Conway Castle

Rising above a wind-whipped Welsh shoreline, Conway Castle dominates this watercolor by J. M. W. Turner. King Edward I had the fortress built in the late 1200s, but by Turner's day it stood as a weathered ruin, exactly the kind of subject that thrilled painters drawn to romance and decay. His stone towers seem to dissolve into the pale, cloudy sky, softening the line between solid rock and open air. On the water below, waves crash against the shore while a little boat full of figures pushes through the swell and a sailboat tilts against the breeze farther out.

Painted around 1802, this piece comes from early in the career that would eventually make Turner one of Britain's most admired landscape artists. His real passions are already on display, namely light, shifting weather, and the raw energy of the sea. The ancient castle almost fades into the background while the churning water and heavy air take center stage. Turner roamed widely across Wales and beyond, filling sketchbooks with scenes he would later work up into finished paintings in his studio. Decades before his bold experiments with color made him famous, he was clearly hooked on capturing nature caught mid-motion.