John Webber was the son of a Swiss sculptor. After studying in Berne and Paris he moved to London and entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1775. In 1776 he became the official artist on Captain James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific of 1776-80. Their two vessels, the Resolution and Discovery, reached Nootka Sound on the west coast of New Albion (now Vancouver Island) and anchored there for a refit on 29 March 1778, remaining until 26 April.

This view shows the stern of the Resolution, at anchor to the right, but the focus of the composition is on the landscape and on the encounters that seem to be between the European sailors and local people from Canada's First Nations, taking place in the numerous long-boats surrounding the ship.

Many of the drawings Webber produced were engraved for the official Admiralty account of the expedition publisehd in 1784. A much larger and more detailed 'roll' drawing of both the expedition ships in Ship Cove, Nootka Sound is in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich (PAJ2959).

Webber's 1776 portrait of Cook is in the National Portrait Gallery. His own South Seas ethnographic collection is today in the Historisches Museum, Bern, Switzerland.

This drawing is listed on p.292 of the 1837 AB inventory (drawn up by George Bailey, Soane's chief clerk and then the first Curator) as No 92 in Drawer 45: View in Nootka by Webber 2''0¾" x 1'7". This entry is annotated [in George Bailey's hand] ditto [e.g. as previous item (today SM P436) put into a frame] No. 435 / ditto [e.g. as previous, Decr 1838], confirming that this drawing was not framed during Soane's time but framed almost two years after his death.

John Webber 1751-1793: Landschaftsmaler und Südseefahrer mit Captain Cook, Kunstmuseum Bern, 26 March - 27 May 1996; Captain Cook's Painter: John Webber 1751- 1793, Pacific Voyager and Landscape Artist, The Whitworth, Manchester, 4 July - 15 September 1996