Augustus Keppel, Viscount Keppel

Reynolds painted Admiral Augustus Keppel for the second time around 1779, creating a very different portrait from his celebrated 1749 canvas of the young commodore who had given Reynolds his crucial Italian passage. The thirty years between the two portraits had transformed both men: Reynolds from ambitious provincial to cultural institution, Keppel from junior officer to admiral — and the victim of a court-martial that became one of the defining political controversies of the late 1770s. The Battle of Ushant (1778) had been inconclusive, and Keppel's professional rival Admiral Palliser pressed charges of misconduct. Keppel's acquittal, celebrated in London with riots against Palliser's windows, was immediately politicized as a Whig victory over royal prerogative. Reynolds, a consistent Whig sympathizer, painted this second portrait in solidarity with his old patron and friend. The contrast between the confident young officer of 1749 and the vindicated but weathered admiral of 1779 makes the two portraits, taken together, among the most eloquent biographical sequences in Reynolds's output.

Executed with classical references in poses and attention to Grand Manner composition, the work reveals Joshua Reynolds's characteristic approach to composition and surface. The treatment of light and the careful modulation of color create visual richness within a unified pictorial scheme.