John Martin Visual Analysis

In small town Hexam, Northumberland in 1789, an artist by the name of John Martin was born. During this time, the Biblical movement was in effect. Every piece of art, music, paintings, books were shaped by the ideas drawn from the Bible. Many artists were interested in recreating how they believed events in the Bible looked like. John Martin is one artist that creates panoramic landscape paintings inspired by these historical events. The ideas of Romanticism and Realism are expressed heavily in artwork during the Biblical movement. Other artists techniques can be compared and contrasted to Martin’s. His technique is one of idyllic serenity through the use of architectural structure and sudden bursts of color. John Martin creates an apocalyptic …show more content…
The size of the painting is 33 x 43 ⅛ inches, done on canvas with oil paints. The overall mood of this painting is defeat. Some of the things that are being discussed, I have observed; there is an object within the waves that is not very clear, but it appears to be a very small boat with a civilian raising their hands to the sky. There are also multiple darker waves that stick out from the white, calm waves that crash against the city. The first waves reach the city and the buildings begin to crumble into the sea. There are also people standing on top of a building that appear to be raising their hands to the sky as if asking for the destruction to stop. The lightning bolt that strikes down the city is one detail that sticks out the most to me. In many of Martin’s other artwork he includes one single lightning bolt. Why does Martin do this? The panoramic landscape has an untouched city in the background if you look close enough, though it is untouched now, it will soon be …show more content…
Martin’s paint strokes all seem to move in many directions to create the image of waves. This type of line may also give the audience a feeling of chaos, which is exactly what is occurring in the painting. By using line, Martin also paints the city as it is before the storm destroys it building by building. One thing that line creates in this painting is the large, white lightning bolt. In many of Martin’s paintings, he includes a lightning bolt in the top corner. However, in this painting, it is very large and seems to be a very important detail. According to Symbolism Wiki, a lightning bolt can symbolise a punishment to the humans from the Gods (p. 1). During the era in which Martin lived, many believed that the world would one day come to an end and that God would do it in such a way that would be extraordinary. Some of the line that Martin uses could have easily came from his studying of linear perspective when he was training in London, according to visual-arts-cork (p. 2). Not only does Martin use line in this painting to create a structure, but he also uses it to create symbolic