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ART “4”
“2”-DAY 19 July |
| DEATHS:
1770 COTES — 1664 VAN DER POEL |
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Born on 19 July 1748: Pierre-Alexandre
Wille, Parisian artist who died on 09 January 1821. — He was the son of engraver Jean-Georges Wille [05 Nov 1715 – 15 Apr 1808]. Between 1761 and 1763 Pierre-Alexandre was trained by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, who was a friend of his father, and later by Joseph-Marie Vien. Approved (agréé) by the Académie Royale in 1774, he devoted himself to painting sentimental genre scenes, such as the Last Moments of a Beloved Wife (1784), in Greuze’s manner. He also did paintings for his father to engrave, including French Patriotism (1781) and The Double Reward of Merit (1785). Having played an active role in the French Revolution, he is barely documented thereafter. A drawing of Danton Led to the Scaffold was attributed to him by Maison. — Profile of a Man (1769 drawing 37x28cm; 3/4 size) — Head of a Young Girl (1775 drawing, 33x23cm; half-size _ ZOOM to full size) — Marie Antoinette and her Two Children (drawing, 14x11cm; full size) — Genre Scene: Four Figures (rough sketch, 14x14cm; 2/3 size) — Le patriotisme français ou le départ (1785, 162x129; 571x455pix, 164kb gif) _ Le buste sculpté désigné par le père de famille représente Louis XVI. |
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Died on 19 July 1770: Francis
Cotes, English painter and pastelist born on 20 May 1726.
— [Is it true that, when applying paint to canvas, he would have preferred
several Cotes, but could not find any relative to assist him?] — He was the son of an apothecary and the elder brother of miniaturist Samuel Cotes [1734–1818]. About 1741 Francis Cotes was apprenticed to George Knapton, who taught him to paint in oil and to draw in crayon, at which he became very accomplished. Rosalba Carriera had popularized crayon portraiture among Grand Tourists in Venice, and her example no doubt helped Cotes in his early work. Nevertheless, he did not imitate her soft modeling and delicate color in such portraits as Elizabeth, Lady Carysfoot (1751), in which he used bold tones, strong lines, and an almost universal portrait format, established in the 1740s and 1750s. He was fortunate in making crayon portraits of Maria Gunning and Elizabeth Gunning (1751; various versions), as his work reached a wide public through engravings made after them. Between 1753 and 1756 the Swiss pastelist Jean Etienne Liotard was in England, and his realistic approach to portraiture persuaded Cotes to abandon the Rococo portrait type. In Taylor White (1758) he adopted a very naturalistic pose, in which the sitter is seen to be engaged in checking ledgers — an appropriate pose for the Treasurer of Thomas Coram’s hospital for abandoned children. — Cotes was born in London, the eldest child of Robert Cotes and his second wife Elizabeth Lynn. At about the age of fifteen he entered the studio of George Knapton, who worked in pastel in the style of Rosalba as well as in oils. He began practice as a portraitist in his father's house on Cork Street, deriving from him an understanding of chemistry, the basis of his expertise in making pastels. Cotes' reputation was assured by the pastels he did in 1751 of the beautiful Gunning sisters, then idolized by society and the populace. His practice in oils dates from the late 1750s. In 1763 Cotes bought the large and elegant house on fashionable Cavendish Square later occupied by George Romney, took in students, of whom Russell was the principal, and employed Peter Toms as his drapery painter. He exhibited each year at the Society of Artists, becoming a director in 1765, the year he married Sarah (whose parentage is unknown). Forced, as a result of intrigue, to resign along with fifteen other directors in 1768, he was responsible, with William Chambers, Benjamin West, and Mary Moser, for founding the Royal Academy of Arts. He exhibited there from 1769 to 1770. He was then at the peak of his career, patronized and highly regarded by the royal family. He died in Richmond on 19 July 1770. — Peter Toms was an assistant of Cotes. — John Russell was a student of Cotes. — Small engraving portrait of Cotes — LINKS — Miss Summerville (77x64cm) — Admiral Thomas Craven [1715-1772] — Anna Maria Astley, Aged Seven, and her Brother Edward, Aged Five and a Half (1767, 200x160cm) _ The children's father Sir Edward Astley, of Melton Hall, Norfolk, represented the county in Parliament for over twenty years. It is thought that this portrait was commissioned by their maternal grandfather, from whose family it comes. Children's groups were always a challenge to artists, since they required more informality, movement and inventiveness than adult portraiture. Cotes uses here the playful device of Anna Maria trying to run off