This image is dominated by the crash of waves, which rise up and race forwards, as if about to engulf the viewer. Turner once said he had been in a storm at sea and had been strapped to the ship’s mast so that he could observe its brutal power.

There may have been some bravado in this tale, but it is clear from pictures like this that he had spent many hours studying the patterns made by water in motion. Through a break in the rain-laden clouds, he has highlighted the sails of a distant boat, struggling against the gale.