John Martin (painter)

John Martin
Martin by Henry Warren, 1839
Born	(1789-07-19)19 July 1789 Haydon Bridge, Northumberland, England
Died	17 February 1854(1854-02-17) (aged 64) Douglas, Isle of Man
Movement	Romanticism
Spouse	Susan Martin ​ (m. 1818)​

John Martin (19 July 1789 – 17 February 1854) was an English Romanticist painter, engraver, and illustrator. He was celebrated for his typically vast and dramatic paintings of religious subjects and fantastic compositions, populated with minute figures placed in imposing landscapes. Martin's paintings, and the prints made from them, enjoyed great success with the general public, with Thomas Lawrence referring to him as "the most popular painter of his day". He was also lambasted by John Ruskin and other critics.^[1]

Martin was born in July 1789, in a one-room cottage,^[2] at Haydon Bridge, near Hexham in Northumberland, the fourth son of Fenwick Martin, a one-time fencing master. He was apprenticed by his father to a coachbuilder in Newcastle upon Tyne to learn heraldic painting, but owing to a dispute over wages the indentures were cancelled, and he was placed instead under Boniface Musso, an Italian artist, father of the enamel painter Charles Muss.^[3]

With his master, Martin moved from Newcastle to London in 1806,^[4] where he married at the age of nineteen. He supported himself by giving drawing lessons, and by painting in watercolours, and on china and glass — his only surviving painted plate is now in a private collection in England. His leisure was occupied in the study of perspective and architecture.^[3]

His brothers were William, the eldest, an inventor; Richard, a tanner who became a soldier in the Northumberland Fencibles in 1798, rising to the rank of Quartermaster Sergeant in the Grenadier Guards and fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo; and Jonathan, a preacher tormented by madness who set fire to York Minster in 1829, for which he stood trial.

Martin began to supplement his income by painting

In the years of the Regency from 1812 onwards there was a fashion for such ‘sublime’ paintings. Martin's first break came at the end of a season at the Royal Academy, where his first major sublime canvas Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion had been hung—and ignored. He brought it home, only to find there a visiting card from William Manning MP, who wanted to buy it from him. Patronage propelled Martin's career.

This promising career was interrupted by the deaths of his father, mother, grandmother and young son in a single year. Another distraction was William, who frequently asked him to draw up plans for his inventions, and whom he always indulged with help and money. But, heavily influenced by the works of John Milton, he continued with his grand themes despite setbacks. In 1816 Martin finally achieved public acclaim with Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon, even though it broke many of the conventional rules of composition. In 1818, on the back of the sale of the Fall of Babylon for £420 (equivalent to £30,000 in 2015),^[5] he finally rid himself of debt and bought a house in Marylebone, where he came into contact with artists, writers, scientists and Whig nobility.

• 
  Ruins of an Ancient City (1810). Oil on paper, mounted on canvas, 95.6 x 118.6 cm. Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
• 
  Arcadian Landscape (1810–14). Oil on canvas. Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
• 
  Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion (1812). Oil on canvas, 76.2 × 63.5 cm. Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri
• 
  Moonlight, Chepstow Castle (1815). Watercolour with gum arabic. Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
• 
  Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon (1816). Oil on canvas, 150 x 231 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• 
  The Bard (c. 1817). Oil on canvas, 127 x 101.6 cm. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut

Martin's triumph was Belshazzar's Feast (1820), of which he boasted beforehand, "it shall make more noise than any picture ever did before... only don't tell anyone I said so." Five thousand people paid to see it. It was later nearly ruined when the carriage in which it was being transported was struck by a train at a level crossing near Oswestry.

In private Martin was passionate, a devotee of chess—and, in common with his brothers, swordsmanship and javelin-throwing—and a devout Christian, believing in "

Martin's large paintings were closely connected with contemporary dioramas or panoramas, popular entertainments in which large painted cloths were displayed, and animated by the skilful use of artificial light. Martin has often been claimed as a forerunner of the epic cinema, and there is no doubt that the pioneer director D. W. Griffith was aware of his work."^[7] In turn, the diorama makers borrowed Martin's work, to the point of plagiarism. A 2,000-square-foot (190 m²) version of Belshazzar's Feast was mounted at a facility called the British Diorama in 1833; Martin tried, but failed, to shut down the display with a court order. Another diorama of the same picture was staged in New York City in 1835. These dioramas were tremendous successes with their audiences, but wounded Martin's reputation in the serious art world.^[8] The painting The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, 1852 is currently at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Following their exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1841, Pandæmonium, picturing a scene from Paradise Lost, and The Celestial City and the River of Bliss were bought by civil and mechanical engineer Benjamin Hick. After Hick's death, in 1842, the two paintings were auctioned by Thomas Winstanley & Sons of Liverpool at the Exchange Gallery in Manchester, in February 1843.^{[9][10][11][12]} Pandæmonium and its frame designed by Martin^[13] can be seen at the Louvre.

