Late Oil Seascapes
It was not only in watercolour that Turner investigated the infinitely changeable aspects of the sea. He also completed a considerable number of pictures of the shore and ocean in oil on canvas in the decade leading up to about 1845. These scenes show the sea as tempestuous, dangerous and turbulent as well as serene, sun-drenched and calm. The drama of the sea is usually reflected in the sky by equally vivid weather conditions, such as gathering storm clouds, swirling winds, fine sea mists or radiant sunsets. Turner employed techniques such as impasto (thickly applied paint) and scumbling (thin layers of paint often revealing underlying colour) combined with free and bold handling of the medium to suggest the transient effects of light and water.

Turner's painting, Fishing-Boats bringing a Disabled Ship into Port Ruysdael seems to be an homage to the Dutch marine and landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-82) whose work Turner had seen on a visit to the Louvre in Paris in 1802. Since there is no such place as Port Ruysdael, the title of the painting is probably a compliment to the seventeenth-century artist whose concern with the atmospheric qualities of the sea Turner admired and shared.