La Grandière was an Bougainville-class aviso of the French Navy that primarily served in the South Pacific during the Second World War. General Eisenhower based his headquarters in Gibraltar for the planning of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa. After victory in this campaign and the surrender of Italy in 1943, Gibraltar ceased to be a forward operating base and became a rear-area supply position. The harbour continued to operate dry docks and supply depots for convoys in the Mediterranean until the end of the war.

During the war Muncaster served as a lieutenant commander in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and as a camouflage advisor to the Admiralty. In 1943 (the date of the present work) he spent time in the North African desert on a special camouflage mission and it is therefore highly probable his journey to and/or from North Africa took him via Gibraltar. Muncaster sketched everywhere he went and the chance to capture La Grandière before the famous rock clearly couldn’t be resisted, but it is interesting to note that this work was vetted by the Admiralty, bearing a ‘NO ADMIRALTY OBJECTION’ stamp on the reverse. Muncaster was born Grahame Hall but changed his name to avoid any suggestion that he was trading on the success of his father, Oliver Hall, R.A. (1869-1957).