This small picture of Dutch craft in a choppy sea, with an English ship in the left background, is a fairly typical example of Powell's work, much of which was of a 'potboiling' variety employing this type of subject and painted in a manner emulating the Dutch 17th-century school. This one is recorded as a pair to BHC1098 of ' Shipping in a calm', which is on panel, but this may be a mistake based on their very similar size. For, despite being recorded as also on panel, the annexed photograph - which shows the picture in unrestored condition - appears to indicate ripples down the right edge that are only consistent with the support being canvas [TBC]. Powell came from Chichester, spent some time at sea and was largely self-taught as a painter. He could do fine work (see for example BHC1895, of a two-decker warship entering Port Mahon) and exhibited at various times at both the Royal Academy (from 1807) and the British Institution (from 1813) until 1821. When he died in 1824, however, he left a large family in poverty. [PvdM 1/09]