Liverpool/Manchester, 1857

Easily the most stunning picture in the show is Rockets and Blue Lights to Warn Steamboats of Shoal Water (1840). It has taken almost 150 years to get from Liverpool to Manchester, having failed to make its scheduled appearance in the latter city's 1857 Art Treasures of Great Britain exhibition. Its owner refused to allow it to be transported by rail, insisting that it go by road. Fate intervened, and the horse-drawn cart carrying it was struck by a train at a level crossing, causing the owner to take fright and have the picture returned to him immediately.

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