John Jervis, Earl of St. Vincent, Admiral of the Fleet

Flaxman is best known for his classically inspired sculptural monuments and the outline drawings he executed as illustrations to Homer and Aeschylus. In this pencil sketch, his adept manipulation of line adroitly renders the features of John Jervis, the controversial head of Britain's naval department. As a ship's captain, Jervis had prevented French and Spanish ships from gaining command of the English Channel at Cape St. Vincent, earning him the title "Earl of St. Vincent." However, he was often criticized as a harsh disciplinarian. Flaxman's portrait captures some of Jervis's rigidity in the angularity of the chin, mouth and brows. Because of his high public profile, Jervis's image was popular among collectors and many of his portraits were engraved to meet this demand.