Paradise Lost, Illustrations
From The Early Modern Web at Oxford. First edition:
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~lina0897/emwo/images/big/PARADISE_LOST.jpg
The Paradise Lost of Milton, with illustrations, designed and engraved by John Martin (London: Septimus Prowett, 1827). © The Paul F. Betz Collection.
John Martin (1789-1854) was trained at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, first as a coach painter, then as a decorator of china. He moved to London in 1806, and gained a reputation as a painter of Old Testament scenes, such as "Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still" (1817) and "Belshazzar's Feast" (1821), and similar topics emphasizing the dramatic and the sublime. He also exhibited in France where he had a considerable influence. His engravings were an important influence on the Brontė sisters and their brother Branwell in childhood. The following selection of steel engravings are from Martin's two-volume illustrated edition of Paradise Lost (1827).
Illustrations are approximately 14 x 20 cm.
| Book I.44 |
Him the Almighty Power Hurled headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky With hideous ruin and combustion down To bottomless perdition |
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| Book I.710 | Anon out of the earth a fabric huge Rose like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet, Built like a temple, where pilasters round Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid With golden architrave |
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| Book IV.453 | "Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound Of waters issued from a cave and spread Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved Pure as th' expanse of heav'n; I thither went" |
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| Book IV.502 |
Aside the Devil
turned For envy, yet with jealous leer malign Eyed them askance, and to himself thus plained: "Sight hateful, sight tormenting! . . ." |
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