Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg (Strasbourg 1740-1812 London)

Better known as a landscape painter, a genre that he practised throughout his career, Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg was also a highly innovative historical painter, particularly during the 1790s. Dated 1791, this intriguing and well-preserved picture, which displays the artist’s technical virtuosity and taste for a vivid and fresh palette, is, apart from a drawing of the Apotheosis of the Captain Cook, a unique example in the artist’s career.