Copley owned a copy of Schelte à Bolswert's engraving after Rubens' Miraculous Draught of Fishes, although it is not known when he acquired it. His debt to Rubens can be seen in the overall visual turbulence and the dynamic compositional arrangement of the figures.

Above: Schelte Adams à Bolswert (1586-1659), Miraculous Draught of Fishes, engraving, 55.2 x 84.4 cm. The Harvard University Art Museums, Gift of Belinda L. Randall from the collection of John Witt Randall. Photograph © President and Fellows, Harvard College, Harvard University Art Museums. Left: John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark (detail), 1778. National Gallery of Art, Ferdinand Lammot Belin Fund 1963.6.1