Nelson: before and after Trafalgar
Horatio Nelson
by Guy Head
1798-1799
NPG 5101
Past display archive
2 July - 11 December 2005
Room 16
Free
Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson, was born in Norfolk in 1758 and died commanding the British fleet at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The events surrounding Nelson's death at Trafalgar tend to dominate his popular memory today, but this was the end of a successful naval career including a number of other milestones. He was created a Knight of the Bath as a result of his activities at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797, a baron after the battle of the Nile in 1798 (some said he deserved a higher honour) and a viscount after the defeat of the Danish fleet off Copenhagen in 1801.
Nelson had been established as a hero to the British public, who largely excused him for the irregular conduct of his private life, for some years before Trafalgar. This display looks at the development of his career and the way in which it was reflected in the portraits demanded by the public. It also considers his posthumous reputation and the establishment of an interpretation of his life as a role model for later generations.
Related portraits
- Horatio Nelson (NPG 5101)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D16818)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D5336)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D5333)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D5335)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D17801)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D5334)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D4684)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D5331)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D17802)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D17803)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D17804)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D5337)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D17799)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D5330)
- The death of Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805 (Horatio Nelson) (NPG D13768)
- The Death of Lord Viscount Nelson. K.B. (Horatio Nelson) (NPG D13769)
- Horatio Nelson ('Admiral Nelson receiving the Spanish Admiral's Sword on Board the San Josef') (NPG D17805)
- The Death of Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar (NPG D17800)
- Horatio Nelson (NPG D17806)
Related sitters
Related artists
- Lemuel Francis Abbott
- Robert Sargent Austin
- William Barnard
- The Baynard Press
- Sir William Beechey
- Edward Bell
- Robert Bowyer
- Thomas Burke
- Anne Seymour Damer (née Conway)
- Arthur William Devis
- Samuel Drummond
- Henry Edridge
- William Evans
- J. Golding
- Leonardo Guzzardi
- Guy Head
- James Heath
- John Hoppner
- Charles Knight
- Simon de Koster
- Robert Laurie (Lowery or Lowry or Lowrie or Lawrey or Lawrie)
- Daniel Maclise
- Daniel Orme
- John Francis Rigaud
- John Rogers
- Edward Scriven
- Charles William Sharpe
- Robert Shipster
- R.S. Syer
- J & F Tallis
- Charles Turner
- Unknown artist
- Benjamin West
- John Young