Study for ‘The Plains of Heaven’. 1851

John Martin

1789 Hebdon Bridge – 1854 Douglas, Isle of Man

Watercolour. Signed and dated on the artist’s mount.

This recently discovered work is a watercolour study for The Plains of Heaven, the most famous of John Martin’s last three major works which, together, formed his Last Judgement trilogy (Tate Britain, London). No other watercolour study for any of these paintings has ever been reported.

The style of sublime landscape which Martin perfected in this watercolour is a form of Arcadian landscape which he had developed gradually throughout his career as an artist. It had first appeared in his painting of Clytie in 1810/11 (a smaller version is in the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne) and been adapted for his mezzotint engravings for Milton’s Paradise Lost produced between 1824 and 1826.

1851/2 Martin began to work on The Plains of Heaven – the last of Martin’s final three great works, his trilogy of paintings concerning the Last Judgement. It is recorded that Martin was working on this painting up to the moment that he departed for the Isle of Man where he was to suffer the stroke which paralysed his painting hand. Many, including some of the critics of the time, considered this series of paintings to be the pinnacle of Martin’s achievements. He died within a few months of his crippling stroke, in February 1854.

In the finished oil painting of The Plains of Heaven Martin stretched the composition of this watercolour vertically, introducing a group of angels, flowers and an extensive azure lake across the centre of the image, whilst the distant mountains were extended upwards to even greater heights at the left of the composition. It is possible that this watercolour was painted with more foreground, which the artist then chose to trim away. Martin often cut favourite scenes from his engravings which he preserved in albums for his own reference. (Victoria & Albert Museum, London and the Fairclough Albums). However this truly poetic watercolour is not disturbed by the figures for which Martin was so often criticised – here we see his ideal landscape in its purest form.

Bought by a private collector, Northern America.