A three-quarter-length portrait seated to right in admiral's full-dress uniform, 1787-95, and wearing the ribbon and star of the Bath. He wears white breeches and blue-green stockings and is seated on a red and gilt chair with his legs crossed towards the right. His hat and baton are in his left hand and he faces towards the viewer.

Rodney had a long naval career and became rear-admiral in 1759. In 1761, he went to the West Indies as Commander-in-Chief in the Leeward Islands. Here he was victorious over the French, by taking Martinique, St Lucia, Grenada and St Vincent. In 1779, he was ordered to relieve Gibraltar on his outward voyage to command in the Leeward Islands for a second time. On passage, he encountered a Spanish squadron of nine ships off Cape St Vincent and, in the ensuing night action, one of the Spaniards blew up and six others were captured. After this, Rodney continued to carry out an effective campaign against powerful French opposition. This culminated in the Battle of the Saints, 1782, when his victory over the Count de Grasse's fleet destroyed French naval power in the West Indies.

The French-born artist trained as a miniature painter and became Royal Painter to Queen Marie-Antoinette. In 1790, after the outbreak of the French Revolution, he fled to London and exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1791-96, although he later moved on to St Petersburg. His English portraits make some concession to current English taste. This one, painted the year he came to England, is signed and dated 'J L Mosnier 1791' and was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1793.