The painters discussed in the previous pages (who represent only a handful of the 18th century specialist marine artists) were often commissioned by merchant seamen or naval officers, who had particular requirements in terms of content and style. However, as the century drew to a close a number of landscape painters looked to the sea for inspiration and found a market with no professional interest in the sea. They looked for more picturesque subjects, which in some ways had more in common with the Dutch school of the previous century.
If the accuracy of rendering of both the sea and craft suffered, the drama of man's struggle against the elements was to be portrayed with new power. In this sense the 19th century artists' most important contribution was their portrayal of atmospheric effects rather than the details of life at sea. Certainly the work of Charles Brooking and those who followed him represent an important stage in this development, which was to be fully realised at the beginning of the next century by Turner, Constable and Cotman.
