.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Alexander Hood (1726-1814), later 1st Viscount Bridport, the younger brother of Samuel, 1st Viscount Hood, joined the Navy a few months before his brother in January 1740, serving as Captain'’s servant with Captain Thomas Smith on board the Romney. His career at sea took him to the top of the naval hierarchy and spanned the Seven Years War (1756-63), the American War of Independence (1774-1782) and the French Revolutionary Wars, from which Britain emerged as the dominant maritime power with an expanding commercial and political empire across the globe.
Hood played an active role in many of the celebrated campaigns and engagements that were often pivotal in determining the final outcome of those increasingly global conflicts. Made Post Captain at the beginning of the Seven Years War, he served as the Flag Captain of Rear-Admiral Charles Saunders, second in command of the Mediterranean fleet, remaining in that role for the next two years until 1758. He was then in 1759 appointed to the frigate Minerva attached to the fleet off Brest under Sir Edward Hawke. In that command he was present at the decisive victory against the French fleet at Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759, which ended the threat of French invasion in the war and thereby dealt a crippling blow to France's overall strategy.
At the outbreak of the American War of Independence Hood was in command of the royal yacht Katherine, but in December 1777 was given command of the Robust, which the following July formed part of Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser's rear division of the fleet under Admiral Augustus Keppel that engaged the French off Ushant. Hood's prominent part in the courts martial of the two admirals that followed the indecisive action made it for some time politically difficult for him to be given a major command. In 1780, however, he was promoted Rear-Admiral of the White (at the same time that his brother became a Rear-Admiral of the Blue), and in 1782 was given a command in the Channel Fleet under Lord Howe, hoisting his flag on the Queen, in which he participated in the relief of Gibraltar. In 1787 he became a Vice-Admiral of the White and the following year was created a Knight of the Bath.
The growing threat of Revolutionary France prompted a gradual increase in British military readiness in the early 1790s, and in 1793 Hood was appointed third in command of the Channel Fleet under Lord Howe, hoisting his flag on the Royal George. In that capacity, he played a prominent role in the heroic victory against the French Fleet in the Atlantic on the 'Glorious' First of June, in which the French suffered the heaviest losses in a single day since 1692. The following year Hood was promoted Admiral and for his part in the battle was raised to the peerage of Ireland as Baron Bridport; in 1796 he was further ennobled as Baron Bridport of Cricket St Thomas in the peerage of Great Britain in recognition of his successful engagement of the French fleet off the Ile de Groix in June 1795. Hood eventually retired from active service in April 1800, having served for the last three years as Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet blockading Brest, in which role he was succeeded by Lord St Vincent. The same year, Hood was created Viscount Bridport in the Peerage of Great Britain.
This portrait was painted in 1758-9 and 1761: the first period falls between Hood's return (with the end of Saunders' command) from the Mediterranean and his joining Howe's fleet off Brest; the second represents the period between his return from that posting and his departure for the Mediterranean in the Africa. In his pocket book for 1757, Reynolds noted two social engagements with 'Mr Hood' that would seem likely to refer to Alexander Hood, rather than to his brother Samuel, whom Reynolds did not paint until much later in his career. The first appointment would appear to have been for 20 August that year, very shortly after Hood's return from the Mediterranean, and the second for 3 September, both to take place at Nandos coffee house in Fleet Street at 5pm. Reynolds later recorded appointments with Captain Hood on 9, 12 and 17 October 1758. Others followed on 22 January 1759, and then the 16 and 18 March, 20 and 21 May, 25 and 29 September, 2 and 6 October 1761. A first payment of 20 gns. is recorded in Reynolds' ledger on 9 October 1761 with a further payment of £21.10s recorded some years later on 2 August 1765.
Hood had been promoted to Post Captain in 1756 and is shown wearing the undress uniform of a Post Captain of over three years' seniority (which he was by 1761), with a cocked hat in his right hand. Beyond is a ship at sea, which would seem likely to allude to the Minerva, his command during his posting to Howe's fleet. As Hood'’s sittings for the picture progressed so had his reputation: in addition to his role at Quiberon Bay, in 1761, while on the Minerva, with 32 guns, in the Bay of Biscay he had heroically engaged and recaptured the Warwick, a 60 gun ship that had been captured by the French in 1756 and which they were using as a transport. Hood was much credited for his conduct in the engagement which lasted over six hours and it is presumably the Minerva that is represented by the frigate in the composition. Hood was later to sit to Reynolds in 1763 for a second three-quarter-length portrait that shows the recapture of the Warwick in the background; this second portrait was given in 1825 by his widow to Greenwich Hospital, of which he had been Treasurer (National Maritime Museum, London, Greenwich Hospital Collection; fig. 1).
For a naval Captain aspiring to immortality in the late 1750s, Reynolds was the obvious choice as a portrait painter. He had made his name as a portraitist with his heroic full-length of another naval commander, Commodore Keppel (National Maritime Museum, London), which he executed after returning from Italy in 1752, having accompanied Keppel on a voyage to the Mediterranean in 1749. The full-length of Keppel was to remain in the artist's house for some time after its completion as an advertisement of Reynolds' skills, and it can be no coincidence that naval officers thereafter formed a large proportion of his sitters.
The present portrait remained in the possession of Lord Bridport'’s family until 1911, when it was sold at Christie's by Arthur, 2nd Viscount Bridport. At that sale it was bought by Agnew for 2,600 gns. who the following year sold it in turn to Sir Herbert Cook, 3rd Bt. Cook's wife, Mary (1873-1943), was the daughter of the 2nd Viscount Bridport of Cricket St. Thomas and a direct descendant of the sitter's elder brother, Viscount Hood. The sitter had married twice but died without children in 1814, and the Irish barony had then devolved upon his great-nephew, Lady Cook's great-grandfather.
