This marine and its companion piece, View of the Island of Nisida, are rather unique in Vanvitelli's oeuvre, which primarily focuses on urban views or landscapes in which architecture plays a prominent role. Although his stay in Naples seems to have given him the opportunity to change landscapes and introduce new themes into his repertoire, such as seascapes, and although views of the coast between Pozzuoli and Naples inspired his painting for the rest of his life, particularly the small imaginary views, most of this mature painter's output was produced in small-format works with a predominance of tempera and watercolour on paper. In this view inspired by the cape that encloses the Phlegraean peninsula - a huge volcanic area to the northwest of the city of Naples that formed part of the itinerary of visits to the kingdom of Naples in the late 17th century - Vanvitelli paints a marine that is somewhere between real and ideal and does so in oil on canvas in one of his most common formats, 71 x 123, the same dimensions as the four urban views in the Foundation's collection. In these new landscapes, however, Vanvitelli does not renounce the meticulous, almost miniature style that he had learned to cultivate so excellently in his urban views.
In the inventory of Nicolás Fernández de Córdoba, 10th Duke of Medinaceli, nephew and heir of Luis Francisco de la Cerda y Aragón, who was Viceroy of Naples between 1696 and 1702, this view may correspond to numbers 102 and 103, which are described as "Peñascos y marina" and "Ottra de Peñas y marina" respectively. Of the same subject there is another, unnumbered, also described as "Peñascos y marina", but which, given its price, must have been considerably less.