Portrait of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, GCB (1770-1851)

Admiral Codrington, painted by Lawrence around 1828 and now in the Philhellenism Museum, was the commanding officer of the Allied fleet at the Battle of Navarino in October 1827 — the last major naval engagement fought entirely under sail and the decisive military event of the Greek War of Independence. Codrington commanded the combined British, French, and Russian squadron that engaged the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet in the bay of Navarino, destroying it in a battle that effectively secured Greek independence even as it embarrassed the British government, which had not officially sanctioned an engagement. The controversy — William IV reportedly expressed regret for the 'untoward event' in his parliamentary speech — did not diminish Codrington's popularity, and the Greek cause's supporters across Europe celebrated the admiral as a hero of Philhellenic liberation. The Philhellenism Museum, dedicated to the international support for Greek independence, holds this portrait in the thematically most appropriate institutional context possible: Codrington's military action was among the most significant material expressions of the Romantic era's idealization of classical Greece. Lawrence's portrait captures a man simultaneously at the center of controversy and popular celebration.

Lawrence's portrait captures the admiral in a confident pose that befits his recent naval triumph. The rendering of the naval uniform and decorations demonstrates Lawrence's characteristic precision with military regalia.