A flagship of the Blue Squadron and a merchantman in the Channel off Dover

A leading maritime painter of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, Whitcombe's depiction of ships implies a specific knowledge of life at sea, although he probably spent most of his career in London. Testimony to his skill as a maritime artist was his selection by James Jenkins to create the paintings for the fifty splendid plates in Jenkins', The Naval Achievements of Great Britain, a splendid volume issued after the cessation of hostilities, published in 1817.