This pair of canvases shows Turner's lifelong fascination with the motion of the sea. His early sketchbooks include numerous studies, made over consecutive pages, of the crash and spray of waves as they rose and fell on the northern shores of Britain. Such observations remained a consistent feature of his private studies, and contributed to the dynamism of his exhibited marine paintings.

The harbour wall and lighthouse at Margate can be seen in one of these two oil studies. However, it is unlikely that either work was painted from nature, despite the vigour of Turner's handling of paint.