William Daniell was a landscape painter in oils and watercolours, and an engraver, mainly of Indian and British subjects. William had accompanied his uncle Thomas Daniell on an extensive tour of India between 1786 and 1793, assisting him with the watercolours that were later published as Oriental Scenery (6 parts 1795-1808). In 1793 the Daniells, intending to return to England, sailed from Bombay to Masqat. Here they heard news of the war between England and France and returned to Bombay, eventually to complete their journey the following year entirely by sea. Among the oils and watercolours of it that they had exhibited at the Royal Academy was William’s version of this view, hung in 1831, nearly forty years after their visit. Apart from the Daniells, few European artists visited Masqat, and representations of it are rare.

Both artist made sketches of the picturesque harbour of Masqat, dominated by the two sixteenth century fortresses built by the Portuguese. After 1500 the Portuguese had established a new trading route from the Indies, via the Cape of Good Hope, to Lisbon, and were attempting by force of arms to establish a trading monopoly in spices and other goods from India and the rest of East Asia. The chain of forts they constructed was very necessary, as their activity threatened the lucrative spice trade conducted by the Mamluks of Egypt. After the defeat of the Mamluks in 1517, the victorious Ottomans in turn mounted attacks on the Portuguese forts as part of their own attempts to dominate the trade.