Commodore the Honourable Augustus Keppel

Reynolds painted Commodore Augustus Keppel in 1749, one of his earliest major portraits, completed just before his departure for Italy. The portrait shows the young naval officer striding along a rocky shore in a pose derived from the Apollo Belvedere — the kind of classical reference that would become Reynolds's signature approach. Keppel had given Reynolds free passage on his ship to the Mediterranean, launching the Italian sojourn that transformed the painter's art. Now in the Royal Museums Greenwich, the painting marks the beginning of the Grand Style that Reynolds would champion for the next forty years.

Reynolds renders the young officer with dynamic energy and classical grandeur, combining the informal pose with the rocky maritime landscape. The warm palette and the confident brushwork demonstrate the Italian-influenced grand manner that would define English portraiture.