Rochester from the banks of the Medway with the castle and bridge beyond

Primarily a watercolourist, John Laporte was very much influenced by earlier landscape artists such as Paul Sandby (1725-1809), and a less obvious source of inspiration was Thomas Gainsborough: Laporte published A Collection of Prints Illustrative of English Scenery from the Drawings and Sketches of Thomas Gainsborough, London, 1802, with W.F. Wells.