Robert Liston (1794–1847), FRCSEd (1818)

This 1820 portrait of Robert Liston at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh is attributed to Stanfield but seems unusual for a marine painter. Liston was the most celebrated surgeon in Britain, famous for his speed in the pre-anesthetic era, who later performed the first operation under anesthesia in Europe in 1846. His precise knowledge of ship rigging, hull construction, and wave behavior—derived from actual seafaring—gave his marine paintings an authority that distinguished them from the merely decorative seascapes of rivals who had never sailed.

The portrait shows a straightforward rendering of the surgeon’s features with attention to professional dignity. The technique differs notably from Stanfield’s characteristic marine work.