John Martin, The Destruction Of Sodom And Gomorrah 1852.
John Martin, The End of the World, commonly known as The Great Day of
His
Wrath 1851–1853.
Some authors have used the painting as the front cover for their books;
examples include Mass of the Apocalypse and Studies in the Book of
Revelation.
The painting is one of three works that together form a triptych entitled
The Last Judgement.
John Martin, Calvary 1830-1840.
The Pandemonium of 1841 goes back to a passage in the first book
of
Milton's Paradise Lost, in which "Pandemonium, the palace of Satan,
rises
suddenly built out of the deep."
John Martin, Destruction of Tyre 1840.
The Biblical episode depicted in the painting – Belshazzar's Feast – is
described in the Book of Daniel chapter 5. The Babylonian king Belshazzar
is
said to have defiled the sacred vessels of the enslaved Israelites by
using
them to serve wine at a banquet. The feast was then disturbed
by the
appearance of a divine hand, which wrote a glowing inscription on a wall –
the writing on the wall – which was interpreted by the prophet Daniel as a
portent of Belshazzar's doom. Belshazzar was killed that night, and Darius
the Mede
succeeded to his kingdom.
John Martin, Manfred and the Alpine Witch 1837.
The third work in the triptych, The Plains of Heaven was intended
to be
hung to the left of The Last Judgement, and continues the pastoral
landscape
occupied by the "saved" on the left side of the central image.
John Martin, The Destruction of Pompei and Herculaneum 1821.
The work reflects the text of the
Book of Revelation, which states that the
Book of Judgement is sealed
with seven seals, and describes the events that
take places as each seal is broken.
The breaking of the sixth seal triggers
"the great day of his wrath" depicted
in the second painting, followed by
the last judgement after the seventh
seal is broken.
John Martin, Macbeth 1820.
John Martin, Ruins of an Ancient City 1810.
