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English Landscape
English Landscape

English Landscape

Artist (Haydon Bridge, Northumberland, England, 1789 - 1854)
Date1847
Mediumwatercolour and crayon on paper
ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings
DimensionsOverall: Height: 24.7 cm, Width: 35.6 cm
Frame: Height: 43.3 cm, Width: 54.3 cm
AcquisitionAlexander Webster Bequest, 1921.
CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG004368
About MeThis picture was purchased by local collector Alexander Webster in 1854 for £14.
John Martin’s career began as a coat of arms designer for English nobility. Strongly influenced by John Milton’s poetry and the Book of Revelations, he began painting dark scenes of the apocalypse. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1812. His paintings continued to have the drama and intensity that placed him in the Romantic School. In addition to painting, Martin also illustrated biblical stories and John Milton’s poetry. Martin specialized in vast panoramas (although not on exceptionally large canvases) of classical and biblical subjects in which tiny figures were shown overwhelmed by the forces of nature. His particular forte was the disaster painting -- depicting natural, man-made or supernatural catastrophes befalling a cast of thousands. His work was poplarised through the velvety-black prints that he made from his paintings.







More About Me

Martin was of the English Romantic school and best known for painting disasters rather than peaceful scenes like this.