De Loutherbourg was born in Strasbourg and had a distinguished career in France including Royal patronage, before moving to London in 1771 to work as David Garrick’s scene painter. A regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy he became associated with military painting at the time of the Warley Camp paintings (RCIN 406348-9) and even accompanied the Duke of York on his Flemish expedition of 1793. In 1995 De Loutherbourg painted a depiction of the naval battle of the 1 June 1794; it was later acquired by George IV who commissioned Turner to supply a pair, depicting the Battle of Trafalgar (both paintings now at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich).

This huge landscape was commissioned by George IV, possibly for the 'Armoury' at Carlton House, at the princely cost of 1,000 guineas. An inventory of Carlton House describes the castle as Carnaervon (the painting caused the 'Carnaervon Room' at Buckingham Palace to be so named), but the architecture would seem to be no more than generically medieval. This is an essay in what might be called the 'Rococo-Sublime' - a combination of decorative and awe-inspiring effects popular at the time in England and France; what De Loutherbourg does with a Gothic castle, his contemporary Hubert Robert (1733-1808) does with oversize Roman ruins. Such landscapes have a threatening character epitomised by storm clouds, contorted trees, impassable rocks and the presence of bandits (usually at this date called for no very good reason 'Banditti').