The most significant paintings of the MOD Art Collection are those commissioned by the Admiralty from the artists accompanying the voyages of exploration of Cook and Flinders.
The best of these (mainly the works of the artist William Hodges, showing the discoveries of Cook's second voyage) are on loan to the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.
When the survivors of Cook's team returned from their third voyage of exploration (Cook himself having been killed in a skirmish in Hawaii) they found themselves famous.
Pictures and descriptions of strange and exotic lands, people and animals gave rise to a thriving business in the sale of engravings; this painting and others in the series were exhibited by Webber in the Royal Academy Exhibition over several years. As part of the commission, the original paintings reverted to Admiralty ownership.
The view is of two huts, the large one containing stores, and an open-air trestle with objects. A century later one of the most powerful volcanic explosions in the history of the world occured at Krakatoa, a volcanic island located between Java and Sumatra.
In May, 1883, a series of eruptions commenced which continued until August 27, 1883, when an explosion blew the island apart.