Even in his most innovative works, painted in his maturity as an artist, Turner reasserted his faith in the great tradition of European art. The main starting points in his career had been Claude’s classical landscapes and the more empirical approach to nature typical of Dutch masters like Ruisdael. Both influences were still bearing fruit in the late years in works whose execution reveals development towards a radically modern conception. At the same time and as a means to consolidating his place in the history of art, Turner planned the bequest to the National Gallery of two works representative of his way of interpreting that double tradition. Finally, in tackling themes in his mature years from religious history, particularly Genesis and the Apocalypse, he displayed the most universal facet of his art, significantly linked to modern conceptions on colour.