British 1789-1854 John Martin Gallery His first exhibited subject picture, Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion (now in the St. Louis Art Museum), was hung in the Ante-room of the Royal Academy in 1812, and sold for fifty guineas. It was followed by the Expulsion (1813), Paradise (1813), Clytie (1814), and Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon (1816). In 1821 appeared his Belshazzar's Feast, which excited much favorable and hostile comment, and was awarded a prize of £200 at the British Institution, where the Joshua had previously carried off a premium of £100. Then came the Destruction of Herculaneum (1822), the Creation (1824), the Eve of the Deluge (1841), and a series of other Biblical and imaginative subjects. The Plains of Heaven is thought to reflect his memories of the Allendale of his youth. Martin's large paintings were inspired by "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." In turn, the diorama makers borrowed Martin's work, to the point of plagiarism. A 2000-square-foot 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.  Related Paintings of John Martin :. | The Seventh Plague | Macbeth | The Eve of the Deluge | The Evening of the Deluge | Macbeth |
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Alexander von Humboldt
Berlin 1769-1859 Berlin,was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835). Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography was foundational to the field of biogeography. Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled to Latin America, exploring and describing it from a scientific point of view for the first time. His description of the journey was written up and published in an enormous set of volumes over 21 years. He was one of the first to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic were once joined (South America and Africa in particular). Later, his five-volume work Kosmos (1845) attempted to unify the various branches of scientific knowledge.
Gaston Saintpierre
1833 - 1916
Francesco Cozza
1605-1682)was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He was born in Stilo in Calabria and died in Rome. As a young man, he went to Rome and apprenticed with Domenichino. He traveled with Domenichino to Naples. He is best known for his expansive panegyric ceiling fresco, Apotheosis of Pamphili House, in the library of Palazzo Pamphili in Piazza Navona (1667-73). He also frescoed the Stanza del Fuoco in Palazzo Pamphili in Valmontone, 1658-59), where he worked along with Pier Francesco Mola, Gaspar Dughet, Mattia Preti, Giovanni Battista Tassi (il Cortonese), and Guglielmo Cortese. He also participated with Carlo Maratta and Domenico Maria Canuti in fresco decorations of the Palazzo Altieri. His landscape paintings recall the Carracci style of paesi con figure piccole (landscapes with small figures). He painted a Madonna del Riscatto in church of Santa Francesca Romana. He was received into the Accademia di San Luca at Rome in 1650.