A squadron of the Red gathering at Spithead

Thomas Mitchell, like John Cleveley, combined the professions of marine painter and shipwright to the Admiralty throughout his career. In 1771 he was Builder's Assistant at His Majesty's Dockyard, Chatham, a role he later filled at Deptford, before becoming Assistant Surveyor of the Navy.

Mitchell exhibited 16 pictures at the Royal Academy between 1774 and 1789, and in both 1788 and 1789 Mitchell chose to exhibit paintings of 'A fleet of ships coming to anchor at Spithead', of which this is likely to be one.