with her brother's magnificent hat. The huge dog reminds us that these are still small children. Anna Maria's vitality is deceptive: she was to die the following year. Edward lived to pursue a successful career in the army. — Portrait of a Lady (1768, 127x 102cm) _ This elegant and ornamental portrait is a fine example of Cotes's style, which emphasises outward fashion opposed to depiction of character. The sitter, whose identity is not certain, sits on a garden bench in an artificial yet striking pose. Her gown and its lace are arranged decoratively about her, the pink and white coloring echoed by the foxgloves behind her, and the roses in the urn on the left.The portrait was painted in 1768, the same year as the foundation of the Royal Academy. Cotes was one of its founder members, which his prominent signature on the tree trunk, 'F Cotes RA px', proudly announces. — Paul Sandby (1761, 125x100cm) _ Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the idea of the artist became romanticized. Here, the landscape painter Paul Sandby [1730-1809] is shown in a relaxed attitude, sketching a view beyond the open window. His enraptured gaze and the fact that he is looking out of the window, rather than self-consciously presenting himself to the viewer, shows a new attitude towards the idea of the artist, emphasising his emotional involvement with his subject matter rather than his position in society. |
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Born on 19 July 1834: Hilaire-Germain-Edgar
Degas (or de Gas), French painter who died on 26 September
1917. — [Il faisait des Degas, PAS des dégas, et pas des “gars
Dédé”.] — Born Hilaire Germain Edgar de Ga. Father was a prominent banker. His father and grandfather signed their names “De Gas”, as did the artist until ca. 1870. He studied at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and briefly at law school but was most interested in becoming an artist; in 1853 he began to copy at the Louvre. He entered the École des Beaux-Arts in 1855 and from 1856 to 1859 lived in Italy, studying the old masters and working from the model. In Italy again in 1860, he started his first great painting, The Bellelli Family (1862; 849x1066pix). His early work was mainly portraiture and large classical compositions, and he contributed regularly to the Salon from 1865 to 1870. His first sculptures date from the mid-sixties. In 1872-1873, Degas visited New Orleans to see his brother, René, who was in the cotton trade there. It was during this time that Degas produced Cotton Office, New Orleans. In 1876, René became insolvent and it was Edgar who sacrificed his own personal fortune to assume the responsibility of his brothers debts. Degas was to feel this burden until 1883. Back in Paris in 1874, he helped organize the first impressionist exhibition and contributed to all but one of the subsequent group shows, although his many paintings of the ballet and opera, cafe scenes, horse races, and other aspects of metropolitan life are distinct in style and subject matter from the work of his impressionist colleagues. About 1892 Degas began to work primarily in pastels. Plagued by ill health and near blindness after about 1900, his style became increasingly broad, and by 1910 he had ceased working. — Edgar Degas was born into the family of bankers of aristocratic extraction. His mother died in 1847, so the boy's father, Auguste de Gas, and grandfather, Hilaire de Gas, were the most influential figures in his early life. Despite his own desire to paint he began to study law, but broke off his studies in 1853. He frequented Félix Joseph Barrias’s studio and spent his time copying Renaissance works. In 1854-1859 he made several trips to Italy, some of the time visiting relatives, studying the Old Masters; he painted historical pictures and realistic portraits of his relatives: Marguerite de Gas, the Artist's Sister. (1859), Achille de Gas in the Uniform of a Cadet. (1856-57), Hilaire de Gas, Grandfather of the Artist. (1857) — 87 year-old head of the family. By 1860 Degas had drawn over 700 copies of other works, mainly early Italian Renaissance and French classical art. The most important historical work of the period was Spartan Girls Challenging Boys. (1861). It was exhibited only in 1879 at the fifth Impressionist show, and he kept it in his studio throughout his life. It was with a historical painting The Suffering of the City of New Orleans. (1865) that Degas made his salon debut in 1865. The picture got little attention. It must have seemed anachronistic and artificial: a medieval landscape setting and naked women bodies were used to symbolize the sufferings of Confederate New Orleans, which was occupied by Union troops in 1862 in the course of the Civil War. The Suffering... turned out to be his last historical painting. In the troubled post-war years Degas undertook his longest