Portraits of the better-known characters in Bonaparte & Brimstone were easy to locate. Lord Exmouth, Edward Pellew, was the subject of several portraits and etchings are common. Captain Edward Brace was also well-represented, much more so than Captain James Macnamara, which came as a surprise.
Beyond naval captains and aristocracy, though, finding portraits of family members is a long game, involving patience and luck. Paintings and drawings of his parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, may lie tucked away in attic boxes, waiting to be rooted through from one generation to the next. Websites like Ancestry can also throw up occasional gems, as can auction houses, like the portrait of John’s father William in his oversized top hat, which appeared for sale recently with an identifying note on the back.
The one principal player without a picture is John, unfortunately. That said, he left a portrait with the Massone family in Genoa two hundred years ago, so all is not lost…!
