Die Abfahrt der Flotte

This was one of the last paintings Turner ever showed in public. In 1850, aged 75 and in failing health, he sent four canvases to the Royal Academy, all of them returning to the ancient story of Dido, queen of Carthage, and the Trojan hero Aeneas that had held him for decades. Here Aeneas's fleet sails away while Dido watches from the shore, knowing she has been abandoned. By now Turner had almost dissolved his subjects into light: the ships, the figures, and the harbour buildings all swim in a golden haze, more weather than detail. Many critics were baffled. He died the following year in a cottage in Chelsea, where he had been living quietly under the name Booth.