EDIT: The browser, both on my laptop and even when I open the address via my phone's Chrome, it works fine. Only when I connect it with the Phonegap client app from my phone it behaves like that.
I've created a basic template with the Phonegap desktop application. When I try to display an image from an external url, it works fine on my browser, but when I try to preview the app on my phone,it displays a blank screen. Only the content of alt attribute gets displayed. I have seen a few posts to make sure config.xml contains <access origin="*" /> or check for "Content-Security-Policy" in your html file. I have checked for both of these things but I still don't see the image on my phone. Here is the complete content for config.xml which was generated by Phonegap desktop
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<widget id="com.phonegap.helloworld" version="1.0.0" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/ns/widgets" xmlns:gap="http://phonegap.com/ns/1.0">
<name>HELLO_WORLD</name>
<description>
Hello World sample application that responds to the deviceready event.
</description>
<author email="support@phonegap.com" href="http://phonegap.com">
PhoneGap Team
</author>
<content src="index.html" />
<preference name="DisallowOverscroll" value="true" />
<preference name="android-minSdkVersion" value="14" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-battery-status" source="npm" spec="~1.1.1" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-camera" source="npm" spec="~2.1.1" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-media-capture" source="npm" spec="~1.2.0" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-console" source="npm" spec="~1.0.2" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-contacts" source="npm" spec="~2.0.1" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-device" source="npm" spec="~1.1.1" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-device-motion" source="npm" spec="~1.2.0" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-device-orientation" source="npm" spec="~1.0.2" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-dialogs" source="npm" spec="~1.2.0" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-file" source="npm" spec="~4.1.1" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-file-transfer" source="npm" spec="~1.5.0" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-geolocation" source="npm" spec="~2.1.0" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-globalization" source="npm" spec="~1.0.3" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-inappbrowser" source="npm" spec="~1.3.0" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-media" source="npm" spec="~2.2.0" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-network-information" source="npm" spec="~1.2.0" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-splashscreen" source="npm" spec="~3.2.1" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-statusbar" source="npm" spec="~2.1.2" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-vibration" source="npm" spec="~2.1.0" />
<plugin name="cordova-plugin-whitelist" source="npm" spec="~1.2.1" />
<platform name="android">
<icon density="ldpi" src="www/res/icon/android/drawable-ldpi-icon.png" />
<icon density="mdpi" src="www/res/icon/android/drawable-mdpi-icon.png" />
<icon density="hdpi" src="www/res/icon/android/drawable-hdpi-icon.png" />
<icon density="xhdpi" src="www/res/icon/android/drawable-xhdpi-icon.png" />
<icon density="xxhdpi" src="www/res/icon/android/drawable-xxhdpi-icon.png" />
<icon density="xxxhdpi" src="www/res/icon/android/drawable-xxxhdpi-icon.png" />
<splash density="land-ldpi" src="www/res/screen/android/drawable-land-ldpi-screen.png" />
<splash density="land-mdpi" src="www/res/screen/android/drawable-land-mdpi-screen.png" />
<splash density="land-hdpi" src="www/res/screen/android/drawable-land-hdpi-screen.png" />
<splash density="land-xhdpi" src="www/res/screen/android/drawable-land-xhdpi-screen.png" />
<splash density="land-xxhdpi" src="www/res/screen/android/drawable-land-xxhdpi-screen.png" />
<splash density="land-xxxhdpi" src="www/res/screen/android/drawable-land-xxxhdpi-screen.png" />
<splash density="port-ldpi" src="www/res/screen/android/drawable-port-ldpi-screen.png" />
<splash density="port-mdpi" src="www/res/screen/android/drawable-port-mdpi-screen.png" />
<splash density="port-hdpi" src="www/res/screen/android/drawable-port-hdpi-screen.png" />
<splash density="port-xhdpi" src="www/res/screen/android/drawable-port-xhdpi-screen.png" />
<splash density="port-xxhdpi" src="www/res/screen/android/drawable-port-xxhdpi-screen.png" />
<splash density="port-xxxhdpi" src="www/res/screen/android/drawable-port-xxxhdpi-screen.png" />
</platform>
<platform name="ios">
<icon height="57" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon.png" width="57" />
<icon height="114" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon@2x.png" width="114" />
<icon height="40" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-40.png" width="40" />
