Danckerts was a landscape painter born and trained in The Hague who had visited Italy before settling in England during the 1660s and 70s. Records show Danckerts receiving payments from the King in the 1675 and 1679, while the inventories of Charles II and James II include landscapes by him – this one was at Whitehall in the reign of James II, its unusual subject allowing it to be identified with some certainty. Charles II acquired Tangier in 1661 as part of the dowry of his Portuguese wife, Catherine of Braganza; the British reinforced its ‘African Gibraltar’ with extensive fortifications all of which they blew up when forced to evacuate in 1684. This painting, like Danckerts’s English port scenes (OM 398-400, RCIN 402821, 406565 and 405156), was presumably created so that the King could discuss the fortifications of his new possession without needing a site visit. It is possible that the artist didn’t need one either as the port had been carefully drawn by Hollar in 1669. A view of Tangier from the south-west with the bay in the distance; the Union flag is flying from the Peterborough Tower in the distance and St George's flag from the Pole or Norwood Fort in the foreground.