Captain William Stanway Parkinson (ca.1769-1838)

Captain William Stanway Parkinson was a naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars, and Hayter’s 1825 portrait at the Royal Museums Greenwich places him within the institution dedicated to preserving Britain’s maritime heritage. The post-Waterloo period saw a surge of commemorative portraiture honoring the officers who had fought in the naval campaigns that established British supremacy at sea. George Hayter was the preeminent British history and portrait painter of the early Victorian era, appointed Principal Painter in Ordinary to Queen Victoria in 1841.

The naval portrait follows established conventions, with the captain’s uniform rendered in careful detail against a muted background. Hayter’s handling of the gold braid and buttons shows practiced precision.