A large is curragh depicted off the coast of Aran Island, Donegal, on the west coast of Ireland. The viewer looks down into the boat, which contains one man wearing a flat cap rowing with a pair of large oars. Two other figures sit in the stern of the boat, and all three are looking at the sheer cliff face that rises up parallel to the boat on the far right of the painting. Curraghs are characteristic of the south-western coast of Ireland, being work boats made of either leather or tarred canvas stretched over a wooden framework.

Born in Belfast, the artist was a landscape and portrait painter. He visited the west of Ireland, particularly Donegal, to make sketches which provided material for larger finished paintings.