Figures Seated by a Lake in a Wooded Landscape
1820
John Martin
John Martin (British, 1789–1854)
Drawings
Figures Seated by a Lake in a Wooded Landscape, 1820. John Martin (British, 1789–1854). Brown wash and point of brush with graphite underdrawing; sheet: 19.8 x 26.6 cm (7 13/16 x 10 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1997.38 Before he became famous as a history painter, John Martin earned a living by teaching and painting watercolors. His so-called sepia drawings, landscapes in monochromatic wash, found an enthusiastic audience. The artist’s method for painting foliage in these drawings was idiosyncratic; form and texture were created almost entirely in negative spaces without the use of line. Highlighted leaves, bark, vines, and roots were delineated with the white of the paper, creating a peculiar, instantly recognizable, spongy effect. John Martin's biographer believed that his early landscapes, such as this one, were inspired by classical texts by Ovid.
- Maker/Artist
- Martin, John
- Classification
- Drawing
- Formatted Medium
- brown wash and point of brush with graphite underdrawing
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 19.8 x 26.6 cm (7 13/16 x 10 1/2 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: signed and dated, in brown ink, at lower right: J. Martin 1820; inscribed, in graphite, on verso, at center: William / No. 3
- Departments
- Drawings
- Accession Number
- 1997.38
- Credit Line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Exhibitions
- Nature Sublime: Landscapes from the 19th Century, British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art
- Rights Statement
- CC0
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