Francis Rawdon-Hastings (1754-1826), Second Earl of Moira and First Marquess of Hastings

Reynolds's portrait of Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 2nd Earl of Moira, from 1789 and now in the Royal Collection, depicts a young military officer on the threshold of a remarkable career that would include command in both the American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic era campaigns, service as Governor-General of India and later Governor of Malta, and elevation to Marquess of Hastings. Moira was thirty-five when Reynolds painted him, recently returned from the American campaigns where he had served with some distinction, and the portrait conveys the confident bearing of a man who understood himself as destined for great things. Reynolds's military portraits of the late 1780s form a coherent group documenting the generation of officers who had made their reputations in the American war and who would provide the military leadership of the subsequent decades. The Royal Collection's holding of this portrait connects it to the institution that Moira himself served.

Reynolds presents the military figure with characteristic grand-manner dignity, the warm palette and confident handling creating an image of martial authority. The late technique shows broader brushwork than his earlier portraits while maintaining the compositional strength of his mature style.