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 :. | Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion | Manfred and the Alpine Witch | Seventh Plague | The Last Judgement | View of the Orangerie |
Related Artists:
Berghe, Christoffel van den
Dutch, approx. 1590-1645
Anton Azbe
(30 May 1862 - 6 August 1905) was a Slovene painter and teacher. He was born in a peasant family in the small Carniolan village of Dolenčice near Škofja Loka in Austria-Hungary (today, in Slovenia). At first he studied art in Ljubljana under the supervision of Janez Wolf who introduced him to the style of the Nazarene movement. At the age of twenty he went to Vienna, where he attended the Akademie der bildenden K??nste. In 1884 he moved to Munich. Initially he attended the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, but in 1885 he left it in order to join the private painting school of Ludwig von Löfftz. In 1892, he established his own school which soon became known under the name of Azbe-Schule and became one of the most renowned painting schools for young artists in the Bavarian capital. Several famous painters, particularly those who arrived to Munich from Slavic countries, attended Ažbe's school, including Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Rihard Jakopič and Nadežda Petrović.
Edward John Eyre
1815-1901,British colonial administrator. In Australia (1833?C45) he was a magistrate, explorer, and writer on Australian geography, and had a reputation for sympathy for the aborigines. After terms as lieutenant governor of New Zealand (1846?C53) and governor of St. Vincent (1854?C60), he became (1864) governor of Jamaica. He was recalled in 1866 after suppressing a black uprising the year before in which more than four hundred Jamaicans were executed. Eyre was accused of brutality and illegal acts, especially in the execution of George Gordon, a black member of the Jamaican legislature who had contravened the martial law imposed during the emergency. He was recalled in 1866. Several attempts, promoted by John Stuart Mill, Goldwin Smith, and Herbert Spencer, to try him for murder were forestalled by a committee of admirers, which included John Ruskin, Alfred Tennyson, Thomas Carlyle, and Charles Kingsley. An English grand jury declined to indict him, and a royal commission exonerated him, while criticizing his ??unnecessary rigour.?? The episode contributed to the fall of the government of Lord John Russell in 1866.