A half-length portrait to left in captain's (over three years) full-dress uniform 1774-87. Man wears a white wig with black ribbon visible and holds his hat under his arm. In the background a British frigate flying the Union flag, on the left, is shown in the act of taking a small French schooner on the right.

In the Mediterranean in 1795 and with his flag in the 'Victory', 100 guns, he was one of the few that got close enough to engage during Hotham's action. The following year he was a rear-admiral during the war in the Mediterranean sent by Jervis to Gibraltar for supplies. He arrived safely and was chased by the Spanish fleet. On his arrival he called a council of war which concluded that since the British fleet was outnumbered by the Franco-Spanish fleet it would be best to take their squadron to England. The immediate result was that the British were forced to leave the Mediterranean for the time being. Man had no authority to make such a decision: he was ordered to strike his flag and was never employed at sea again.

Rigaud was born in Turin. He studied in Turin, Florence and Bologna, and lived in Rome for two years from 1768. In 1771 he settled in London, becoming an Associate of the Royal Academy in the following year and a full Academician in 1784. He received a steady stream of commissions for historical subjects, as well as decorative compositions and portraits. Rigaud was one of the major painters of large-scale decorative schemes for fashionable interiors of the late 18th century. As a portrait artist, he could be frank and expressive when not seeking heroic effects. The painting is signed and dated 1779 on the back of the original canvas.