• 
  Macbeth (1820). Oil on canvas, 86 x 65.1 cm. Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
• 
  The Destruction of Pompei and Herculaneum (c. 1821). Oil on canvas, 161.6 x 253 cm. Tate Britain, London
• 
  The Seventh Plague of Egypt (1823). Oil on canvas, 144.1 x 214 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• 
  The Deluge (1834). Oil on canvas, 168.3 x 258.4 cm. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut
• 
  The Coronation of Queen Victoria (1839). Oil on canvas, 238.1 x 185.4 cm. Tate Britain, London
• 
  The Eve of the Deluge (1840). Oil on canvas, 143 x 218 cm. Windsor Castle, London
• 
  The Assuaging of the Waters (1840). Oil on canvas, 143.5 x 219.1 cm.

  California Palace of the Legion of Honor

  , San Francisco
• 
  Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still (c. 1840). Oil on canvas, 47.9 x 108.3 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
• 
  Destruction of Tyre (1840). Oil on canvas, 83.8 x 109.5 cm. Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio
• 
  Pandemonium (1841). Oil on canvas, 123 x 185 cm. Louvre, Paris

In addition to being a painter, John Martin was a mezzotint engraver. For significant periods of his life, he earned more from his engravings than his paintings. In 1823, Martin was commissioned by Samuel Prowett to illustrate John Milton's Paradise Lost, for which he was paid 2,000 guineas. Before the first 24 engravings were completed he was paid a further 1500 guineas for a second set of 24 engravings on smaller plates. Some of the more notable prints include Pandæmonium and Satan Presiding at the Infernal Council, remarkable for the science fiction element visible in the depicted architecture, and arguably his most dramatic composition Bridge over Chaos. Prowett issued 4 separate editions of the engravings in monthly instalments, the first appearing on 20 March 1825 and the last in 1827. Later, inspired by Prowett's venture, between 1831 and 1835 Martin published his own illustrations to accompany the Old Testament but the project was a serious drain on his resources and not very profitable. He sold his remaining stock to Charles Tilt who republished them in a folio album in 1838 and in a smaller format in 1839.

• 
  Satan Presiding at the Infernal Council (1824). Mezzotint and engraving, size unknown. Victoria and Albert Museum, London
• 
  Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still (1827). Mezzotint and etching, plate, 57.1 x 77.8 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
• 
  The Evening of the Deluge (1828). Mezzotint and engraving, 59.7 x 81.7 cm. Victoria and Albert Museum, London
• 
  Eve's Dream, Satan Aroused, from Paradise Lost (1824–1827) mezzotint, plate, 14 × 20.2 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• 
  Paradise, Adam and Eve, the Morning Hymn, from Paradise Lost (1824–1827). Mezzotint, plate 14.3 × 20.5 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• 
  The Creation of Light, from Paradise Lost (1824–1827). Mezzotint, plate, 13.3 × 19.7 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• 
  Satan Tempting Eve, from Paradise Lost (1824–1827). Mezzotint, plate, 14.3 × 20 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• 
  Bridge of Chaos, from Paradise Lost (1824–1827). Mezzotint, plate, 14.3 × 21 cm. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

• 
  The Destruction of Pharaoh’s Host (1836). Pencil, watercolour with gum arabic, 58.4 x 85.7 cm. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
• 
  The Country of the Iguanodon (1837). Watercolour on paper, 30.2 x 42.4 cm. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
• 
  Manfred and the Alpine Witch (1837). Watercolour, 38.8 x 55.8 cm. The Whitworth, Manchester
• 
  Manfred On The Jungfrau, inspired by Byron's Manfred (1837). Watercolour, gouache and gum arabic, dimensions unknown. Birmingham Museums Trust, Birmingham

His profile was raised further in February 1829 when his elder brother, non-conformist Jonathan Martin, deliberately set fire to York Minster. The fire caused extensive damage and the scene was likened by an onlooker to Martin's work, oblivious to the fact that it had more to do with him than it initially seemed. Jonathan Martin's defence at his trial was paid for with John Martin's money. Jonathan Martin, known as "Mad Martin", was ultimately found guilty but was spared the hangman's noose on the grounds of insanity.

Martin from about 1827 to 1828 had turned away from painting, and became involved with many engineering plans and inventions. He developed a fascination with solving London's water and sewage problems, and published various pamphlets and plans dealing with the metropolitan water supply, sewage, dock and railway systems.

• 
  The Plains of Heaven (c. 1851). Oil on canvas, 198 x 306 cm. Tate Britain, London
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  The Great Day of His Wrath (1851). Oil on canvas, 196.5 x 303 cm. Tate Britain, London
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  The Last Judgment (1853). Oil on canvas, 196 x 325 cm. Tate Britain, London
• 
  The Destruction Of Sodom And Gomorrah (1852). Oil on canvas, 136.3 x 212.3 cm. Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne

Martin enjoyed immense popularity and his influence survived. One of his followers was

Martin enjoyed a European reputation and influence. Heinrich Heine wrote of the music of Hector Berlioz that "It makes me see visions of fabulous empires and many a cloud-capped, impossible wonder. Its magical strains conjure up Babylon, the hanging gardens of Semiramis, the marvels of Nineveh, the mighty constructions of Mizraim, as we see them in the pictures of the English painter Martin."^[16]

