A Royal Navy Third Rate heeling in the breeze as she arrives off Gibraltar to join a Squadron of the Red lying at anchor inshore

Born in London c.1752, Thomas Whitcombe was a prominent maritime painter of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. His subjects included over one hundred and fifty engagements of the Royal Navy, topographical scenes including many views of Gibraltar and the Cape of Good Hope and ships portraits. In his paintings, the topography is always well observed and his depiction of ships is highly detailed and technically correct which implies a specific knowledge of life at sea, although he probably spent most of his career in London.

Testimony to his skill as a maritime artist was his selection by James Jenkins to create the paintings for the fifty plates in Jenkins', The Naval Achievements of Great Britain, a splendid volume issued after the cessation of hostilities, published in 1817. Exhibiting fifty-six paintings at the R.A. between 1783 and 1824, his work is represented in the national collection at Greenwich and other important naval collections around the world.