Overall: 16cm (6.25in) x 13.5cm (5.25in)
Oil on sheet brass. Portrait miniature of Emma Hamilton (1765-1815) after the Dresden court painter Schmidt who produced portraits of Nelson and Emma from sittings at the Hotel de Pologne in October 1800. Emma is depicted dress borrowed from Irish widow resident in Saxony, and wearing the Order of St John. Moreover Emma was the first Englishwoman to be awarded the Maltese cross. It was bestowed for aiding the Maltese during the French occupation by intervening on their behalf for relief with the Ferdinand I of Naples. Nelson subsequently hung Schmidt’s original (RMG A4288) in his cabin when at sea, including in Victory from 1802 to his death at Trafalgar and, according to Emma, called it his 'Guardian Angel’.