Francis Danby (1793-1861) Together with William Turner, he was a leading painter of the Romantic < /a> era. He was born in Ireland into a family of farmers. After his father’s death, the family moved to Dublin, where the talented Francis learned to paint. He began working hard and sending his work to London for exhibitions. There, they began attracting much attention. Danby painted mostly landscapes around Devonshire, through which he came to the attention of William Blake. He gained membership in the Royal Academy. In the 1830s, he left England and travelled to Switzerland to Geneva. He came back to England after ten years in order to restore his career with huge illusionistic canvases with fanciful scenes. Also worth mentioning are his breath-taking images of sea-themes: Shipwreck.