John Martin

John Martin moved to London in 1806, where he married at the age of nineteen. During his career he painted mainly landscapes and biblical scenes. His first exhibited painting, Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion (1812), shows a landscape towering ominously above the human figure, and it gave rise to the term “Martinesque”, a new (and still used) artistic expression. It is questionable whether Martin was truly religious or was more preoccupied with the overwhelming power of nature. In any case his works were extremely popular, and crowds often had to be held back with barriers near his exhibitions. He earned a considerable fortune during his career, mostly from his engravings, but his grand plans for London’s sewer network and water supply drove him to the brink of bankruptcy. In 1853, the year he completed The Plains of Heaven, Martin suffered a stroke while painting. He never regained his speech and could not use his right hand. He lost the will to live and died in early 1854 on the Isle of Man, far from the English coast.

From the page of The Plains of Heaven