Dahl was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1835. He was a student of I. P. Møller (1783–1854) and was taught perspective by G. F. Hetsch (1788–1864). He also became a student of C. W. Eckersberg (1783–1853), who was of decisive importance for his artistic development. Dahl trained as a marine painter under Eckersberg, and the two became close friends, even helping each other with the completion of paintings. For example, Dahl helped Eckersberg with drawing the rigging on his ship pictures in his late years. Dahl himself became a teacher at the Academy's perspective school in the years 1842–48. He was also a drawing teacher at the Naval Academy for 12 years and was on board several voyages with the Danish navy, which gave him the opportunity to closely study and depict ships with great technical accuracy.

Although Dahl was primarily a marine painter, he also produced topographical paintings. The present painting is from the small fishing village of Dyreborg, close to Dahl's birthplace, Faaborg on Funen.