1131_Revelations Catalogue.pdf

Revelations 

The Apocalyptic print in 

Nineteenth-century Britain 

Sanders of Oxford 

RARE PRINTS & MAPS

Revelations: The Apocalyptic Print 

in Nineteenth-century Britain. 

Every culture has its own rendering of the 

apocalypse. Interpreters of the Mesoamerican 

Calendar would lead us to believe that in 

December of this year, the cycle of our present 

universe will have reached its completion, and 

Armageddon will ensue. Other thinkers assert 

that doomsday is not random, but recurrent 

and have used observations in fossil record 

to indicate that 2012 falls upon this perennial 

pattern of mass extinction. 

Numerous theories have been debunked in 

our lifetimes. Many more will follow. The 

majority of people are unaware of concepts 

such as Timewave Zero and the Photon Belt, 

for they are associated with fanatical and 

sensationalist thought. In our time most of 

these eschatological notions exist on the margins 

of society, but for the first few decades of the 

nineteenth-century, they were central to culture 

and rife within the arts. A unique combination 

of factors meant that the end of the world 

was depicted in paintings and prints. It was 

trumpeted in tracts and newspapers. 

One reason for this popularity was literary. 

As the eighteenth-century gave way to the 

nineteenth, Edmund Burke’s theories of the 

Sublime endured, so the grand and the terrible 

were still valued as aesthetic categories. The 

Book of Revelations was reinvestigated and 

the end of perpetual copyright in 1774 meant 

that writers such as Milton and Shakespeare 

were not only made available to the masses, but 

aspects of their work could be used as allegories 

through which to examine the turbulent climate 

of the time. 

Social and theological reasons also created 

an upsurge in apocalyptic art. The Georgian 

Era was a period of economic, scientific 

and industrial change, beset by the upheaval 

of revolution and war. It was also an age in 

which the popularity of millenarianism sharply 

rose. Millenarianists believed that the second 

coming of Christ was both imminent, and the 

direct consequence of man’s sinfulness. If the 

outbreak of revolutions in America and France 

suggested to many that the process of universal 

destruction had already begun 1 then Reverend 

Nihill’s pamphlet comparing the Crimean war 

with the prophecy of the grapes implies that this 

view was still circulating in 1855. (See catalogue 

no. 93) 

There are conflicting opinions amongst 

academics that attempt to explain the vogue 

for this work. Richard Burnett believes that 

catastrophic art provided a means for provincial 

artists, relatively ill-equipped in conventional 

technique, to intervene in the cultural realm. 2 

Andrew Hemingway theorises that spectacular 

landscape painting addressed a bourgeois alter 

ego of fantasy and primal force. 3 This catalogue 

does not set out to resolve these disputes, but 

to present a unique collection of material that 

embodies this brief and dramatic fashion. 

Sanders of Oxford are delighted to exhibit 

some of the works from the key practitioners 

of the apocalyptic print. John Martin was a man 

synonymous with the form, so it is only fitting 

that mezzotints by and after the artist should 

make up the majority of this collection. An 

array of engravings after figures such as Francis 

Danby, George Baxter and J.M.W Turner are 

also available for purchase. In addition to this, 

works will be on offer by those that anticipated 

the taste of cataclysmic art, such as William 

Blake, and artists like Démétrius Emmanuel 

Galanis, who were in turn heavily inspired by

it. As in the case of Galanis, the show is not 

exclusive to British artists themselves, but works 

that were instead created in Britain. Théodore 

Géricault exhibited Les Naufragés de la Méduse at 

the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly in 1820, and it is 

from this display that Samuel William Reynolds 

could make his engraving. (Catalogue no. 88) 

Gustave Doré worked from a gallery in Bond 

Street and Galanis’ illustrations for Paradise Lost 

stemmed from the Cresset Press in Fitzroy 

Square. As Martin and his imitators depicted the 

fall of ancient capitals, the art scene of London 

was flourishing. 

1 

David Bindman (2011.) Deep time, dragons 

and dinosaurs. In: Martin Myrone John 

Martin: Apocalypse. London: Tate. 44. 

