Admiral Nicholas Haddock, c. 1685-1746 RMG BHC2730

Admiral Nicholas Haddock, c. 1685-1746
A three-quarter-length portrait facing slightly to left in a red velvet coat with gold embroidered button-holes and edging to the sword belt. He wears a fair campaign wig and his clothes seem rather old-fashioned for the date. His right hand rests on a gun muzzle and he holds a telescope in his left. In the right background is a three-decker wearing his flag as a rear-admiral of the red. Haddock distinguished himself early in his naval career, at the Battle of Vigo Bay in 1702. In 1707 he was promoted captain and while commanding the 'Grafton', 70 guns, was the leading ship in Admiral Byng, Viscount Torrington's, victory at Cape Passaro in 1718. He was Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean during the War of Jenkins's Ear, 1739-40. Although he took many rich Spanish vessels, including two treasure ships, he failed to come to grips with the Spanish fleet. The portrait, then or later wrongly attributed to George Knapton, was presented to Greenwich Hospital in 1795 by its Lieutenant-Governor, William Locker. Locker was a considerable patron of artists and in that year first suggested that the Painted Hall become a naval art gallery, an idea carried forward from 1823 by his son E.H. Locker, when Hospital Secretary. This portrait, Locker senior's only such gift may have been an earnest of his original idea. The painting has recently (2004) been found to bear a false Lely signature, an attribution impossible on all grounds. The unidentified artist may be from the circle of Hans Hysing.

Admiral Nicholas Haddock, 1686-1746