As a young man, Dawson worked in the wake of his tutor, the great Victorian sea painter Charles Napier Hemy - but by the end of his career, he was crowned King of the Waves, a 'doyen of British marine artists ... literally riding on the crest of a wave' as he painted towering clippers and warships (Daily Mirror, 4 April 1973). Dawson's maritime scenes combine  technical knowledge with a sailor's love of the sea and its many moods. This oil, unusually, omits ships altogether; a simple study of a fresh breeze ruffling the waves.