Captain Robert Orme

Reynolds's Captain Robert Orme from 1756, now in the National Gallery London, is one of his earliest portraits to fully embody the 'grand manner' he had been formulating since his return from Italy in 1752 — a work in which the conventions of baroque military portraiture, absorbed from Rubens and Van Dyck, are animated by Reynolds's own psychological directness and atmospheric handling. Orme was an officer who served under General Braddock in the disastrous 1755 campaign against Fort Duquesne in Pennsylvania, where Braddock was killed in a French and Native American ambush and the British force routed. The portrait's dynamic composition — Orme turning in his saddle, his horse rearing behind him — creates the impression of a man in the midst of action rather than posed for likeness. The National Gallery acquired this early Reynolds masterwork as one of the foundational statements of the British portrait tradition, and it remains one of the finest demonstrations of how quickly Reynolds achieved his mature manner after his Italian training.

Reynolds captures the officer in mid-action with unusual dynamism for a formal portrait, the diagonal composition and billowing smoke creating a sense of battlefield urgency. The warm palette and the bold handling of the uniform and background demonstrate his early mastery of the dramatic portrait.