To a 19th century audience a passing gleam of light reflected in the water, as captured by the photographer here, might well have a biblical association. In 1857, after seeing one of Le Gray’s sea views, a critic for the Journal of the Photographic Society wrote:

"From the midst of this ‘pother’ of dimness falls a gush of liquid light, full and flush on the sea, where it leaves a glow of glory…It is as when Jacob’s ladder of angels was just withdrawn, and the radiance above and below, where it rested on earth and sky, had not yet melted out."