rarily cruel forces of nature. In the painting, Turner demonstrates this through scale by painting enormous waves and low-lying and ominous clouds in comparison to the puny size of the boat filled with men trying to keep afloat. The stormy seas and roiling clouds are fierce enemies against the fishermen. Turner uses construction to place the boat with the fishermen to the far left and on an upward sweeping angle, in contrast to the sails which are placed blowing full to the right of this angle. The contrast demonstrates the tug-of-war struggle between the fishermen and the stormy seas or nature.
The insignificance of human beings in the face of the overwhelming power of nature is one of the key elements in TurnerÆs view of Romantic imagery. Turner uses brilliant colors to depict the fury and power of nature. His colors are not always those one typically associates with nature but he uses brilliant coloring to add to the power and impact of natureÆs fiercest emotions. As Tansey (et al.) maintains, ôTurner was a great innovator whose special inventionàwas to release color from any defining outlines in order to express the forces of nature,ö (p. 950).
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