19th c. Shipwreck Painting

The sea is up and the light is going, a boat with a broken mast pitching toward the shore as the waves break white against a lonely stone tower. Found in Le Mans and dating to the 19th century, it sets a stormy coast in miniature, the foundering boat, the round tower, and a castle on the cliff beyond, all in an ornate gilt frame. That churning water under a last band of gold is pure Romantic marine painting, the manner of Turner, who loved nothing better than a storm at sea, and the fine spotting over it is only the age of the piece showing through. Sylvie leans it on a shelf or hangs it in a cluster of small paintings, a whole storm no bigger than a hand.