Neapolitan Fisher-girls Surprised Bathing by Moonlight

Dazzling effects in paintings such as this one, where clearing clouds unleash a sudden burst of moonlight in the night sky, led to Turner’s renown as a painter of light. Here, the explosion of moonlight startles a group of women who have been bathing in the Bay of Naples. Turner paints an eruption of Vesuvius in the background, while a fire burns in the right foreground, allowing him to contrast the red heat of the volcano and the warmth of the fire’s glow with the brilliance of the cold, white moonlight.