The Fall of Babylon, from Illustrations of the Bible
1835
Medium
Mezzotint with etching in black on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 19 × 29 cm (7 1/2 × 11 7/16 in.); Plate: 26.8 × 35.7 cm (10 9/16 × 14 1/16 in.); Sheet: 32.9 × 41.6 cm (13 × 16 7/16 in.)
Classification
mezzotint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
118031
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The visionary Romantic painter John Martin’s Illustrations of the Bible (1831–35) boasts some of the most dramatic mezzotints of the 19th century. This series enthusiastically embraced J. M. W. Turner’s “historical” category from the Liber Studiorum (1807–1819). Yet “Mad” Martin eschewed Turner’s sepia tonality for a deep, velvet black periodically ripped asunder by lightning bolts. He engraved over 100 mezzotints, with special attention paid to the light and dark contrasts of Old Testament mira...
About the Artist
John Martin · 1789–1854
John Martin (1789–1854) was a British painter and mezzotint engraver whose apocalyptic biblical and historical paintings made him one of the most popular artists in early nineteenth-century Britain. Born in Haydon Bridge, Northumberland, he trained as a heraldic and coach painter before moving to London, where his monumental painting "Belshazzar's Feast" (1820) caused a sensation and established h...