2 

Richard A. Burnett (1995.) The Art of John 

Martin: Contexts and Sources of the Early 

Nineteenth Century Taste for the Catastrophic 

in Art and Literature. Cambridge. 

3 

Andrew Hemingway (1992.) Landscape 

Imagery and Urban Culture in Early 

Nineteenth-Century Britain. Cambridge. 296.

John Martin (1789-1854) was an English painter, 

illustrator and mezzotint engraver. He achieved 

huge popular acclaim with his historical landscape 

paintings which featured melodramatic scenes of 

apocalyptic events taken from the Bible and other 

mythological sources. Influenced by the work of 

J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) as well as Theodore 

Gericault (1791–1824), Eugene Delacroix (1798– 

1863) and Paul Delaroche (1797–1856), his paintings 

are characterised by dramatic lighting and vast 

architectural settings. Most of his pictures were 

reproduced in the form of engravings, and book 

engravings, from which he derived his fortune. 

Despite his popularity, Martin’s work was spurned 

by the critics, notably John Ruskin, and he was not 

elected to the Royal Academy. His fame declined 

rapidly after his death, although three of his best 

known works of religious art toured Britain and 

America in the 1870s: The Great Day of his Wrath 

(1853, Tate, London), The Last Judgment (1853, Tate) 

and The Plains of Heaven (1851-3, Tate). A great 

contributor to English landscape painting, Martin was 

a key influence on Thomas Cole (1801-48), one of the 

founding members of the Hudson River School. 

1. The Angel Prophesying the Destruction of 

Babylon 

Mezzotint with etching 

John Martin 

c.1825 

Image 103 x 69 mm, Plate 170 x 122 mm 

Framed 

Inscription beneath image reads: And a mighty angel 

took up a stone like a great millstone, and/ cast it into 

the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great 

city/ Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no 

more at all./ Revelations: Chap.18.v.21. 

during festive periods in order to attract buyers. 

Amongst Martin’s literary friends were Alaric Watts 

of the Literary Souvenir and Samuel Carter Hall of 

The Amulet, so it was somewhat inevitable that Martin 

should participate in this fashionable and profitable 

form of publication. In addition to this print, Martin 

provided over twenty designs for annuals between the 

years of 1826 and 1837. 

CW 75; Campbell, Visionary Printmaker p.92. 

Ex. Col.: Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd 

[21119] 

£190 

Illustration to Edwin Atherstone’s From the Revelation. 

The poem was based on The Book of Revelation, and 

published in The Amulet; or, Christian and Literary 

Remembrancer. 

The Amulet was one of several annuals which served 

as a lucrative outlet for engravers. Introduced in the 

1820’s, these annuals were an outgrowth of earlier 

pocket-books or almanacs, and were usually published

2. Belshazzar’s Feast 


John Martin 

London, Pubished June 1, 1826 by Mr. Martin, 30 Allsops Buildings, New Road 

Image 718 x 468 mm, Sheet 727 x 517 mm 

Mounted 

Belshazzar was identified in some historical accounts as the last King of Babylon. In accordance with the Book 

of Daniel, he held a luxurious feast in his palace and blasphemously served wine to his guests in vessels stolen 

from Jersusalem by his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzer. At the height of these festivities, a divine hand was said 

to have written a glowing inscription on the wall. Various wise men misinterpreted the text, but Daniel correctly 

analysed it as a prophet of Belshazzar’s downfall. The King would die that very night as Babylon fell to a 

Persian invasion. Artists such as Tintoretto, Rembrandt and Paolo Veronese had all treated the subject, but not 

with the scale and gravitas of Martin’s version. 

John Martin-Apocalypse , Tate, 2011, 104-105. CW 74; Campbell, Visionary Printmaker, p. 90. 

Inscription content: Contains dedication to King George the Fourth as well as the Royal coat of arms. 

Condition: Strong impression. Top of the plate has been trimmed just outside of the image. Small creases to the 

left hand side of the plate; image affected. Repaired tears and filled loss to title space. 

[29254] 

£1,400

of image. 

