Admiral Duncan (1731–1804) led the British fleet to victory against the Dutch at Camperdown in 1797. This full-length portrait of the national hero was commissioned in 1798 by the Incorporation of Mariners and Shipmasters, Leith. At the admiral’s request, the charitable institution for merchant seamen sent one of its members to serve on his ship. Harbour Master Edward Brown’s skills as a North Sea pilot were needed aboard the Venerable. Admiral Duncan wears a full naval uniform in his portrait. Over his blue frock coat with gold braid and white waistcoat and breeches sits a red sash. He stands by an open window framed with a red curtain. The sun shines on his left hand, which rests on his papers. The oil portrait hung in the Incorporation’s 16th-century hospital building at Kirkgate until the premises were torn down.