George Brydges, First Lord Rodney (1719?-92)

Reynolds painted George Brydges, 1st Baron Rodney, around 1788, depicting one of the most celebrated naval commanders of the century whose victory at the Battle of the Saints (1782) had restored British naval prestige after the humiliations of the American Revolutionary War. Rodney's battle-winning tactic — breaking the French line rather than engaging it broadside — was controversial but effective, securing the Caribbean colonies and allowing Britain to negotiate from a position of relative strength at the peace negotiations. Reynolds's large full-length portrait, now in the Royal Collection, gives Rodney the full apparatus of the Grand Manner: the commanding pose, the landscape backdrop suggesting his element, and the uniform projecting martial authority. The painting dates from the very end of Reynolds's active career — he ceased painting in 1789 — and despite the deterioration of his eyesight that was already affecting his work, the Rodney canvas maintains the authority of his best military portraiture. Reynolds's systematic documentation of Britain's naval commanders produced one of the most significant visual records of eighteenth-century naval history.

The portrait is rendered with classical references in poses that characterizes Joshua Reynolds's best work. Oil on canvas provides a rich ground for the subtle gradations of flesh tone and the textural contrasts between skin, fabric, and background that give the image its convincing presence.