Le château de Windsor vu depuis la Tamise

In 1805 Britain was braced for a French invasion, and Turner, who was 30, took a house on the Thames at Isleworth and spent the season working up and down the river. Windsor, on the reach he was painting, was where George III actually lived. He inscribed this canvas with the word Isleworth, which is the clue to how it was made. The castle sits far back on its hill, small and pale, while the near bank gets all the attention, with barges, punts, and a group of women driving sheep down to the water. The picture never really left the world it came out of. Lord Egremont bought it for Petworth House in Sussex, and although the government later accepted it in lieu of tax for the Tate, it hangs at Petworth still.