John Martin - Apocalypse - An exhibition at Tate Britain

The title of this exhibition derives from the huge triptych painted in the last decade of John Martin’s life, which became his most famous achievement — visions of the ‘The Last Judgment’, ‘The Great Day of His Wrath’ and ‘The Plains of Heaven’.

Martin, a younger contemporary of Turner and Constable, was born in 1789, the year of the French Revolution, in Haydon Bridge, near Hexham. Much of the awe-inspiring scenery in his work reflects the wildness of the Northumbrian crags, where man is dwarfed by the elements, as well as by the iron furnaces of the Tyne Valley — a sight completely new in the early industrial revolution.

Unusual family

Although the Martins were poor, they were a highly unusual family. John’s mother, Isabella, claimed descent from the Protestant martyr Nicholas Ridley (who appears among the righteous in ‘The Last Judgment’). Of his three brothers, William, the eldest, became an inventor, often making financial demands on John for his many projects. Richard, a poet and soldier, fought at Waterloo, while Jonathan became a highly eccentric preacher who in 1829 was put on trial for setting fire to the choir of York Minster, and declared insane.

John Martin first arrived in London in 1806, aged 17, and, although originally trained as a decorator of enamels and china, had exhibited his first landscape at the Royal Academy by 1811. His early work shows the influence of Turner, whose dramatic ‘Hannibal Crossing the Alps’ was shown at the Academy in 1812. Like Turner, Martin was ambitious, with strong commercial instincts, and soon began to acquire important patrons — who later included King Leopold of Belgium.

Breakthrough

The first major ‘breakthrough’ of his career came in 1816, with the epic subject of ‘Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon’, taken from Joshua 10.12-13. England’s triumph at the Battle of Waterloo during the previous year undoubtedly had a bearing on the huge popularity of this painting. Joshua, in the foreground, gestures towards heaven, while the armies of Israel ride down to destroy the Amorite troops who seem to stretch into infinity across the valley below.

In the wake of the Romantic Movement, there was a growing public appetite for themes which would evoke an overpowering or ‘sublime’ emotional response. Martin always chose to depict moments of high drama in biblical narratives. He was an enthusiastic and knowledgeable reader of the Scriptures, and also poets such as Milton — a man of ‘strong religious impressions’ but never an orthodox churchgoer. His son recalled: ‘The Sabbath was with him consecrated to God, not in frequenting church, but with outdoor worship of his glorious works’. His views were often idiosyncratic. Like the visionary William Blake, he developed an interest in the millennium, which also became a major theme in the preaching of the charismatic Edward Irving, who drew huge crowds to his London chapel.

Iconic image

Martin’s blockbuster painting of 1821, ‘Balshazzar’s Feast’, was to become one of the most famous images of its day, and several series of prints were produced. Unlike Rembrandt’s interpretation of the story, which focuses on the terrified reactions of Balshazzar and his companions, Martin places a mass of tiny figures in a vast monumental architectural setting. Daniel raises his arms as the fatal words shine out from above, as if on a huge cinema screen. It is well known that this painting provided the inspiration for the scene of Babylon in D.W. Griffith’s epic silent movie, Intolerance, produced in 1916.

The work was purchased, together with the ‘Joshua’, by Martin’s former employer, who organised a highly profitable nationwide tour. An accompanying pamphlet went through multiple editions. However such ‘bold experiments in public taste’ tainted the artist’s critical reputation. Although he coveted recognition as a serious painter, he was deemed to have crossed the line into popular entertainment, and was never accepted by the establishment of the Royal Academy.

Revelation panoramas

Artists such as Philip de Loutherbourg were already famous for painting dioramas, where a panoramic scene would be shown on a series of canvases encircling the viewer, often enlivened by the skilful use of moving lights. In the climax of the Tate’s exhibition, this technique is recreated in presenting Martin’s three ‘Apocalypse’ paintings, each based on verses from the Book of Revelation. The words read from Martin’s accompanying booklet, including the Scripture verses, help us to appreciate not only their enormous impact on the public, but also the reality of the last judgment.

Immediately after their completion, and for years after the artist’s death in 1854, these works were promoted and toured not only throughout the British Isles, but as far afield as America and Australia. Yet, despite their great fame, by the 1880s such pictures had fallen from favour. With the development of modern art, narrative paintings of all kinds were increasingly seen as irrelevant. Martin’s family failed in all their attempts to sell the triptych, which disappeared from view until the 1930s. Today, all three paintings, happily rescued from oblivion and restored, are together in the collection at Tate Britain.

Stirring images

Viewing this exhibition is like entering a lost world. It also shows us the emergence of a new popular audience for art, which came from a largely Christian base. Martin was far from being a visionary outsider — ordinary believers could immediately connect with his dramatised visions of biblical events.. His extraordinary imagination has transferred much more easily into epic cinema than any contemporary painting. Nevertheless, these remain very stirring images and, in today’s world, the biblical narratives with their accompanying Scripture references have a completely fresh impact. This is a show well worth visiting, with great potential for interesting discussion.

John Martin — Apocalypse is at Tate Britain until January 15 2012.

Anne Roberts is a member of Snettisham Christian Fellowship, Norfolk.

John Martin - Apocalypse

An exhibition at Tate Britain

Unusual family

Breakthrough

Iconic image

Revelation panoramas

Stirring images

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