More than one third of Turner’s prolific output was devoted to ships and the sea, and to river estuary and harbour scenes. His sketchbooks contain hundreds of drawings of fishing boats, beach scenes, breaking waves, and studies for paintings such as Calais Pier and The Shipwreck.

He was inspired by, and painted a number of pictures as homage to, the seventeenth-century Dutch painters who pioneered the seapiece. In The Bridgewater Seapiece he successfully challenged van de Velde, the acknowledged master of marine art, in a picture designed to hang alongside his Dutch boats in a gale. From these beginnings he went on to develop a unique style which conveyed a sense of water and light with an intensity which has never been surpassed. He was equally adept at stormy seas and tranquil calms. Dordrecht, his painting of a Dutch packet boat becalmed, was described by John Constable as ‘the most complete work of genius I ever saw’.

Many of Turner’s paintings reflect Britain’s conflict with Napoleonic France and the part played in that long-running war by Nelson’s navy. As did most Englishmen and women of his day, Turner followed closely the exploits of Britain’s warships. With an invasion by Napoleon’s army a constant threat, the Royal Navy was crucial to the defence of the realm. News of Nelson’s victories at the Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar produced rejoicing across the country with church bells ringing and bonfires in the streets, while Nelson’s death and funeral were the occasion of grief and mourning on an unprecedented scale.

Turner painted two controversial pictures of the Battle of Trafalgar, and many fine watercolours of warships at Spithead. The most popular of all his paintings is The fighting Temeraire, the superannuated hulk of a first-rater being towed to her last berth, an evocative view of the ship which had fought alongside Nelson’s Victory.

This tour follows two interweaving themes: places where Turner painted and where his pictures can be seen; and places associated with Nelson’s navy.

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