The Battle of Trafalgar (painting) installation. The painting now hangs in the National Maritime Museum, also in Greenwich, London. This work depicts a scene from the Battle of Trafalgar, a naval battle fought between the British and Franco-Spanish fleet off Cape Trafalgar in southwest Spain. The British had twenty-seven ships to the thirty-three of the Franco-Spanish fleet. Despite this, the British came out as decisively victorious and captured or destroyed nineteen of the Franco-Spanish ships. Admiral Nelson, of the British Navy, took an unconventional approach to this battle and split his fleet into two lines, one led by his flagship "Victory" and the other by
The Battle of Trafalgar (painting) paintings. The "Second Sketch for ‘The Battle of Trafalgar’" moves away from this traditional style and more closely resembles his final product with a more organized chaos via the build-up of clouds and people in the foreground. Despite this work being a commission, Turner chooses to depict the final work in a style that moves away from conventional practices and closer to his original work and personal style further indicating his personal connection with Trafalgar. While the subject of the piece is evident, there are elements of ambiguity suggesting the sublime, the dissolution of space via strokes of pure paint,