Admiral Sir Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres|Admiral Sir Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew

1817 · Graphite on wove paper · Drawings and Prints

The son of a distinguished officer in the British Royal Navy, Fleetwood Pellew (1789–1861) also made his career at sea from the tender age of nine. Ingres drew this portrait of Fleetwood as well as one of his wife Harriet (Private Collection) while the two were likely on honeymoon in Rome. They were among the droves of British tourists who returned to Italy following Napoleon’s defeat, more than twenty of whom sat for Ingres, who made his living on such commissions. The young naval officer appears somewhat arrogant in Ingres’s characterization, a trait that may have been his downfall, as the crews of his ships twice mutinied, which, astonishingly, did not seem to hamper his eventual ascension to the rank of admiral.

Artist

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres|Admiral Sir Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew

Date

1817

Medium

Graphite on wove paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, in honor of Philippe de Montebello, 2004