journey. In 1872 with his younger brother René, he traveled to New York and New Orleans, where his uncle, his mother's brother, Michel Musson, ran a cotton business. Degas stayed in Louisiana for 5 months and returned to Paris in February 1873. In America he fulfilled a number of works. Courtyard of a House in New Orleans. (1872) shows part of the Musson’s home in Esplanade avenue and possibly the room that served Degas a studio during his stay. The most important work resulting from his visit to the US was Portraits in a New Orleans Cotton office. (1873). After his return from the US, Degas had closer contact with dealers such as Durand-Ruel, in an attempt to bring his work to public attention independently of the Salon. In 1874 Degas helped organize the 1st Impressionist exhibition. He always found the term “Impressionism” unacceptable — mainly, perhaps, because he did not share the Impressionists’ over-riding interest in landscape and color. He did not care to be tied down to one method of painting. Nonetheless, Degas was to participate in all the group exhibitions except that of 1882. Degas used the group and the exhibitions high-handedly to promote himself. His strategy seems to have been to show off his own diversity at the exhibitions, for he always entered works that were thematically and technically very varied. Since late 1860s Degas frequently painted jockeys and race horses: Race Horses. (1867), Carriage at the Races. (1869). From 1870 he increasingly painted ballet subjects: Dance Class. (1871), Dancing Examination. (1874), The Star. (1877). Among other reasons they were easier to sell. Degas’ ballerinas have determined his popular image to his day. The rapid worsening of his eye condition caused him to avoid all society; he drew pastels, modeled statues in wax and extended his art collection. In 1909-1911, due to failing eyesight, he stopped work completely. After Degas’ death about 150 small sculptural works were found in his studio, and unsurprisingly his subjects tended to be race horses or dancers. — Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas was a French painter and sculptor whose innovative composition, skillful drawing, and perceptive analysis of movement made him one of the masters of modern art in the late 19th century. Degas is usually classed with the impressionists, and he exhibited with them in seven of the eight impressionist exhibitions. However, his training in classical drafting and his dislike of painting directly from nature produced a style that represented a related alternative to impressionism. Degas was born into a well-to-do banking family in Paris. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under a disciple of the famous French classicist J. A. D. Ingres, where Degas developed the great drawing ability that was to be a salient characteristic of his art. After 1865, under the influence of the budding impressionist movement, he gave up academic subjects to turn to contemporary themes. But, unlike the impressionists, he preferred to work in the studio and was uninterested in the study of natural light that fascinated them. He was attracted by theatrical subjects, and most of his works depict racecourses, theaters, cafés, music halls, or boudoirs. Degas was a keen observer of humanity — particularly of women, with whom his work is preoccupied — and in his portraits as well as in his studies of dancers, milliners, and laundresses, he cultivated a complete objectivity, attempting to catch his subjects in poses as natural and spontaneous as those recorded in action photographs. His study of Japanese prints led him to experiment with unusual visual angles and asymmetrical compositions. His subjects often appear cropped at the edges, as in Ballet Rehearsal (1876). In Mme. Paul Valpinçon with Chrysanthemums (1865; 848x1069pix, 216kb), the lady is pushed into a corner of the canvas by the large central arrangement of flowers; despite the title, the flowers in this painting include yellow and red sunflowers, gaillardia, marguerites, cornflowers and dahlias, with only a few chrysanthemums. The figure was added to what had been solely a still life, and the original date, 1858, is still discernible. In the 1880s, when his eyesight began to fail, Degas began increasingly to work in two new media that did not require intense visual acuity: sculpture and pastel. In his sculpture, as in his paintings, he attempted to catch the action of the moment, and his ballet dancers and female nudes are depicted in poses that make no attempt to conceal their subjects' physical exertions. His pastels are usually simple compositions containing only a few figures. He was obliged to depend on vibrant colors and meaningful gestures rather than on precise lines and careful detailing, but, in spite of such limitations, these works are eloquent and expressive and have a simple grandeur unsurpassed by