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 :. | Pandemonium - One out of a set of mezzotints with the same title | View of the Orangerie | Seventh Plague | The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, | The Eve of the Deluge |
Related Artists:
Jan Adam Kruseman
Petrus Augustus de Genestet (P.A. de Genestet) (Amsterdam, November 21, 1829 - Rozendaal, July 2, 1861) was a Dutch poet and a theologian. Petrus Augustus de Genestet lost both of his parents at a very young age; after that he lived with his uncle, the Dutch painter Jan Adam Kruseman. He studied at the Amsterdamse Atheneum and the Seminarium der Remonstrantse Broederschap to become a preacher. He became minister in March of 1852 at the Genestetkerk (Genestetchurch) that was named after him, in Delft. In the same year he got married to Henriette Bienfait in Bloemendaal. They had two children. In 1859, he lost both his wife and oldest child died of tubercolosis, and because of his poor health he had to quit working as a minister. He moved to Amsterdam, but spent most of his summers in Bloemendaal. Two years later, in 1861, he died in Rozendaal.
Robert Walter Weir
Jun 18.1803-May 1.1889, Painter and teacher. By his own account he was self-taught, with the exception of a few lessons from an unknown heraldic painter named Robert Cooke. However, after exhibiting a few works that were praised by the local press, he was sent to Italy by a group of New York and Philadelphia businessmen for further studies. There he trained with Florentine history painter Pietro Benvenuti. After three years in Europe (1824-7), he returned to New York, where he quickly became a mainstay of the artistic community. In 1831 he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Design in New York, and three years later he was made instructor of drawing at the US Military Academy in West Point, New York, a post he held for the next 42 years.
SPADA, Lionello
Italian Baroque Era Painter, 1576-1622 Italian painter, active mainly in Emilia. His signature was an L placed across a sword [Ital. spada=sword]. His work shows influence of the grand manner of the Carracci, as in The Burning of Heretical Books (San Domenico, Bologna), and of Caravaggio's naturalism, seen in dramatic religious and genre scenes such as The Way to Calvary (Parma). In his late works his manner became softer and warmer under Correggio's influence. An example is The Marriage of St. Catherine (Parma).