The Tate Gallery, London is building up to a major Autmn exhibition called Turner and the Masters.

See PBO’s image gallery Turner at the Tate 

The show will feature some of the world’s finest seascapes and nautical scenes, including this remarkably modern piece with the unfeasibly long full title:Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth making Signals in Shallow Water, and going by the Lead. The Author was in this storm on the night the Ariel left Harwich

When asked about this, Turner is said to have explained: “I did not paint it to be understood, but I wished to show what such a scene was like; I got the sailors to lash me to the mast to observe it; I was lashed for four hours, and I did not expect to escape, but I felt bound to record it if I did.”