any of his other works. Degas was not well known to the public, and his true artistic stature did not become evident until after his death. He died in Paris. — LINKS — L'impresario — Portrait d'un Homme — Self-Portrait (1863) — La famille Bellelli (1882) _ At the time of the painting, the Bellelli family was living in exile and soon headed toward divorce. Obviously this is not a happy family and Degas captures this inner dynamic through his positioning of the characters, lack of eye contact, and alliances between children and parents. — In a New Orleans Cotton Office (1873) — Café Concert Singer (1878) — Song of the Dog (1877) — Ballet Rehearsal on Stage (1874) — Dance Class (1874) — Dance Class (1871) — Orchestra Musicians (1871) — The Orchestra of the Opéra (1870) — Woman Ironing (1869) — Les Repasseuses (1885; 939x1000pix, 142kb) — René De Gas the artist's young brother (1855; 1063x880pix, 164kb) — Henri de Gas and his Niece Lucy, (1877) — Dancing Class (1876) — Rehearsal (1873) — The Rehearsal (1891) — Dance Lesson (1879) — Posing (1878) — Dancers (1890) — Rehearsing (1879) — Ballet Rehearsal (1874) — The Curtain (1880) — Ballet Rehearsal (1875) — Singers on Stage (1877) — Dancer on Stage (1878) — Ballet Dancers in the Wings — The Star (1876) — Concert (1877) — Cirque Fernando (1879) — Four Dancers (1902) — Dancers in Pink (1880) — The Dance Examination — Millinery Shop (1882) — Woman with a Hat — Race Horses (1885) — Chevaux a Longchamp — Racehorses in Front of the Grandstand (1867) — Aux Courses en Province (1872) — Morning Bath — Bathing — Woman Bathing — Woman Getting out of the Bath (1877) — Girl Drying Herself (1885) — After the Bath (1883) — Another After the Bath (1883) — Combing Hair (1879) — Women Relaxing — Madame Camus — Roman Beggar Woman — Women in a Cafe (1877) — Michel Levy (1873) — Cup of Chocolate (1905) — Young Spartans (1860) — David & Goliath (1864) — Intérieur (1869, 81x114cm) — Place de la Concorde (1875; 987x1496pix, 211kb) — In a Café (The Absinthe Drinker) — At the Beach (1876) — 539 images at Webshots |
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Died on 19 July 1664: Egbert Lievenszoon van der Poel,
Dutch Baroque
painter born on 09 March 1621, son of a Delft goldsmith. — He may have resided during 1648 in the coastal town of Scheveningen, outside The Hague. He registered with the Guild of Saint Luke in Delft on 17 October 1650 as a landscape painter. A year later he married Aeltgen Willems van Linschooten in Maasluis, near Rotterdam. The couple were living on the Doelenstraat in Delft at the time of the gunpowder explosion on 12 October 1654, which may have killed one of their daughters who was buried in the Nieuwe Kerk there on 14 October. The couple had three daughters who were baptized in Delft. The baptismal records of a son indicate that the artist was living on the Rotte next to the Saint Joris House in Rotterdam by November 1655. He died in Rotterdam. — Van der Poel was a painter of landscapes and townscapes, specializing in scenes of nocturnal fires and brandjes en maneschijntjes. When he married in 1651 he moved from (Nieuwe) Doelenstraat to Nieuwe Langendijk. In 1652 he was again living on Doelenstraat near Carel Fabritius. He is also known for nocturnal scenes , possibly under the influence of Bramer. In and after 1654 he painted scenes of destruction in Delft. Two days after the gunpowder explosion one of Egbert's children was buried from Oosteinde, possibly a temporary address. — LINKS — The Fair (1661, 98x158cm) — A Skating Scene (1656, 36x48cm; 467x618pix, 106kb) — Farmyard (24x28cm; 600x667pix, 67kb) _ Van der Poel often produced series of paintings of the same topic, all very much alike. Other paintings of this series are a.o. in the Louvre and in the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden. — Celebration by Torchlight on the Oude Delft (1654, 55x43cm) _ In this nocturnal scene Van der Poel takes us to one of the best-known buildings in Delft: the Gemeenlandshuis of Delfland, illuminated by torches, with rich ornamentation and coats of arms above the entrance. This Late Gothic house was built in 1505 as a residence for the dikereeve and bailiff Jan de Huyter. In 1645 it became the seat of the board of the Hoogheemraadschap of Delfland. The building occupies a prominent place on Delft's oldest canal, the Oude Delft, just south of the Prinsenhof, the erstwhile Convent of Saint Agatha and residence of William the Silent until his assassination in 1584. On the right in the painting, behind the bridge, one can make out the tower of the Oude Kerk. In front of the Gemeenlandshuis a crowd has gathered, captivated by the spectacle of the blazing torches and the fireworks in the night sky. The torches are made from barrels filled with pitch or tar and mounted on poles. They were usually paid for by the town or by private individuals on the occasion of