In 1832 French portraitist Alexandre-Jean Dubois Drahonet was commissioned by William IV to paint one hundred pictures illustrating the uniform of the British Army. The Royal Collection retains most of this series. A photograph of the Equerry’s Room at Windsor Castle taken in around 1900 shows some of these paintings hanging together, framed in groups.

During the period of peace following the Napoleonic Wars, increasingly elaborate (and often quite impractical) military attire was devised, particularly by George IV. By the time William IV came to the throne in 1830, uniforms had become too expensive and were simplified and adapted once again. The result of these changes was codified and promulgated in the 1831 Dress Regulations. These paintings were intended to provide a visual record of the recent changes to military dress. Their value is not only historical, however, but also aesthetic: Drahonet produces lively, slightly elongated figures, capturing their facial expressions and setting them in a variety of organic poses.

Each painting in the series depicts a single figure against a neutral background. Although their uniform and accoutrements are the focus, the sitters are often identified by name, as well as regiment and rank. As the inscription relays, this painting depicts Private John Kernan of the 7th (The Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards. The 7th Dragoon Guards, renamed after George III’s eldest daughter Charlotte in 1788, were a Heavy Cavalry Regiment, employed to deliver shock charges on the battlefield and also to fight their adversaries hand-to-hand.

The uniform is almost identical to that worn by Sergeant John Hawkins, although the Private does not have the badges or chevrons of rank. By showing the figure from behind, Drahonet emphasises various aspects of the uniform obscured from the front, including the sabre and the sabretache suspended from his shoulder belt. Kernan can be seen reaching into his ammunition pouch, to extract a cartridge for the carbine he holds out in front of him.