Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon

1816

John Martin

Painter, British, 1789 - 1854

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.”

Media Options

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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.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 58

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Paul Mellon Fund

  • Dimensions

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

  • Accession

    2004.64.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Purchased 1822 by William Collins. Thomas Wilson, until 1848. John Naylor, until 1889; John M. Naylor; (his sale, Leighton Hall, Welshpool, 23 January 1923, no. 41). Anonymous gift 1924 to the United Grand Lodge of England; purchased 28 May 2004 through (Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd.) by NGA.

Associated Names

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.

  • 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.

  • 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).

Inscriptions

lower right: J. Martin

Wikidata ID

Q20183897

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