John Martin

Romantic painter best known for his visions of spectacular and supernatural events, often scenes from the Bible, sometimes featuring elaborate and fantastic architectural perspectives. He worked first as a glass- and ceramics-painter. He made his name at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1812 with one of his first attempts at large-scale oil-painting, Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion (St. Louis Art Museum), in which the romantic hero struggles through an awe-inspiring mountain landscape. This and further evocations of the "Sublime," both paintings and mezzotint prints, caught the popular imagination, and Martin became one of the most celebrated artists of his day; through the prints in particular, his fame spread beyond Britain to the Continent of Europe and the United States. He achieved his greatest critical and financial success in 1821 with the exhibition of Belshazzar's Feast (private collection) at the British Institution. In his last years he painted a triptych of vast canvases on the theme of the Last Judgment (Tate Collection).

[Great British Paintings Label Text]