a festivity. The painting is undated and contains no unambiguous indications of the nature of the event represented. Traditionally the picture has been interpreted as a depiction of the celebrations of the conclusion of the Treaty of Münster, which was signed on 15 May 1648. In honor of this momentous event the States General ordered a day of thanksgiving and rejoicing on 05 June, the day of the official announcement. Alternatively, it has been suggested that he scene shows the festivities on the occasion of the Hoogheemraadschap's installation in the Gemeenlandshuis in 1645. This interpretation explains the building's prominence in the painting, though such a well-known edifice may simply have provided Van der Poel with a readily identifiable Delft setting. — The Explosion of the Delft magazine (1654; 755x965pix, 81kb) _ After his earlier, peaceful farmyards, landscapes, and moonlit beaches, Van der Poel seems to have developed a penchant for the depiction of catastrophic events. Not only did he paint numerous views of Delft during and after the explosion of 1654 that devastated large parts of the city but, possibly inspired by the event, he also made a specialty of nocturnes showing burning houses and people desperately trying to fight the fire and save their possessions — or loot other people's. These "brandjes", as they were known in contemporary inventories, were evidently popular and gained Van der Poel the accolade of being 'the best painter of fire in all of the Netherlands." “'t Sekreet van Hollandt” secret gun powder storage was the site of the gunpowder explosion of 12 October 1654 at 10:30, the sonic boom of which reverberated to the island Texel in the far north of Holland. The blast killed Carel Fabritius but for other painters such as Daniel Vosmaer and Egbert van der Poel it yielded a new market for many townscape views of the devastated areas. They and others earned a livelihood in a new branch of townscape views. This gunpowder storage bunker, which was hidden from view with bushes, was hard to reach by foot and it was therefore virtually unknown to the Delft population. It was built on the grounds of the former Clarisse convent, to the west of the Oude Doelen building. Hundreds of buildings were razed to the ground, including the Nieuwe Doelen, where the schutterij trained, and the Oude Doelen. Large trees were sheared at the bottom. — Fire in a Village (38x32cm; 527x435pix; 30kb) _ Sujet éminemment propice à des effets de pittoresque et de virtuosité picturale très prisé par l'artiste qui s'en fit une spécialité en marge des Van Ostade et de Teniers. — View of Delft after the Explosion of 1654 (1654, 36x50cm; 802x1056pix, 126kb) _ On Monday 12 October 1654, shortly after half past eleven in the morning (or at 10:30?), one of Delft's powder magazines exploded and devastated a large part of the city. The "Delfische Donderslag" was said to have been heard as far away as the island of Texel, 110 km north of Delft. This painting shows the terrible damage caused by the explosion. In the distance against the horizon the two major churches of the city, the Oude and the Niewe Kerk, stand relatively intact. Between them is the Town Hall tower. The church on the extreme right is the chapel of the Hospital of Saint George in Noordeinde.To the right of the picture is the area where the gunpowder had been stored; all that remains are a crater filled with water, some burnt trees, roofless houses, and piles of rubble. In the foreground, people are busy helping the wounded and comforting one another. Two men crossing a bridge on the left of the picture carry a basket containing the few belongings they have managed to salvage. The magazine, known as the Secreet van Hollandt, had been established in the former Clarissenklooster in the northeastern corner of Delft in 1572. When the magazine, large parts of which were underground, exploded, it contained about 40 tons of gunpowder. The force of the blast was so great that most houses in the immediate vicinity were destroyed and buildings throughout the city were damaged. The two major churches, the Oude and the Nieuwe Kerk, were also damaged. Although the number of people killed is not known, it has been estimated that deaths were in the hundreds. Among the casualties was one of Delft's most famous painters, Carel Fabritius. News of the event spread rapidly throughout the country. The States General sent a note of condolence; Elizabeth, queen of Bohemia, paid a visit; and many other people came to survey the devastation. While we do not know whether Van der Poel witnessed the explosion, it is possible that he was personally touched by it: one of his children may have died in the catastrophe. Certainly, the event had a great effect on his work. About twenty versions of the present composition survive, showing either the explosion itself or the devastated townscape that