English: The artist was the son of Dominic Serres and although he began his career as a landscape painter he followed the pattern set by his father. He travelled to Paris, Rome and Naples before he succeeded his father as Marine Painter to George III in 1793. He favoured painting sea-pieces in the European tradition and after becoming Marine Draughtsman to the Admiralty in 1800 made drawings of the coasts of France and Spain published in his book, 'The Little Sea Torch', in 1801. In 1805 he also published 'Liber Nauticus', a treatise on marine draughtsmanship containing engravings of his father's drawings. He was eventually ruined by the bizarre and extravagant behaviour of his wife, a self-deluding fantasist who styled herself 'Princess Olive of Cumberland'. He died in debtors' prison, after creating a set of large watercolours recording his experiences there. The painting is signed and dated on the stern of the hay barge, 'J T Serres pinxt 1823'.