JOHN MARTIN K.L.

(1789-1854)

Writers: Gail-Nina Anderson

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Rainbow Writers

The village of Haydon Bridge is aware of its most famous son. The birthplace cottage has a low profile commemorative plaque and there are two street names, John Martin Street and Martin's Close in honour of the artist.

However, little has been undertaken in the use of Martin's famous name to advertise or commercialise for tourism purposes in a scenically beautiful and generally unspoilt area.

However, great interest was generated by a local Woman Writer's Group the 'Rainbow Writers' who held a 'Millennium Festival Event' under the banner of 'Out Write Fun'. This allowed local school children to investigate the work, family and history of John Martin in their village and beyond. They also produced artwork for display reflecting these influences.

Gail-Nina Anderson

One of the many highlights of the festival was a 'John Martin Evening' on Wednesday 15th November 2000 using the excellent Methodist Church Hall facilities. A lecture with slides was enthusiastically presented by Gail-Nina Anderson, a specialist in Victorian Art and Culture as well as the cinema. A computerised slide show of works was presented by local historian and Martin enthusiast Stan 'Mitch' Mitchell complemented by a demonstration of this website.

Ms Anderson, in her talk, emphasised how Martin (not from an artistic background) had helped re-popularised the Landscape painting which had been dormant in Europe for some centuries. (The new 'Royal Academy' did not promote the Landscape either.) In mediaeval works, any landscape was also always secondary to the subject figures and only provided background. Other works used landscape in scientific outlines to demonstrate the subject of calendars/time. 17th century Dutch landscape appeared in real situations but often imaginative effects were added for the observer. The 18th century provided a mix and match of storm effects, nymphs in bowers, topographical subjects, sentimentality and myth. Martin chose to develop from these basics. He commenced tentatively in small and classically traditional style (reflecting what might have appeared on an 18th century dinner service!). He moved quickly on to literary subjects such as 'Sadak' which reflects a verbal rather than visual idea. His figure paintings were not considered strong and usually appeared small amongst large landscapes where they are not relevant in the larger view. The Bible was always ringing in his head from his childhood indoctrination. The elements of fire/water/air began to flower and mutate in his work and produced the 'Sublime', beautiful above , beyond and scary.

'The Expulsion' has Adam and Eve going out into the wilderness but they are small figures. Martin also uses Classical Architecture of the ancient world as in 'Joshua ...' where the figure are small amongst the rocks. His 'The Bard' was conjured from contemporary poetry using a popular (but historically inaccurate) poem by Thomas Gray. He did have great control as is evident in his series of serene works around 'Sezincote House'. 'Engineering' influences are specific to Martin and he developed a preoccupation with comparative scales and in the sublime. Panic breaks out in the people as portrayed in the 'Destruction of Babylon'. These paintings were meticulously researched for detail by Martin.

Although never reaching beyond England, Wales and the Isle of Man, he did paint 'The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum' but this was reality and thus restrictive of his imagination. 'Belshazzar's Feast' has ziggurat buildings and the scale is manipulated to give a massive effect. 'Macbeth' is on the blasted heath and is calling up the powers of evil. So much was scale exaggerated in the 'Paphian Bower' that the painting attracted critical ridicule.

Ms Anderson considered his best work was in small engravings produced to illustrate texts. His 'Paradise Lost' illustrations of John Milton's writing show Heaven, Hell and Eden.

Impending doom was illustrated in his 'Falls' series of works including the 'Fall of Man' and impending doom, often featuring one controlling figure.

The fossil expert Dr. Gideon Mantell was visited by Martin who enthusiastically produced engravings for the palaeontologist's 'Wonders of Geology' with the 'Country of the Iguanodon' prints this time his imagination creating fantastic antediluvian beasts. Other works were from Byron with 'Manfred on the Jungfrau' but his financial situation was saved by 'The Coronation of Queen Victoria' Here, Martin captured the moment when a peer trips and the Queen goes to assist.

The subject of his 'Assuaging of the Waters' was a raven let out by Noah and, for once, is a an image of hope. The dead serpent is also symbolic.

In the 1840s, Martin returned to some simple landscape compositions. His final batch had brighter and stronger colours as in 'Arthur and Aegle in the Happy Valley'. The sky was based on one from 20 years ago.

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