Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Bt (1714-1782)

Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, fifth Baronet, was a naval officer who had seen service in the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence. His death in 1782 — the same year this portrait was painted — suggests it may have been a posthumous commission or completed very shortly before his death. Romney was at this date deeply embedded in the London portrait market and produced naval and military portraits alongside his society sitters with equal competence. The painting records the career of a naval man whose later namesake, Sir Hyde Parker who commanded at Copenhagen in 1801 (where Nelson famously put his telescope to his blind eye), would overshadow him in public memory.

Naval uniform provides Romney with an opportunity to render the gold braid, buttons, and decorations that his sitters often requested as markers of rank and service. The pose is authoritative without being rigid, the admiral shown in a manner that balances martial dignity with approachability. Romney's characteristic painterly speed is evident in the handling of the sea or sky background.