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| PC1973.7
John Martin (British, 1789-1854) The
Angels Guarding Paradise by Night
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| There
have been many illustrated versions of Milton's Paradise Lost, but
John Martin's is undoubtedly among the most original. Martin was commissioned
by a publisher in 1824 to produce 24 mezzotints of Paradise Lost.
The
Angels Guarding Paradise by Night is from Book 4, when the angel Gabriel
divides his night watch over Eden into search parties. The angels Ithuriel
and Zephon are assigned to closely guard Adam and Eve from the lurking
Satan.
Martin has been criticized for emphasizing the landscape and architecture of the epic rather than the figures, but no artist before him had really attempted to give the impression of the vastness of Eden. Martin's strength lay in depicting the emotions embodied in Milton's descriptions through the skillful variation of light as opposed to focusing on the figures' physical and facial expressions to denote mood. Martin's originality was applauded in a review after his work was first published, "We know no artist whose genius so perfectly fitted him to be illustrator of the mighty Milton. There is a wildness, a grandeur, a mystery about his designs which are indescribably fine. It may be that the figures cannot possess the force and dignity with which the imagination clothes them, but the sweeping elements, the chaos come again, the wonders of Heaven and Hell which existed before the earth was made, are magnificently embodied." |