Abraham Hulk was a marine painter who was born in Holland in 1813. He studied art at the Amsterdam Academy between 1828 and 1834 under the tutelage of John Augustus Daiwaille and became one of the leading Dutch marine painters of the nineteenth century. In 1834 he visited North America, returning to Holland the following year where he set up a studio in Amsterdam. His work was highly saleable and in great demand and found a ready market both on the continent and in Britain. He was equally successful in depicting both calm and stormy scenes, and his smaller paintings were often sold in pairs, demonstrating his prowess with both subjects.