William of Orange Landing at Torbay, November 1688

This painting by Turner, completed in 1832, commemorates William of Orange's landing at Torbay on 5 November 1688, the founding episode of England's Glorious Revolution. The stadtholder of the United Provinces exploited the unpopularity of the Catholic king James II to invade England, forcing the latter to flee to France, where Louis XIV offered him hospitality at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. This event tipped England into the camp of the League of Augsburg, turning a continental conflict into the pan-European Nine Years' War.