He did some fine, if bleak, landscapes too, but it was the interiors that sold in his lifetime, and he is best remembered for paintings of the sun shining through curtainless window-panes, casting shadows on carpetless floors.

ECONOMIST: The mysterious paintings of Vilhelm Hammershoi

Typical townhouses in Havana were fitted with grand colonnaded portales (porches) to provide shade and shelter from the tropical weather, and rejas, metal bars, were secured over open window panes to protect against burglaries and allow for a freer circulation of air.

BBC: Cuba��s eclectic architecture

Sandy's final toll will include, for instance, the shattered panes of glass in a third-storey apartment window on a wind-whipped street in Washington DC.

BBC: Hurricane Sandy: The hidden costs