In the years around 1890 artists such as John Brett and Henry Moore, as well as Wyllie, painted and exhibited pictures consisting of sea and sky, sometimes with only a single sail on the horizon. This watercolour study, however, was almost certainly done from nature, perhaps from the porthole of a ship, as Wyllie found it difficult to work on the deck of a ship without shade. Through studies like this Wyllie made himself very familiar with wave formations. In 'Marine Painting in Water-Colour' (1901), he wrote of one of his watercolours of large waves, 'A breeze in the Bay of Biscay':

'This study was made... from Nature. Of course the wave did not stand still to be painted, but there is a family likeness between these great waves at sea, and it is possible with careful watching to see the main features of them and to record them.’

W.L. Wyllie, ‘Marine Painting in Water-Colour’ (London: Cassell & Company Ltd., 1901)