ENGLISH SCHOOL LATE 18TH CENTURY Miniature portrait of August Viscount Keppel (1725-1786) facing

ENGLISH SCHOOL LATE 18TH CENTURY Miniature portrait of August Viscount Keppel (1725-1786) facing to his right in Flag Officer`s undress uniform, the jacket with embroidered facings, signed with initials "AR", oval en grisaille, enamel on copper, in silver frame with diamond surround, fitted leather case; 5 x 4.25 cms *The miniature has an old (1780) label on reverse giving the sitter as Admiral Rodney but closely resembles a portrait of Keppel by Sir Joshua Reynolds P.R.A. of 1765 in the collection of the National Maritime Museum. ** Augustus Keppel, second son of 2nd Earl of Albermarle, served under Baron Hawke, in the Seven Years` W£ar (1756-1763), captured Goree in 1758 and commanded a ship in the battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759 and in the capture of Belle-Isle in 1761. He was second in command at the capture of Havana in 1762. In 1778 as commander-in-chief of the grand fleet he encountered the French fleet off Ushant but the French escaped. He was tried by court martial for neglect of duty but was acquitted. The acquittal inflamed a riot of enthusiasm and Keppel became a popular hero. He became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1782. This enamel is taken after one of the portraits that Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. painted for his friend and patrol, Viscount Keppel.