John Hope was one of numerous Scots who pursued successful careers in the army, and who attained distinction in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. After beginning his career in an Anglo-Dutch regiment, he was appointed Captain of the 60th Royal Americans. In the wake of the French Revolution, he served in the British forces that sought to contain France's conquests in Europe. From 1793, he was aide-de-camp to Sir William Erskine in Flanders, before taking charge of British forces in the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, recently seized from the allied republics of France and the Netherlands. While serving under Wellington in Spain during the subsequent Napoleonic Wars, he led a brigade at the battle of Salamanca, but was invalided home shortly afterwards.

Raeburn's portrait shows Hope in full uniform, every inch the cool and self-confident career soldier.