File:Captain Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, 1769-1839 RMG F9618.tiff

A half-length portrait to left in captain's undress uniform, over three years, 1795-1812. His coat is shown buttoned to the throat and the artist has concentrated on the gold of the buttons and epaulettes. This unusually small portrait was probably painted from life and the simple execution gives the face freshness and directness. The disproportionately large hat reveals the naïve quality of the unknown artist but may have been done intentionally to hint that Hardy was a large man.

The sitter was at the Battle of St Vincent, 1797, and was responsible for the cutting out of the 'Mutine', 38 guns, at Santa Cruz. He also commanded her at the Nile in 1798. Thereafter until Nelson's death in 1805, he was his flag captain in the 'Vanguard', 74 guns, and 'Foudroyant', 74 guns, in the Mediterranean in 1799; in the 'San Josef', 110 guns, and 'St George', 98 guns, in 1801; and in the 'Amphion', 32 guns, and 'Victory', 100 guns, from 1803 to 1805. He was Commodore of the South America station in 1819 to 1824 and First Sea Lord in 1830. He was appointed Governor of Greenwich Hospital from 1834 and on his death there was buried in the officers' mausoleum in the old Hospital burial ground, beside the National Maritime Museum. A modern memorial tablet there replaces one destroyed in the Second World War. Other portraits of Hardy at Greenwich include a contemporary memorial bust in the Chapel of the Old Royal Naval College (formerly Greenwich Hospital) and portraits by Pellegrini (BHC2352) and Evans (BHC2746) in the National Maritime Museum.