Judging by the film, it sure as fuck wasn't JMW Turner.
bernini
caravaggio
Louis Garnerey.
>be French navyman
>be merchantman
>be privateer
>piss Britain the fuck off during Napoleonic Wars
>rinse and repeat
>spend time in prison hulk (shitty old boats turned into floating prisons)
>get out after six years
>paint and write about experiences
>take part in failed coup
>run museum
>get a shout out from Melville in Moby Dick for painting whales properly