Possibly Commodore John Harrison (d. 1768)

Reynolds's portrait possibly of Commodore John Harrison from 1767 belongs to his extensive documentation of the Royal Navy's officer corps during the period of British maritime supremacy that followed the Seven Years' War. The qualified identification — 'possibly Commodore John Harrison' — reflects the challenges of establishing certain attribution for Reynolds's many naval portraits, where the loss of documentation from private collections has sometimes severed the link between sitter and image. Harrison, if he is correctly identified, served in the mid-eighteenth-century Royal Navy during the conflicts that established British dominance at sea; his commodore's rank placed him in the middle tier of naval command. Reynolds's naval portraits collectively constitute one of the most significant visual records of the officer class that maintained Britain's maritime empire, painted with the technical authority and psychological directness that distinguished his best work across all categories. The National Trust's holding of the canvas preserves it within the country-house context that was the natural destination for such military portraiture in the Georgian era.

The naval portrait presents the officer with maritime authority. Reynolds's handling creates an image of naval command.