[22113] 

£1,000 

3. The Death of the First Born 

Mezzotint with original hand colouring 

John Martin 

London Published June 1st 1836 by J. Martin, 30 Allsop 

Terrace; Ackermann & Co, Strand; Hodgson & Graves, 

6 Pall Mall; & Moon, Threadneedle St, City. c.1848 

impression. 


Mounted 

The Death of the First Born depicts the tenth plague 

of Egypt in which the Destroying Angel delivers his 

judgement to non-Israelite families. Martin’s illustration 

shows a scene of mourning in the Royal Palace. The King, 

as well as other members of the Royal family are grouped 

around the heir of Egypt who lays under white covers. 

Moses and Aaron approach through the centre and behind 

them halls of pillars recede far into the distance. 

According to Michael Campbell, very few early 

impressions were made because Martin was waiting for a 

new law regarding the protection of copyright. His account 

books record that in the six years following publication he 

only sold two proofs and 79 prints (Balston, p178). After 

1848, the plate was acquired from Martin. The owner is 

unknown, but they produced a large number of impressions 

with full lettering. These later works, as in this print, were 

usually coloured. They are also excellent impressions, for 

as stated, the plate itself was seldom used by Martin. The 

later prints do however show evidence of rust damage at 

the foot of the image, spilling down into the top line of the 

inscription. 

Ex. Col.: Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd. i/ii. 

Balston - John Martin 8a19; CW 119; Campbell-Visionary 

Printmaker 159. 

4. The Eve of the Deluge 


John Martin 

Printed by S. H. Hawkins London, Published Jany.!.1844, 

by Thomas Boys, Printseller to the Royal Family, XI 

Golden Square, Regent Street. 


Mounted 

Martin’s The Eve of the Deluge is based upon his oil 

painting of 1840 and features the ancient, expiring 

Methuselah and the family of Noah on a rocky promontory. 

They overlook a mountainous landscape on the night 

preceding the Great Flood. The contiguity of the sun, moon 

and comet in the sky above, foretells the arrival of the 

catastrophic flood sent by God. The print has a clear sense 

of foreboding to it as antediluvian revellers continue their 

dancing in the middle distance, oblivious of the devastation 

to come. The composition of The Eve of the Deluge had 

been worked out in 1833 as an illustration for the first 

part of John Galt’s The Ouranoulogos, Or, The Celestial 

Volume. 

CW 135; Campbell, Visionary Printmaker, p. 182. 

Condition: Crease to sky in image. Light vertical crease to 

right hand side of image. Small tears to the extremities of 

the sheet one just affecting right hand side of image. 

[28743] 

£875 

Condition: Laid to linen, repaired puncture to bottom right

image and sheet. 

[28590] 

£200 

5. The Expulsion 


John Martin 

London Published May 23rd 1831 by John Martin, 30 

Allsop Terrace, New Road. 


Mounted 

This print was issued in the second part of John Martin’s 

Illustrations of the Bible. This series was the most 

ambitious project of Martin’s career as he conceived to 

produce a folio of forty illustrations of both the Old and 

New Testaments. The work was issued in parts containing 

two mezzotints as well as supporting Biblical passages. 

After laudatory reviews for the first seven installments, 

parts VIII to X were published simultaneoulsy, and 

somewhat paradoxically, and went almost unnoticed by 

critics. As a result of this, the venture was a commerical 

failure. 

The subject of Adam and Eve’s expulsion had been 

painted by Martin as early as 1813, and he had included 

mezzotints of the theme in his two series’ of Paradise Lost. 

His design for the Illustrations of the Bible was however 

completely new, and, most unusually for Martin, the picture 

concentrates on the plight of the central characters as 

opposed to the surrounding landscape. 



Inscription below title reads: ‘To the Right Reverend the 

Lord Bishop of Winchester &c &c. This plate is inscribed 

with the most profound respect.’ 

Condition: Light surface dirt, small tears to the extremities 

of the sheet. Two diagonal creases across left hand side of 

6. Fall of Nineveh 


John Martin 

c. 1850 


Mounted 

John Martin’s Illustrations of the Bible was the most 

ambitious project of Martin’s career. He set out to produce 

a folio of forty illustrations depicting both the Old and 

New Testaments. The work was first issued in 1831, in 

parts containing two mezzotints as well as supporting 

Biblical passages. After laudatory reviews for the first 

seven installments, parts VIII to X were published 

simultaneoulsy, and somewhat paradoxically, and went 

almost unnoticed by critics. As a result of this, the venture 

was a commerical failure, and Martin sold the plates to the 

publisher Charles Tilt in 1838, who republished the series. 