was left in its wake. Toward the right of the picture is the area of the former magazine. All that is left are a crater filled with water, some charred trees, remnants of houses, and piles of rubble. In the foreground people are busy helping the wounded, consoling one another, and trying to salvage whatever belongings may have survived. The low vantage point accentuates the depth of the space and the extent of the devastated area. Van der Poel unifies the space with a diagonal line that starts at the bridge on the left and reaches into the far background. Although the depiction is devoid of much of the atmospheric quality for which Delft painting has been known since the late 1640s - a quality present in the works of Fabritius, Paulus Potter, Adam Pynacker and Daniel Vosmaer - Van der Poel employs pronounced light effects to counteract the plunging perspective. The receding space is carefully structured as alternating areas of light and shade, with some of the most brightly illuminated walls placed immediately behind the looming remnants of former houses in the left foreground. The rather dense mass of buildings on the left, accentuated by the two churches rising at the horizon, is balanced by the wide-open area on the right, to which the eye is automatically drawn. The canal running parallel to the picture plane creates a stage-like area in the foreground upon which the figures display the human dimension of the tragedy. Most of Van der Poel's paintings of the event bear the precise date of the explosion. Having discovered a market for these pictures, Van der Poel seems to have continued painting them for several years, despite his departure for Rotterdam in 1654 or early 1655. The experience of the explosion may have inspired his choice of "brandjes", paintings of blazing fires dramatically set against a nocturnal sky, as the principal undertaking of his Rotterdam period. |
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Born on 19 July 1636: Jean-Baptiste
Monnoyer, Franco-Flemish flower-painter who died on 16 February
1699. — Born in Lille, Monnoyer was trained in Antwerp, but became a member of the Academy in Paris in 1665 and worked for Louis XIV. It is said that he was annoyed because his son Antoine, an inferior flower-painter, was allowed to alter some of his works, and in a fit of pique he went to London c. 1685. There he worked for the Duke of Montagu's new (and very French) town house and he remained in London until his death [and afterwards?]. His flower-pieces are rich and splendid, yet painted with the greatest regard for botanical accuracy: they frequently appear in English sale-rooms under his nickname 'Baptiste'. He also published books of engravings of flowers. Many pictures have been wrongly attributed to him, and his oeuvre is difficult to define because of the lack of signed and dated pictures. — LINKS — Flowers _ Monnoyer was the most successful specialist in flower painting of his period. His flower-pieces are rich and splendid, yet painted with the greatest regard for botanical accuracy. — other Flowers _ Monnoyer's flower pieces are characterized by his ability to subordinate each flower to a complete ensemble. Each one is perfectly drawn, exactly like those of his Dutch and Flemish contemporaries, but Monnoyer managed to envelop them in deep-toned shadow that emanates from the background. The result is both mysterious and luxuriant. — Still-Life of Flowers and Fruits (1665, 146x190cm) _ Monnoyer was, in his prime in the 1670s, the foremost still-life painter in Europe, but his skill has been much underestimated in recent years, due to the proliferation of incorrect attributions to him. He specialized in flower pieces of the most elaborate design, although in the early part of his career he produced more conventional still-life paintings, such as this one, executed in 1665 and submitted to the Academy at the time of the painter's admission in the same year. |
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Born on 19 July 1789: John “Mad”
Martin, British painter who died on 17 February 1854. — John Martin was born at Haydon Bridge, near Hexham, Northumberland. After a struggling youth in London (from 1806) as an heraldric and enamel painter, in 1812 he exhibited at the Royal Academy the first of his grandiose Biblical paintings, such as The Fall of Babylon (1819), Belshazzar's Feast (1821) and The Deluge (1826). The rediscovery of John Martin was launched by two refugees from Nazi Germany, Robert and Charlotte Frank, who set up as dealers in St James's, London. — Often referred to as ‘Mad Martin’, John Martin was famed for his classical and biblical subjects in which tiny figures were shown overwhelmed by the forces of nature. Martin’s lurid imagination, his dramatic use of perspective and the vast size of his canvases made viewing his pictures a thoroughly theatrical experience. The