John Martin was an EnglishRomantic painter and one of the most popular artists of his day. He was celebrated for his typically vast and melodramatic paintings of religious subjects and fantastic compositions, populated with minute figures placed in imposing landscapes. His dramatic and subjective style of composition was in stark contrast to the emerging schools of naturalism and realism,
which led his work to fall out of critical favour soon after his death,
however a revival in interest has occured towards the end of the 20th century, and now his major works are popular pieces of many museum’s collections.