Tilt’s successor, David Bogue, continued selling these 

works until 1853. This version is believed to have been one 

of the final states. 

Nineveh was the capital of Ancient Assyria and its downfall 

was graphically prophesised in the Book of Nahum. The 

Fall, of which Martin’s print conveys, came in 612 BC, 

when the colossal city was overrun by the armies of Media 

and Babylon. Scripture tells the story of Sardnanapalus, 

the last Assyrian King, who chose to burn himself and his 

possesions instead of risking capture from the rebellious 

generals. In Martin’s work, Sardanapalus is surrounded 

by his concumbines whilst the enemy forces threaten in 

the foreground, and stream through his defenses in the 

distance.

Condition: Trimmed outside of platemark. 

[28682] 

£75 

7. Fall of Nineveh 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 

London. Published May 1st, 1835, by John Martin, 30 



Mounted 

John Martin’s Illustrations of the Bible was the most 

ambitious project of Martin’s career. He set out to produce 

a folio of forty illustrations depicting both the Old and 

New Testaments. The work was first issued in 1831, in 

parts containing two mezzotints as well as supporting 

Biblical passages. After laudatory reviews for the first 

seven installments, parts VIII to X were published 

simultaneoulsy. This print is a lettered proof from Part X of 

the folio. 

Lettered proof 


[28709] 

£400

8. The Fall of Nineveh 


John Martin 

Published by John Martin, 1830 


Framed 

Nineveh was the capital of Ancient Assyria and its downfall was graphically prophesised in the Book of 

Nahum. The Fall, of which Martin’s print conveys, came in 612 BC when the colossal city was overrun by the 

armies of Media and Babylon. Scripture tells the story of Sardnanapalus, the last Assyrian King, who chose 

to burn himself and his possesions instead of risking capture from the rebellious generals. In Martin’s work, 

Sardanapalus is surrounded by his concumbines whilst the enemy forces threaten in the foreground and stream 

through his defenses in the distance. With his raised right hand he gestures towards the colossal funeral pyre that 

he has had erected so that he and all of his slaves and lovers can be destroyed. 


Condition: Strong impression. Two inch repaired tear to the bottom of the sheet, image unaffected. Ttear to the 

right hand side of the sheet just into the image. Small tears to the extremities of the sheet. 

[28695] 

£2,750

10. Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still 


John Martin 

c. 1850 


Mounted 

From John Martin’s Illustrations of the Bible. 

9. Fall of The Walls of Jericho 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 

London, Charles Tilt, Fleet Street. c. 1838 


Framed 

John Martin’s print portrays one of the most dramatic 

events in the Old Testament. The Israelite army, led by 

Joshua, has already routed the Amorites who can be seen 

fleeing through a storm of hail to the left of the image. 

Joshua is depicted commanding the sun to stand still over 

the city of Gibeon, and the moon to stop in its course in 

order to prolong the daylight so that the Israelites might 

complete the destruction of their enemies. 

Condition: Trimmed to platemark. 

[28689] 

£75 

John Martin’s print relates to The Battle of Jericho, an 

incident in the Biblical Book of Joshua, and the first battle 

of the Israelites during their conquest of Canaan. According 

to the narrative, the walls of Jericho fell after Joshua’s 

Israelite army marched around the city sounding their 

trumpets. Joshua stands in the foreground holding aloft a 

spear in one hand, and a shield in the other. Priests appear 

on the right, clad in white and blowing trumpets while the 

city walls crumble behind them. 


Condition: Good impression and with full margins. 

[28703] 

£295 

11. [Adam and Eve - The Morning Hymn] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 

Published by Septimus Prowett, 23 Old Bond Street 1826. 

Printed by Chatfield & Coleman. 


