Surf's Up!

I took myself off to Petworth today to have a look round the house,  which was highlighting its famous and frequent visitor, the painter J. M. W. Turner,  and the emotions evoked by the sky in its Skyscape exhibition, featuring etchings and paintings from 16th - 20th century, owned and curated by the Ashmolean Museum.

Petworth holds the largest collection of 20 paintings after Tate Britain, as collected or commissioned by Turner's patron, the 3rd Earl of Egremont. They are now on show around the house or in the Gallery, built by the 2nd Earl in the 18th century to show off his collection of classical sculpture, and extended by the son to display a growing collection of 19th century works including Turner, Fuseli, Flaxman and Blake.

Walking round the grounds later, I came across evidence of tree damage from last week's storms, including a trunk showing damage where a large limb had clearly been torn off. This immediately reminded me of the sea and heavy surf - and gives yet another link back to the storms and Turner's favourite, and most popular, maritime theme.