Daniel Orme

G.P.B. Naish, ed. Nelson’s Letters to his Wife and other Documents 1785-1831, London 1958, p. 429;
J. and J May, Commemorative Pottery 1780-1900, London 1972, pp. 98-9, pl. 5;
R. Walker, The Nelson Portraits, An Iconography of Horatio, Viscount Nelson, London 1998, pp. 24-7 and 197, no. 6, illustrated p. 25
G. Wilkins, Lord Nelson, Tracing The Hero's Features, Privately Printed 2015, p. 39, no. 8

The chalks have been well preserved in this portrait. The paper has darkened slightly over time and there is a vertical stain that runs from the extreme top of the image through the Nelson's face. This becomes more obvious in a raking light. The work is laid down.
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This rare portrait was considered by the late scholar Richard Walker to have been drawn from life in either late 1797 or early 1798. Nelson is shown wearing his rear-admiral’s uniform, a Naval gold medal and the star and sash of the Order of Bath. His serious expression and unkempt hair lend the image a romantic air.

Daniel Orme engraved this work in February 1798. The image was extremely popular and Lady Nelson reported that ‘Orme must have made a great deal of money'.¹ Later that year he painted an oil on canvas, entitled The Surrender of the San Josef at the Battle of St Vincent² and the present drawing may have been used as a preparatory study. It appears that Orme enjoyed a close working relationship with the Nelson family and he painted a portrait miniature of Lady Nelson which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1799.

<sup>1. R. Walker, The Nelson Portraits, London 1998, p. 27
2. The National Maritime Museum, London</sup>