Mounted 

In 1824, John Martin was contracted by the London 

publisher Septimus Prowett to produce mezzotint 

illustrations to John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost. The 

project carried significant risk for Prowett was not a noted 

publisher, nor Martin a seasoned printmaker. Subjects from 

Milton’s great work had also been portrayed by several 

renowned predecessors such as William Hogarth, William 

Blake, Richard Westall, and Henry Fuseli, who had gone 

so far as to open a gallery dedicated to Milton in 1799. The

series, however, was a critical and commerical triumph 

and stands as one of the central achievements of Martin’s 

oeuvre. In emphasising the preternatural vistas of the text, 

Martin’s engravings of Hell, Paradise and Pandemonium 

infused Milton’s verse with a boldness and grandeur 

previously unrealised. 

John Martin’s view of Paradise depicts a lake in the centre 

of the image with trees forming a pyramid on the opposite 

bank. Swans glide on the water, preparing to fly. Adam 

and Eve appear on the left, on a low hill with tall trees and 

weeping willows at the edge of the lake behind them. They 

bow in prayer as the sunlight breaks across the horizon. 

Ithuriel and Zephon, can be seen ushering Satan from 

Paradise. 


Condition: Strong impression. Trimmed outside of 

platemark. 

[28634] 

£275 


Condition: Strong impression. Final state. 

[28692] 

£170 

13. [Bridge over Chaos] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 

Published by Septimus Prowett, 23 Old Bond Street 

1824/26. Printed by Chatfield & Coleman. 


Framed 

12. [The Angels Guarding Paradise at Night] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 




Framed 

The Angels Guarding Paradise at Night accompanies Book 

IV, Line 886 of Milton’s text. The inscription from that 

passage reads: 

O friends, I hear the tread of nimble feet 

Hasting this way, and now by glimpse discern 

Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade; 

And with them comes a third of regal port, 

But faded splendour wan; who by his gait 

And fierce demeanour seems the Prince of Hell, 

Not likely to part hence without contest; 

Stand farm, for in his look defiance lours. 

In Martin’s mezzotint, the angels referred to in the verse, 

Bridge over Chaos refers to ‘Book X, line 312 & 347’ of 

Paradise Lost wherein Satan’s children, Sin and Death, 

erect a broad highway in order to make the journey from 

earth to Hell all the easier. In Martin’s print, the figures of 

Satan and his offspring are suspended over a bottomless 

abyss. As Michael Campbell remarks, the treatment of the 

arched, repeated forms of the bridge and the vast tunnel 

owe much to the architectural fantasies of Giovanni Battista 

Piranesi. 


Condition: Very strong impression. Trimmed outside of 

platemark. 

[28632] 

£275

Mezzotint 

John Martin 




Framed 

The Creation of Light illustrates ‘Book VII, line 339’ of 

Paradise Lost, wherein the angel Raphael relates to Adam: 

‘And the almighty spake: Let there be lights/High in the 

expanse of Heaven to divide/The day from night.’ In 

Martin’s print, God is shown dividing night from day as his 

image is seen in the sky above the sea. 

14. [The Conflict Between Satan and Death] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 




Framed 


Condition: Very strong impression. Trimmed outside of 

platemark. 

[28631] 

£275 

The Conflict Between Satan and Death refers to ‘Book II, 

line 727’ of Paradise Lost wherein Satan stands at the gates 

of Hell, spear poised to strike Death. The figure of Death, 

as depicted by Martin, is a dark monstrous mass of whom 

only the crown, eyes, claw and reciprocal spear are visible. 

Sin, her tail hidden between her legs, rushes between the 

pair with her arms outstretched. 


Condition: Strong impression. Trimmed just outside of 

platemark. 

[28655] 

£275 

15. [The Creation of Light] 

16. [Pandemonium] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 




Framed 

The mezzotint of Pandemonium accompanies lines 710-17 

of the opening book of Milton’s text. The inscription from 

that passage reads: 

‘Anon out of the earth a fabric huge 

Rose like an exhaltation, 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; nor did there want 

Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures grav’n 

The roof was fretted gold.’

In Martin’s print, the figure of Satan surveys the vast palace 

that he has assembled. A myriad of his minions return his 

salute beneath the domes and colonnades of the structure. 