velvety-black prints he made from his paintings brought his work to an even wider public. — Martin was largely a self-taught artist, who achieved through his vivid imagination and bold, theatrical style an epitome of the romantic sublime in landscape painting that proved highly influential. Born in East Landends near Haydon Bridge on the Tyne River, he moved with his family to Newcastle in 1803 and there received some slight training from the Italian painter Boniface Musso. In 1806 Martin went to London and during the next five or six years supported himself as a painter on porcelain and glass. His earliest exhibits at the Royal Academy and British Institution in 1812-14, however, marked the emergence of an original talent, and he quickly gained fame for his vast, densely detailed scenes of tumult and disaster. So audacious were some of his visions that he received the nickname "Mad Martin." A lifelong foe of the academy, Martin was one of its most bitter critics in parliamentary hearings on the academy in 1836. In the 1820s, Martin turned his attention to engravings and mezzotints, partly as a way of reaching a larger audience, and his illustrations of Paradise Lost and the Bible proved particularly popular. He also worked as an inventor and pamphleteer and proposed a number of ideas for public works. In France, Martin's name became synonymous with the sublime, and his work formed a direct link to the US landscape tradition of Thomas Cole, Washington Allston, and Frederic Church. — LINKS — The Assuaging of the Waters (1840, 143x218cm) — Christ Stilleth the Tempest (1852, 51x76cm) _ We feel ourselves sucked into this painting by the tunnel-like effect that Martin creates, leading our eye to the bright city in the background. The scene shows the moment described in the New Testament (Mark 5 verses 35-41) when Christ, caught in a storm with his disciples, ‘rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still.’ The figure of Christ, with arms raised, can be seen in the boat, but Martin is clearly more concerned to render the terror of the storm than its calming. This late work is painted on millboard and is a re-working of a theme Martin had treated more than once before. — Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (1852, 136x212cm) _ A gaping mouth-like cave of red molten lava, fire and blinding white light illuminates the background of this painting where cities topple and crumble. In the Bible (Genesis 19 verses 1-36) God destroys the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their evil inhabitants. Lot and his family (seen scurrying away on the lower right-hand side) are allowed to escape on the condition that they do not look back. Lot’s wife cannot resist a backward glance and Martin shows her turned to a pillar of salt by a bolt of lightning. — Macbeth, (50x71cm) _ Highlighted on a mountain summit, Macbeth and Banquo stand apart from their army. At this moment in Shakespeare’s play, the witches (disappearing with a crack of lightning on the left) have just told Macbeth of his future glory. Their prophecies instigate Macbeth’s fatal ambition which leads to murder and tragedy. Martin has set the scene in a fantasy of Scotland’s wilderness while the vortex of threatening clouds suggests impending disasters. — Manfred and the Witch of the Alps (1837, 39x56cm) _ The eponymous hero of Byron's verse drama Manfred (1817) is a Faustian figure who, tormented by guilt for 'some half-maddening sin' and cursed by the spirits of the universe, is denied the oblivion he seeks. After an attempt at suicide — illustrated by Martin in a companion watercolor ) — Manfred invokes the Witch of the Alps and reveals his sin, his incestuous love for his sister Astarte. The Witch, who 'rises beneath the arch of the rainbow of the torrent', commands him to surrender his soul to her as the price for her assistance: the shadowy apparition to the right in this watercolor is his soul, with which he considers parting, but refuses to do so. Painted at a time of emotional and financial crisis in Martin's life when he told a friend that he felt a 'ruined, crushed man ... there are no more bright days for me', this watercolor shows both his astonishing technique and his identification with Byron's doomed, romantic hero. — The Great Day of His Wrath (1853) — 53 prints at FAMSF — The Bard (1817, 270x170cm) _ The subject comes from Thomas Gray's poem The Bard (1755) and had been popular throughout the Romantic period, with versions by Thomas Jones, William Blake and Henry Fuseli. Gray [links] tells how Edward I, after his conquest of Wales, ordered all bards to be slaughtered in order to draw the people's cultural and nationalistic sting: The sole surviving bard here stands:
'On a rock, whose haughty brow He curses the departing armies:
'Ruin seize thee, ruthless King! |
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