2008年夏威夷大學歷史學系名譽教授馬幼垣先生發表論文〈讀中國近代海軍史劄記六題〉，對清末名臣沈葆楨的圖像提出了質疑，他認為習見的沈葆楨側坐官服照片實非沈葆楨，而是「參將徐潤芝」，以為另幅〈沈文肅公真像〉才是沈葆楨的真容。筆者對於此一結論頗感懷疑，因此詳考各圖像來源出處及繪製年代，析論何者為沈葆楨。本文推翻了馬先生的結論，他主張為沈葆楨真容的〈沈文肅公真像〉原件收藏於臺灣臺南鄭成功文物館，是一件近代肖像畫，與沈氏無關。爭議焦點的側坐官服照，出現於新聞雜誌The Far East: A Monthly Journal（《遠東月刊》，1876）以及研究臺灣的專著L''''ile Formose: Histoire et description（《臺灣島之歷史與地誌》，1885）。本文深入分析兩書的著作性質、作者（編輯）背景、撰作方式，確定The Far East所謂的「徐潤芝參將」是「以文作武」，其錯誤顯而易見，而L''''ile Formose雖略晚數年，其可信度卻有漢學家高第（Henri Cordier）、于雅樂（Camille Imbault-Huart）的背書，又有法國國家圖書館珍藏資料、沈葆楨四子沈瑜慶照片為佐證，由此推定像中人物為沈葆楨傳世唯一真容，攝影師為英國人威廉．桑德斯（William T. Saunders）。本文也考訂了現藏於臺北國立故宮博物館《紫光閣功臣像》的來源，是1886年慈禧下令繪製的紀功圖像，並發現另一幅〈紫光閣功臣小像〉其實是著名海派畫家、負責《點石齋畫報》的吳友如所繪。兩圖均成於沈葆楨身故之後，雖為朝廷榮寵，卻不是沈氏的容貌寫真。

In Six Observations upon Reading Notes on Modern Chinese Naval History (2008), Emeritus Professor Y. W. Ma of the University of Hawaii casts his doubts on the famous portrait of Shen Baozhen (also known as Shen, Paochen). The subject of the customary portrait, sitting sideways in full regalia, is not Shen, Ma argues, but a ＂Third-Ranking General Hsü Jun-chih.＂ The real Shen is found in another painting titled Portrait of the Elder Wenshu, Shen Baozhen. The present study challenges Professor Ma's findings via a careful examination of some major existing portraits of Shen. It turns out that Ma's so-called 'real' Shen portrait, currently housed in the Zheng Cheng-Gong Museum in Tainan, Taiwan, is actually a more recent creation, and is not a true copy of the real Shen. The controversial portrait showing Shen sitting sideways first appeared in The Far East: A Monthly Journal (1876) and later in L'ile Formose: Histoire et description (1885). This study examines the historical background of both editions and concludes that the Far East portrait was inadvertently labeled Portrait of Third-Ranking General Hsü Jun-chih. The L'ile Formose portrait was endorsed by sinologists Henri Cordier and Camille Imbault-Huart, and was supported by archived materials of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and an early photograph of Shen's fourth son. Hence the L'ile Formose portrait is the undisputed portrait of the real Shen. The portrait was taken by British photographer William T. Saunders. The present study also examines the provenance of Portraits of Meritorious Statesmen in the Tower of Violet Light (National Palace Museum, Taipei), an album commissioned by Empress Dowager Cixi in 1886. Another Shen portrait from the Petite Portraits of Meritorious Statesmen in the Tower of Violet Light was found to be the work of Wu Youru, famous artist and illustrator of the Tian-shi-zhai Pictorial. Both portraits were created posthumously and therefore not a truthful rendition of the historical Shen, despite their imperial status.