Oval miniature in a rectangular wooden frame consisting of a dark polished backing board with an oval central moulding, of which the inner band is gilded and decorated with an incised pattern. Nelson is shown long bust-length in uniform, including hat, turned to viewer's right against a neutral background. The portrait is a mediocre copy from Guzzardi's full-length, painted in Naples (or more probably Palermo) in 1799, of which the Museum has two versions (BHC2895 and BHC2896) and the Admiralty a third. One of these was engraved in 1800, so copies from a print would have been possible at an early date, though this example is probably a mid-19th-century version at earliest.

It comes from the Sutcliffe-Smith Collection of Nelsoniana and bears a label marking it as 'SS [no.]331' as well as the one marked 'Greenwich' on the front.