Martin's work influenced the

Like some other popular artists, Martin fell victim to changes in fashion and public taste. His grandiose visions seemed theatrical and outmoded to the mid-Victorians, and after Martin died his works became neglected and gradually forgotten. "Few artists have been subject to such posthumous extremes of critical fortune, for in the 1930s his vast paintings fetched only a pound or two, while today they are valued at many thousands."[8]

In the 1930s and 1940s his work again came to be appreciated. Connections between his dramatic style and the arts and culture of the historically charged post-war period in Britain has been assessed by Anguix-Vilches who sees post-World War II enthusiasm for depictions of the Apocalypse as allowing Martin’s work to survive.^[18]

A number of Martin's works survive in public collections: the

In 2011–12 Tate Britain and Newcastle's Laing Art Gallery co-curated a major retrospective exhibition of Martin's work in all genres -"John Martin – Apocalypse" – including his contribution as a civil engineer.^[19] Featured in the exhibition was the fully restored The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, 1822. Recorded as lost in the disastrous Tate Gallery flood of 1928, the painting was rediscovered by Christopher Johnstone, a research assistant at the gallery, when he was researching his book John Martin (1974). Its restoration by Tate conservator Sarah Maisey, reveals that the original paintwork was in near pristine condition; a large area of missing canvas has been repainted by Maisey using techniques that were not available in 1973 as she describes on page 113 of the exhibition catalogue John Martin: Apocalypse (2011). When rediscovered the painting was rolled up inside the missing Paul Delaroche painting The Execution of Lady Jane Grey which was returned to the National Gallery, London.

With his wife Susan, née Garrett, who was nine years older than him, Martin had six children who survived to adulthood: Alfred (who worked with his father as a mezzotint engraver and later became a senior tax official), Isabella, Zenobia (who married the artist

Martin's eldest brother, William (1772–1851) was by turn a rope-maker, soldier, inventor, scientist, writer and lecturer, who attempted to develop a rival philosophy to "Newtonian" science, allowing for perpetual motion, and denying the law of gravity. Despite undoubted elements of "quackery and buffoonery", William had a great talent for inventing. In 1819 he produced a miner's safety lamp which was said to be better and more reliable than that of Sir Humphry Davy. The only recognition he achieved in this field was a silver medal from the Royal Society for the invention of the spring balance. The second eldest brother, Richard, was a quartermaster in the guards, serving throughout the Peninsular War, and was present at Waterloo. Jonathan, the third eldest brother, (1782–1838) achieved notoriety by setting fire to York Minster in February 1829. He was subsequently apprehended, tried and found not guilty on the grounds of insanity. He was confined to St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics in London, where he remained until his death.^[15]

• Paintings by John Martin
• Fantastic art

Further reading

• Adams, Max. The Prometheans: John Martin and the generation that stole the future . London, Quercus, 2010.
  ISBN 978-1-84916-173-2
• Balston, Thomas "John Martin, 1789–1854,. Illustrator and Pamphleteer" (The Bibliographical Society, London, 1934).
• Balston, Thomas "John Martin, 1789–1854. His Life and Works" (Duckworth & Co. Ltd., London, 1947).
• Baronnet, M. John Martin. Nancy, Lulu, 2010.
  ISBN 978-1-4452-7931-2
• Campbell, Michael J. John Martin – Visionary Printmaker (Campbell Fine Art / York City Art Gallery, 1992). The primary catalogue raisonne on the prints of John Martin.
  ISBN 0-9519387-0-3
• Campbell, Michael J. John Martin, 1789–1854. Creation of Light (Calcografia Nacional, Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid / Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006) Published by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Madrid, Spain in 2006, this is by far the most extensive publication ever issued on John Martin and is the most comprehensive publication on his prints. Printed in both English and Spanish.
  ISBN 84-96406-05-9
• Campbell, Michael J. & J. Dustin Wees. Darkness Visible. The Prints of John Martin (Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1896)
  ISBN 0-931102-20-0
• Feaver, William. The Art of John Martin. Oxford University Press, 1975.
  ISBN 0-19-817334-2
• Johnstone, Christopher.John Martin. Master of the Mezzotint. London, Alexander Postan Fine Art, 1974
• Johnstone, Christopher. John Martin. London, Academy Editions, 1974.
  ISBN 0-85670-175-0
• Morden, Barbara C. 'John Martin: Apocalypse Now!' (2010, 2015, 3rd reprint 2019) McNidder & Grace,
  ISBN 978-1-904794-99-8

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Martin.

• 43 artworks by or after John Martin at the Art UK site
• On John Martin and Cities
• Phryne's list of pictures by Martin in accessible UK collections
• Archives of John Martin held by Queen Mary, University of London Archives
• An engraving by W. Wallace of 'Gaius Marius Mourning over the Ruins of Carthage' in the Keepsake, 1833, together with a poetical illustration Marius at the Ruins of Carthage. by Letitia Elizabeth Landon.