English: A full-length portrait very slightly to left and facing to right wearing captain's, over three years, full-dress uniform 1748-67. His hat is under his left arm and in his right hand he holds a letter inscribed 'Captain Hughes on the Somerset att Quebec'. He stands on a quay with a ship's bows in the background.

In 1761 Hughes visited the Italian port of Leghorn in the 'Somerset', which he had commanded at Wolfe's taking of Quebec in 1759 and which is shown in the background. He took the opportunity to visit nearby Florence and to have his portrait painted by Violante Beatrice Siries, also known by her married name as Madame Cerroti. She was the pupil of Fratellini Giovanna and was the daughter of Louis Siries, a French gem-engraver, hardstone-carver and goldsmith who worked in Italy. This highly stylized portrait shows the artist's fascination for the elaborate detailing of Hughes's naval uniform. It is inscribed 'Violante Betrix Siries de Cerroti fecit Florentine Annus 1761' on a stone to the right on the edge of the harbour and is in a fine Italian carved poplar frame, probably the original one in which it was delivered. Hughes later distinguished himself as Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies, 1775-83, during the War of American Independence, fighting five hard-fought actions against the French off India. He returned from this service immensely rich from the perquisites of the command.

The substantial figure of Hughes when an admiral appears in a later portrait of 1786-87 in the Museum's Greenwich Hospital collection, painted by Joshua Reynolds (BHC2972).

Captain Sir Edward Hughes, circa 1720-94