<icon height="80" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-40@2x.png" width="80" />
<icon height="50" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-50.png" width="50" />
<icon height="100" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-50@2x.png" width="100" />
<icon height="60" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-60.png" width="60" />
<icon height="120" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-60@2x.png" width="120" />
<icon height="180" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-60@3x.png" width="180" />
<icon height="72" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-72.png" width="72" />
<icon height="144" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-72@2x.png" width="144" />
<icon height="76" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-76.png" width="76" />
<icon height="152" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-76@2x.png" width="152" />
<icon height="29" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-small.png" width="29" />
<icon height="58" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-small@2x.png" width="58" />
<icon height="87" platform="ios" src="www/res/icon/ios/icon-small@3x.png" width="87" />
<splash height="1136" platform="ios" src="www/res/screen/ios/Default-568h@2x~iphone.png" width="640" />
<splash height="1334" platform="ios" src="www/res/screen/ios/Default-667h.png" width="750" />
<splash height="2208" platform="ios" src="www/res/screen/ios/Default-736h.png" width="1242" />
<splash height="1242" platform="ios" src="www/res/screen/ios/Default-Landscape-736h.png" width="2208" />
<splash height="1536" platform="ios" src="www/res/screen/ios/Default-Landscape@2x~ipad.png" width="2048" />
<splash height="768" platform="ios" src="www/res/screen/ios/Default-Landscape~ipad.png" width="1024" />
<splash height="2048" platform="ios" src="www/res/screen/ios/Default-Portrait@2x~ipad.png" width="1536" />
<splash height="1024" platform="ios" src="www/res/screen/ios/Default-Portrait~ipad.png" width="768" />
<splash height="960" platform="ios" src="www/res/screen/ios/Default@2x~iphone.png" width="640" />
<splash height="480" platform="ios" src="www/res/screen/ios/Default~iphone.png" width="320" />
</platform>
<platform name="wp8">
<icon height="99" platform="wp8" src="www/res/icon/wp8/ApplicationIcon.png" width="99" />
<icon height="159" platform="wp8" src="www/res/icon/wp8/Background.png" width="159" />
<splash height="1280" platform="wp8" src="www/res/screen/wp8/screen-portrait.jpg" width="768" />
</platform>
<platform name="windows">
<icon height="150" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/Square150x150Logo.scale-100.png" width="150" />
<icon height="30" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/Square30x30Logo.scale-100.png" width="30" />
<icon height="50" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/StoreLogo.scale-100.png" width="50" />
<splash height="300" platform="windows" src="www/res/screen/windows/SplashScreen.scale-100.png" width="620" />
<icon height="120" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/StoreLogo.scale-240.png" width="120" />
<icon height="44" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/Square44x44Logo.scale-100.png" width="44" />
<icon height="106" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/Square44x44Logo.scale-240.png" width="106" />
<icon height="70" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/Square70x70Logo.scale-100.png" width="70" />
<icon height="71" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/Square71x71Logo.scale-100.png" width="71" />
<icon height="170" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/Square71x71Logo.scale-240.png" width="170" />
<icon height="360" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/Square150x150Logo.scale-240.png" width="360" />
<icon height="310" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/Square310x310Logo.scale-100.png" width="310" />
<icon height="150" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/Wide310x150Logo.scale-100.png" width="310" />
<icon height="360" platform="windows" src="www/res/icon/windows/Wide310x150Logo.scale-240.png" width="744" />
<splash height="1920" platform="windows" src="www/res/screen/windows/SplashScreenPhone.scale-240.png" width="1152" />
</platform>
<access origin="*" />
<allow-intent href="http://*/*" />
<allow-intent href="https://*/*" />
<allow-intent href="tel:*" />
<allow-intent href="sms:*" />
<allow-intent href="mailto:*" />
<allow-intent href="geo:*" />
<platform name="android">
<allow-intent href="market:*" />
</platform>
<platform name="ios">
<allow-intent href="itms:*" />
<allow-intent href="itms-apps:*" />
</platform>
</widget>
Updating the Phonegap client App on my phone fixed it. But first make sure to change the Content-security-policy in the meta tag as pointed by @TolgaOzses above.
<meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src * 'unsafe-inline'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; media-src *; img-src * " />