Admiral Sir Harry Burrard-Neale (1765–1840), 2nd Bt

Admiral Sir Harry Burrard-Neale served in the Royal Navy during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, participating in numerous engagements. This 1822 portrait at the National Museum of the Royal Navy records his naval career for institutional posterity. As a full Royal Academician and royal portrait painter, Beechey occupied a central position in Georgian portraiture, providing reliable and dignified likenesses for a wide range of aristocratic, professional, and military patrons.

The admiral's naval uniform and decorations are rendered with precise attention to detail, the face characterized with the directness typical of Beechey's military portraiture.