James Webb (1825-1895) was a marine and landscape painter who exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Society of British Artists, the New Watercolour Society, the Grosvenor Gallery and the British Institution amongst other places between the years 1853 and 1888. He was a well-travelled artist, painting coastal scenes not only in parts of England and Wales, but also in Holland, Belgium and France and parts of the Rhine. He also travelled around the Mediterranean, using noticeably brighter colours than when he painted in Northern Europe. His travels took him as far as Constantinople, the waterfront of which he also painted. Webb painted in a robust, naturalistic style. His father was artist Archibald Webb, who too specialised in seascapes.

This coastal scene, characterised by detailed study of several ships under an expansive, domineering sky, is typical of Webb’s work. It has been suggested that it depicts an area of coast near Dordrecht. Webb is known to have painted extensively around this region.

Source:
Christopher Wood, Dictionary of Victorian Painters (Woodbridge: Antiques Collectors’ Club, 1971), p.186