Half length portrait of a young man [Bray album]<br><p>No. 26 of 74 (PAJ1976 - PAJ2049)
</p><p>A drawing of a young man dated and signed 'Decr: 74 AVprGB' (to the life by Gabriel Bray), the date suggests this is possibly one of the 'Pallas's' midshipmen or master's mates, though the dress is unspecific. 
</p><p>It is one of 73 drawings by Bray (plus one signed 'NF 1782') preserved in a 19th-century album. They have now been separately remounted. Bray (1750-1823), was second lieutenant of the 44-gun ‘Pallas’ under Captain the Hon. William Cornwallis (1744-1819) – later a well-known admiral - on two voyages (1774-77) to report on British interests in West Africa, including the slave trade. The dated drawings refer only to the first of these, from December 1774 to September 1775, though a few may be from the second. Others comprise country views, some of Deal, Kent (where Bray may have come from), and others of social-history interest.<br></p>
Half length portrait of a young man
<div class="fn value">
Gabriel Bray</div>
December 1774<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1774-12-00T00:00:00Z/10</div>
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