Turner and the Sea, National Maritime Museum

So the story goes, JMW Turner once strapped himself to the mast of a ship prior to painting a storm at sea, the better to observe it. Although Turner scholars are divided about the story’s truth, its persistence is no bad thing, reminding us as it does that Turner is one of the world's greatest chroniclers of the sea. As an island nation, the British have all the more reason to love him.

If John Constable was the master of clouds, then Turner majored in water. So it's curious that this exhibition at the National Maritime Museum is the first large-scale examination of Turner’s lifelong fascination with the waves in all their shifting restlessness. Over half of his works had maritime subjects – even his London paintings commonly show the Thames, in which he enjoyed fishing during his downtime, and the 120 paintings in this show include some of the best he ever made. Something of the Romantic spirit of the late 18th and early 19th centuries – the search for the awesome, elemental and sublime – comes through loud and clear in his work, and water was also a medium whereby Turner to showcase his considerable virtuosity. 

The biggest hitter here is Turner’s largest painting and his only Royal commission, The Battle of Trafalgar (1824). But you’ll also see great pictures like The Fighting ‘Temeraire’ (1839), Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth (1842), Staffa, Fingal’s Cave (1832) and Calais Pier (1803), and the exhibition shows other artists, including Thomas Gainsborough and Constable. It’s also fun to think that in Turner’s time, Greenwich – so close to the museum – was a seething mass of boats.

Turner is, deservedly, due a revival in the coming year, and this is a wonderful opportunity to get ahead of the curve. To add to the fêted art prize, Margate gallery and Tate Britain collection that already bear his name, he’s about to come to the silver screen in a film by Mike Leigh, due out next year, as well as two separate biographies by Franny Moyles and Anthony Bailey.

Ticket price: Adult: £10 - Children (age 5 to 15): £5

Address and Map:  Romney Rd, Royal Borough of Greenwich, SE10 9NF  

Nearest Stations: Greenwich, Cutty Sark, Maze Hill