1153 - John Martin, Four Illustrations to Milton's “Paradise Lost”, Satan, Adam and Eve, the Fall, 1825

John Martin, Four Illustrations to Milton's “Paradise Lost”, Satan, Adam and Eve, the Fall, 1825 (1789 Haydon Bridge, Northumberland – 1854 Isle of Man), mezzotint on paper, black manner, 1825, each inscribed below the image “Designed & Engraved by J. Martin Esq.” and with book and line reference, published by Septimus Prowett, 1) Book 2, Line 727 “Satan, Sin and Death” 2) Book 4, Line 502 “Satan observes Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden” 3) Book 4, Line 813 “Satan confronts Ithuriel and Zephon” 4) Book 1, Line 192 “Satan on the burning lake”, condition commensurate with age, foxed, partly slightly rubbed, Book 1, Line 192 water-stained and soiled into the image, image 20x28 cm (HxW) each, each in a mount, overall size 33x40 cm (HxW) each John Martin was born in 1789 in Haydon Bridge in Northumberland, trained under the Italian painter Boniface Musso and in London first earned his living with watercolours as well as glass and porcelain painting. He became known for large-format biblical and apocalyptic scenes in which small figures stand before mighty landscapes; his painting “Belshazzar's Feast” of 1820 was a great success, and Thomas Lawrence called him the most popular painter of his time. “Paradise Lost” by John Milton is an epic poem on the biblical Fall of Man, whose first version in ten books appeared in 1667 and which later existed in twelve books. For an illustrated edition, the publisher Septimus Prowett commissioned John Martin around 1824 to produce 24 mezzotint sheets, which appeared until 1827 in twelve monthly instalments, each with two mezzotint plates and a text section. Martin died in 1854 in Douglas on the Isle of Man.