The painting 'Leaving Scapa Flow' is one of Eric Ravilious' most iconic wartime artworks. Painted during 1940 it is one amongst several haunting naval images painted whilst Ravilious was fulfilling his role as Official War Artist aboard the H. M. S Highlander. Scapa Flow is a body of water off the north coast of Scotland. There’s a vastness of sky and seascape here which seems to emphasise the loneliness of the single mariner. But there’s a poignant beauty in the blues and browns of the sea's icy depths. Ravilious was lost at sea while performing his role as war artist when in 1942 the aircraft he was travelling in came down off the coast of Iceland.