Condition: Strong impression. Trimmed outside of 

platemark. 

[28633] 

£275 

18. Book 12, Line 641. [Adam and Eve Driven out of 

Paradise] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 

London, Published by Septimus Prowett, 23 Old Bond 

Street, 1827. 


Mounted 

17. [Satan Tempting Eve] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 




Mounted 

For his vision of the Fall of Man, Martin shows Eve 

standing under The Tree of Knowledge at the edge of a 

pool, the sun hidden by its branches. With one hand, she 

reaches up to a bough, and in the other, she holds the 

forbidden fruit. Satan, disguised as a serpent, is entwined 

around the tree. His fangs and forked tongue are revealed 

as he speaks the temptation. 


Condition: Strong impression. Final state. Small scuff mark 

located underneath the tree. 

In 1824, John Martin was contracted by the London 

publisher Septimus Prowett to produce mezzotint 

illustrations to John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost. 

The project carried significant risk for Prowett was not a 

noted publisher, nor Martin a seasoned printmaker. Subjects 

from Milton’s great work had also been portrayed by 

several renowned predecessors such as William Hogarth, 

William Blake, Richard Westall, and Henry Fuseli, who 

had gone so far as to open a gallery dedicated to Milton in 

1799. The series, however, was a critical and commerical 

triumph, and stands as one of the central achievements of 

Martin’s oeuvre. In emphasising the preternatural vistas 

of the text, Martin’s engravings of Hell, Paradise and 

Pandemonium infused Milton’s verse with a boldness and 

grandeur previously unrealised. This print derives from 

the Imperial Octavo sized edition that Martin released in 

accompaniment to the folio sized series. 

CW 49; Campbell, Visionary Printmaker, p.65. 

[29374] 

£150 

[28693] 

£190

Mounted 

This print derives from the Imperial Octavo sized edition 

that Martin released in accompaniment to the folio sized 

series. 


[29381] 

£120 

19. Book 10, Line 108. [Adam Hearing the Voice of 

the Almighty] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


[29388] 

£100 

21. Book 4, Line 866. [The Angels Guarding 

Paradise at Night] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series 


[29379] 

£100 

20. Book 5, Line 136. [Adam and Eve - The Morning 

Hymm] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 

Image 203 x 144 mm, Plate 185 x 260 mm



series. 


[29392] 

£150 

22. Book 11, Line 226. [Approach of the Archangel 

Michael] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


[29391] 

£120 

24. Book 2, Line 727. [The Conflict Between Satan 

and Death] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


[29380] 

£150 

23. Book 10, Lines 312-347. [Bridge Over Chaos] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted



series. 


[29389] 

£150 

25. Book 3, Line 365. [The Courts of God] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 

This print derives from the Imperial Octavo sized 

edition that Martin released in accompaniment to the 

folio sized series. 


[29383] 

£120 

27. Book 4, Line 453. [Eve at the Fountain] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


[29378] 

£100 

26. Book 7, Line 339. [The Creation of Light] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted

28. Book 4, Line 813. [Eve’s Dream - Satan Aroused] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


[29386] 

£120 

29. Book 9, Line 995. [Eve Presenting the Forbidden 

Fruit to Adam] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 

30. Book 1, Line 44. [The Fall of the Rebel Angels] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


[29370] 

£120 


[29387] 

£150

31. Book 11, Line 78. [Heaven - The Rivers of Bliss] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


[29394] 

£120 

33. Book 5, Line 308. [Paradise - With the approach 

of the Archangel Raphael] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


32. Book 1, Line 710. [Pandemonium] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 

[29375] 

£120 



series. 


[29393] 

£150 

34. Book 5, Line 519. [Raphael Conversing with 

Adam and Eve] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


[29376] 

£100 

36. Book 4, Lines 502. [Satan Contemplating Adam 

and Eve in Paradise] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 

35. Book 1, Lines 314. [Satan Arousing the Falling 

Angels] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


[29396] 

£150 



series. 


[29395] 

£120 

37. Book 2, Line 1. [Satan Presiding at the Infernal 

Council] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


[29382] 

£120 

38. