned in a queue and he stares fixedly ahead with his sound (grey) left eye. The loosely sketched background suggests clouds. His initial portrait was probably made for Lady Hamilton a few days before he sailed for Denmark. This version is thought to have been made for Nelson’s sister Susannah.

Simon de Koster was a Dutch painter was born at Middleburg. He studied at the Academy there and afterwards became a pupil of Thomas Gael. In 1788 he came to London and became a portrait painter, remaining there until his death. A posthumous copy of this portrait was made by the painter John Whichelo, who also produced the last authentic portrait of Nelson. George Cruikshank was among the artists who engraved this portrait, and a collection of silhouettes in the British Museum is also based on it and related drawings, (see for example, PAE5386 and PAE5388). It was also used as the basis for an engraving used for the medallions and brooches manufactured after Trafalgar. The painting was acquired from the collection of Frances Girdlestone, the great-great niece of Susannah, Nelson’s eldest sister: an oil copy of it was also made for her in 1935.