Nelson and the Bear is an 1809 painting by the British artist Richard Westall.

[1] It depicts an incident in 1773 involving Horatio Nelson, then a fifteen-year-old midshipman accompanying a polar expedition to try and find the Northwest Passage.

Nelson's musket misfired and he reversed it to try and beat the bear off with the butt end.

In the background is the bomb vessel HMS Carcass on which Nelson was a crewmember.

[2] It omits the presence of Nelson's comrade, showing him confidently standing up to the bear alone.