Cooke made numerous trips throughout Europe and North Africa. In 1860, in company with Robert Bateman, he undertook a journey around Spain towards Tangier. A new, more luminous quality began to pervade the colours in his work. The light of the Mediterranean can be seen even in his pencil sketches, which show clarity and the sense of exoticism that Spain awakened in European travellers.

After staying in Valencia, they continued on their route along the east coast of Spain, arriving in Cartagena, where they collected their mail at the Consul’s house, and where the sick Cooke was tended by Dr Dailgarms. The doctor also introduced them to his family and found them lodgings and a studio where Cooke could work.

The port of Cartagena is the gateway to a multicultural melting pot of different civilisations, cultures and religions that have entered the city over two millenia, attracted by its strategic position and the abundance of natural resources in the surrounding landscape. The city was founded by the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal, and later seized by Plubio Cornelio Escipión. It was named Carthago Nova, and the period following this was one of the most magnificent in the city’s history. Later, the Arabs renamed it Qartayannat al-Halfa, before it was re-conquered by the Catholics in the 13th century.

In subsequent years it became a major commercial entrepôt, and established itself as a foremost naval and military base, from where the main naval expeditions to Italy and North Africa set sail. During the period of Habsburg rule, the port saw the enlistment of the Spanish Armada into the Holy League on the eve of the Battle of Lepanto. It was also during this period that Miguel de Cervantes spent some time in the city. In 1706 the English, in the name of Archduke Carlos, took the city and held it for five months, before it was conquered by Bourbon troops under Philip V. This victory brought with it an improvement in the organisation of the port, which was converted into a military bastion and magnificent naval base for the emerging imperial navy. In 1726 it became Capital of the Maritime Department of the Mediterranean.

Cooke’s drawing neglects this rich civic history to focus on a conventionally picturesque coastal landscape highlighting the lighthouse and in the centre of the composition a black-hulled, straight-stemmed lugger emerging from the harbour in full sail. A small thumbnail drawing above the vessel, inscribed ‘W’ and ‘Blue’ appears to refer to the colours of the flag the lugger is flying. The drawing is dated 2 January 1861.