Trafalgar: HMS Victory sailing into glory

Strikingly different from so many Trafalgar views of Victory in action, Dixon has painted this close-up study of the flagship's stern with meticulous care. His rendering of the ornately glazed stern galleries, behind the lower level of which lay Nelson's 'great cabin', shows particular attention to detail and the manner in which severed ropes trail down every side of the ship into the water evokes one of the most commonplace yet poignant facets of war at sea in the age of sail.