Hood played an active role in many of the celebrated campaigns and engagements that were often pivotal in determining the final outcome of those increasingly global conflicts. Made Post Captain at the beginning of the Seven Years War, he served as the Flag Captain of Rear-Admiral Charles Saunders, second in command of the Mediterranean fleet, remaining in that role for the next two years until 1758. He was then in 1759 appointed to the frigate Minerva attached to the fleet off Brest under Sir Edward Hawke. In that command he was present at the decisive victory against the French fleet at Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759, which ended the threat of French invasion in the war and thereby dealt a crippling blow to France's overall strategy.
At the outbreak of the American War of Independence Hood was in command of the royal yacht Katherine, but in December 1777 was given command of the Robust, which the following July formed part of Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser's rear division of the fleet under Admiral Augustus Keppel that engaged the French off Ushant. Hood's prominent part in the courts martial of the two admirals that followed the indecisive action made it for some time politically difficult for him to be given a major command. In 1780, however, he was promoted Rear-Admiral of the White (at the same time that his brother became a Rear-Admiral of the Blue), and in 1782 was given a command in the Channel Fleet under Lord Howe, hoisting his flag on the Queen, in which he participated in the relief of Gibraltar. In 1787 he became a Vice-Admiral of the White and the following year was created a Knight of the Bath.
The growing threat of Revolutionary France prompted a gradual increase in British military readiness in the early 1790s, and in 1793 Hood was appointed third in command of the Channel Fleet under Lord Howe, hoisting his flag on the Royal George. In that capacity, he played a prominent role in the heroic victory against the French Fleet in the Atlantic on the 'Glorious' First of June, in which the French suffered the heaviest losses in a single day since 1692. The following year Hood was promoted Admiral and for his part in the battle was raised to the peerage of Ireland as Baron Bridport; in 1796 he was further ennobled as Baron Bridport of Cricket St Thomas in the peerage of Great Britain in recognition of his successful engagement of the French fleet off the Ile de Groix in June 1795. Hood eventually retired from active service in April 1800, having served for the last three years as Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet blockading Brest, in which role he was succeeded by Lord St Vincent. The same year, Hood was created Viscount Bridport in the Peerage of Great Britain.
This portrait was painted in 1758-9 and 1761: the first period falls between Hood's return (with the end of Saunders' command) from the Mediterranean and his joining Howe's fleet off Brest; the second represents the period between his return from that posting and his departure for the Mediterranean in the Africa. In his pocket book for 1757, Reynolds noted two social engagements with 'Mr Hood' that would seem likely to refer to Alexander Hood, rather than to his brother Samuel, whom Reynolds did not paint until much later in his career. The first appointment would appear to have been for 20 August that year, very shortly after Hood's return from the Mediterranean, and the second for 3 September, both to take place at Nandos coffee house in Fleet Street at 5pm. Reynolds later recorded appointments with Captain Hood on 9, 12 and 17 October 1758. Others followed on 22 January 1759, and then the 16 and 18 March, 20 and 21 May, 25 and 29 September, 2 and 6 October 1761. A first payment of 20 gns. is recorded in Reynolds' ledger on 9 October 1761 with a further payment of £21.10s recorded some years later on 2 August 1765.
Hood had been promoted to Post Captain in 1756 and is shown wearing the undress uniform of a Post Captain of over three years' seniority (which he was by 1761), with a cocked hat in his right hand. Beyond is a ship at sea, which would seem likely to allude to the Minerva, his command during his posting to Howe's fleet. As Hood'’s sittings for the picture progressed so had his reputation: in addition to his role at Quiberon Bay, in 1761, while on the Minerva, with 32 guns, in the Bay of Biscay he had heroically engaged and recaptured the Warwick, a 60 gun ship that had been captured by the French in 1756 and which they were using as a transport. Hood was much credited for his conduct in the engagement which lasted over six hours and it is presumably the Minerva that is represented by the frigate in the composition. Hood was later to sit to Reynolds in 1763 for a second three-quarter-length portrait that shows the recapture of the Warwick in the background; this second portrait was given in 1825 by his widow to Greenwich Hospital, of which he had been Treasurer (National Maritime Museum, London, Greenwich Hospital Collection; fig. 1).
For a naval Captain aspiring to immortality in the late 1750s, Reynolds was the obvious choice as a portrait painter. He had made his name as a portraitist with his heroic full-length of another naval commander, Commodore Keppel (National Maritime Museum, London), which he executed after returning from Italy in 1752, having accompanied Keppel on a voyage to the Mediterranean in 1749. The full-length of Keppel was to remain in the artist's house for some time after its completion as an advertisement of Reynolds' skills, and it can be no coincidence that naval officers thereafter formed a large proportion of his sitters.
The present portrait remained in the possession of Lord Bridport'’s family until 1911, when it was sold at Christie's by Arthur, 2nd Viscount Bridport. At that sale it was bought by Agnew for 2,600 gns. who the following year sold it in turn to Sir Herbert Cook, 3rd Bt. Cook's wife, Mary (1873-1943), was the daughter of the 2nd Viscount Bridport of Cricket St. Thomas and a direct descendant of the sitter's elder brother, Viscount Hood. The sitter had married twice but died without children in 1814, and the Irish barony had then devolved upon his great-nephew, Lady Cook's great-grandfather.