Nathaniel Hone, R.A.

Captain E.B. Urmston, by 1889;

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 11 September 1997, lot 24;

Anonymous sale, Melbourne, Deutscher & Menzies, 4 March 2003, lot 104;

With Gorry Gallery, Dublin, November 2003;

Where acquired by the present collectors.

Royal Scottish Academy Galleries, Naval & Military Exhibition, exh. cat., Edinburgh 1889, p. 10, no. 83.

Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy Galleries, Naval & Military Exhibition, June 1889, no. 83.

Captain Lambert Brabazon (circa 1740–1811), of Irish origin, became Lieutenant in 1758 and Captain in 1782, just two years before this signed and dated portrait by Nathaniel Hone was executed in 1784. These biographical facts help to contextualise the manner in which Brabazon is here depicted: he dons his new captain's uniform proudly, in front of a cloud-filled, menacing sky, which alludes to both his naval accomplishments and perhaps also to his victories to come.

In 1783, Brabazon was flag-captain to Sir Francis Drake (1729–1789) in the Leeward Islands and at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, he took charge of the impressment service in Dublin. Following the death of Sir Alexander Schomberg (1720–1804), he took over the command of the Dorset, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland’s yacht, until his own death in 1811. According to an old inscription on the reverse of this canvas, Brabazon counted Horatio Nelson (1758–1805), 1st Viscount Nelson, among his friends.

Another portrait of Brabazon by Robert Hunter (circa 1715/20–1803) can be found in the National Maritime Museum, London.¹ The captain appears younger there, as suggested by his darker-toned brown hair, which has become grey in our picture. The National Maritime Museum painting has been dated circa 1782, but on these grounds, was perhaps executed a few years earlier.

Note on Provenance

The first known owner of this portrait, Captain E.B. Urmston, was listed as lending the picture to the exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy Galleries in 1889 (see Exhibited). It appears that Urmston was in some way a relative of Brabazon's, as attested to by a portrait of Lieutenant Lambert Brabazon Urmston, 45th Foot, 1817.²

¹ Inv. no. BHC2568; oil on canvas, 127 x 101.5 cm.; https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-14042

² https://search.fibis.org/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=download&fid=10986, reproduced fig. 3.