This painting shows the Horsburgh Lighthouse, which was named after the navigator and hydrographer Captain James Horsburgh, F.R.S.. The lighthouse was built on Pedra Branca Island over a period of four years, and was completed in 1851. Pedra Branca was the site of many navigational accidents and the lighthouse was thus constructed to warn ships of rock-reefs in the area. This image of the lighthouse was painted a year after its completion by J.T. Thomson, the Engineer and Surveyor of Singapore from 1841 to 1853. Thomson had also planned the construction of the lighthouse.
