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Armies of men march and battle along a rocky outcropping set among huge rock formations and massive buildings under a stormy sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The people we can see all have pale skin. Sheets of rain fall from flint-gray clouds on our left into a valley, though hints of peach brighten the clouds along the mountainous horizon there. In the right half of the sky, light pours down from a brilliant white sun that breaks through white clouds to reveal topaz-blue patches of sky. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition and is lined with rugged white, pale pink, and olive-green mountains on our left and silvery-white buildings along the right half. These structures include two domed buildings and a colosseum among many others. The buildings are all enclosed within city walls buttressed with towers. The land dips precipitously from the rocky cliffs supporting the buildings, to sweep down toward us. A huge outcropping angles up like a ramp between us and the buildings in the distance. A road runs from the walled town toward us, down along the ridge and in front of the outcropping. Countless warriors march in rows of four or five across on the road past a man wearing a feathered helmet and armored breastplate. This man, Joshua, stands on a rocky precipice facing away from us with his right hand raised. He wears a scarlet-red toga under his breastplate, and a royal-blue cape flutters at his left side. He holds a round, copper-colored shield and a spear in his other hand. Two men with gray beards stand near Joshua with their backs to us. Both gesture up to the sky. One holds a slender staff and the other a curling horn. They and another pair of men, who stoop to hold poles used to carry a chest, all wear long, ivory-white robes, cherry-red drapery, and white turbans. The column of soldiers on foot and horseback pass in front of Joshua to a massive battlefield to our left. The fight takes place in a valley that leads back to a river. A bolt of lightning zigzags from the storm clouds and strikes a city in the deep distance. The artist signed the painting in the lower right, “J. Martin.”

Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon, 1816

John Martin

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 58

John Martin combines landscape and historical painting to illustrate a dramatic story from the Bible’s Old Testament. When enemies attacked the city of Gibeon, its citizens appealed for help to an ally: Israelite leader Joshua.

Bringing his army to Gibeon’s defense, Joshua raises his arm, urging God to halt the sun’s movement and give his forces more time to fight by daylight. God not only stopped the sun but also unleashed a storm of hail and fire on the enemy, helping the Israelites to victory.

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In this epic, densely populated work, John Martin depicts the biblical battle at Gibeon, part of the conquest of Canaan. Joshua, as leader of the Israelites, asks God to cause the moon and the sun to stand still so that he and his army might continue fighting by daylight. God further assists Joshua by calling up a powerful storm to bombard the Canaanites with rain and hailstones. Following this battle, Joshua led the Israelites to several more victories, ultimately conquering much of Canaan. Martin combines the genres of history and landscape painting in this work by giving equal compositional space and artistic attention to both the human narrative and the dramatic natural surroundings.

Object Data

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 150 x 231 cm (59 1/16 x 90 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Paul Mellon Fund

Accession Number

2004.64.1

Artists / Makers

John Martin (painter) British, 1789 - 1854

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Detail Information

Inscription

lower right: J. Martin

Exhibition History

1816: The Exhibition of the Royal Academy. The Forty-Eighth, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1816, no. 347.

1817: [Annual Exhibition], British Institution, London, 1817, no. 152.

1822: John Martin's One Man Show, Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London, 1822.

1854: Pictures Exhibited at a Soirée given by John Buck Lloyd, Mayor of Liverpool, at the Town Hall, Liverpool, 1854, no. 28.

1862: International Exhibition (Fine Art Department), London, 1862, no. 249.

1970: John Martin 1789-1854, Artist - Reformer - Engineer, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1970, no. 6, pl. 3.

1973: Landscape in Britain c. 1750-1850, Tate Gallery, London, 1973, no. 276, repro.

1975: John Martin 1789-1854. Loan Exhibition, Oil Paintings - Watercolours - Prints, Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London, 1975, no. 9, pl. 9.

2011: John Martin: Apocalypse, Tate Britain, London, 2011-2012, no. 26, repro.

Bibliography

1854: Waagen, Gustav Friedrich. Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being an Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss.. 3 vols. Translated by Elizabeth Rigby Eastlake. London, 1854: 3:242.

1923: Pendred, Mary L. John Martin, Painter: His Life and Times. London, 1923: 62-64, 76, 78, 269, 294, pl. facing 62.

1946: Todd, Ruthven. "The Imagination of John Martin." In Tracks in the Snow: Studies in English Science and Art. New York, 1946: 109.

1947: Balston, Thomas. John Martin, 1789-1854. His Life and Works. London, 1947.

1954: Balston, Thomas. "John Martin: New Discoveries." The Burlington Magazine 96, no. 620 (November 1954): 350, 351, pl. 21.

1969: Maas, Jeremy. Victorian Painters. London, 1969: 34.

1972: Gaunt, William. The Restless Century: Painting in Britain 1800-1900. London, 1972: pl. 21.

1973: Parris, Leslie. Landscape in Britain c. 1750-1850. London, 1973: no. 276, repro.

1974: Johnstone, Christopher. John Martin. London and New York, 1974: 14, 46, pl. 46.

1975: Bird, Alan. "The Romantics." In The Genius of British Painting. Ed. David Piper. London, 1975: 218.

1975: Feaver, William. The Art of John Martin. Oxford, 1975: 6, 25-28, 32, 54-56, 58, 72, 172, 207, 218 notes 9 and 10, 219 notes 12 and 23, 222 notes 2 and 3, 224 note 97, 232 note 79, pl. 11.

1975: Morris, Edward. "John Naylor and other Collectors of Modern Paintings in 19th Century Britain." Annual Report and Bulletin of the Walker Art Gallery 5 (1975).