Flagmen of Lowestoft The Flagmen of Lowestoft are a collection of thirteen paintings by Sir Peter Lely , painted in the mid - 1660s . They were originally part of the Royal Collection s , though most were gifted to Greenwich Hospital in the nineteenth century , and are now in the care of the National Maritime Museum . The paintings are of prominent naval officers , most of them of flag rank , who had fought at the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665 . Lely at the time was Principal Painter to King Charles II . Creation . The paintings were commissioned from Lely by James , Duke of York , brother of King Charles II , in late 1665 . James had commanded the English fleet against the Dutch at the Battle of Lowestoft on 13 June 1665 , and the portraits were intended to commemorate those who had served under him as junior flag officers and captains of some of the ships . Lely , Principal Painter to King Charles II , was working on the series known as the ' Windsor Beauties ' at the time for James ' s wife , Anne Hyde , Duchess of York . The full set consists of thirteen portraits of admirals and senior officers , or ' Flaggmen ' as they were known at the time . Diarist and naval administrator Samuel Pepys visited Lely ' s studio on 18 April 1666 , writing I to Mr . Lilly ' s , the painter ; and there saw the heads , some finished and all begun , of the Flaggmen in the late great fight with the Duke of Yorke against the Dutch . The Duke of Yorke hath them done to hang in his chamber , and very finely they are done indeed . He noted that work had begun on all but three portraits , those of the Earl of Sandwich , Sir Jeremiah Smith and Sir William Penn , had yet to be started . The absence of Lawson ' s portrait in Pepys ' s list may indicate that this was a later addition to the original commission , Lawson having died on 25 June 1665 of a wound he received in the battle . Since Lawson was already dead and the portrait had not been begun by 1666 , it was possibly a posthumous addition to the set . To create unity and emphasise the portraits as being part of a group , Lely painted them in an identical format , all three - quarter length , and on canvases measuring roughly by . Appraisal . Art historian Ellis Waterhouse assessed the series and declared that ' In such works Lely ' s splendid prose borders upon the poetry of the great masters ' . Brandon Henderson wrote Strength , depth of character , and psychological interest characterize these portraits , in which Lely brings forth honest and direct likenesses , dramatic gestures , serious - mindedness , dignity and pride . Each portrait in the series is remarkably individual , with fresh and varied poses , costume , attributes and experiences . Lely ' s series acted as a ' precedent and a paradigm ' for Sir Godfrey Kneller ' s ' Kit - Cat ' portraits , 42 portraits of members of the Kit - Cat Club , painted between 1697 and 1721 , albeit half - length and on a different size of canvas , later known as the Kit - cat . Donation . Thirteen individual portraits were created for the Royal Collections . In 1824 King George IV donated 31 paintings with naval connections to Greenwich Hospital , in support of the hospital ' s director , Edward Hawke Locker , who aimed to establish a naval gallery . Eleven of the flagmen portraits were included in the donation . The exceptions were the portraits of Admiral Sir John Lawson and Prince Rupert , which were retained in the Royal Collections . A copy of Lawson ' s portrait was instead presented in lieu of the original . George ' s successor , King William IV , presented an extended full - length copy of the Prince Rupert portrait to the Hospital in 1835 . The portraits are now held by the successor of Greenwich Hospital , the National Maritime Museum . Notes . a . The dimensions and details are for Lely ' s original portrait , still held in the Royal Collections . The image is however the full - length copy presented to Greenwich Hospital .