Chambers turned increasingly from oil painting to watercolour in the mid-1830s. He was elected AOWS (Associate of the 'Old' Society of Painters in Watercolours) in 1834 and OWS ('Old' Society of Painters in Watercolours) in 1835. Like many watercolour artists of his generation, Chambers was influenced by Bonington's palette and virtuoso handling of the medium. His friend, the artist Sidney Cooper, wrote that 'to all water he gave a liquid transparency � his ships are all in motion'. The watercolour is not signed.