[1] [2] It depicts a famous, possibly apocryphal, incident from the life of the artist's grandfather the marine painter Joseph Vernet who lashed himself to the mast of a ship in order to witness the effects of a storm.

He had received a commission from Louis XV to paint a series of pictures depicting the ports of France and after departing Italy had run into a violent storm.

[3] As a rising artist Horace Vernet promoted his connection with his celebrated grandfather but quickly developed a reputation as a prolific and versatile painter in his own right.

When a government-commissioned painting from Théodore Géricault fell through, Auguste de Forbin suggested that Vernet should take over the commission with a work depicting his grandfather.

[5] Ahead of the 1822 Salon, two of the works that the artist submitted The Gate of Clichy and The Battle of Jemappes were rejected by the authorities due to the display of historically accurate but now potentially subversive tricolour flags.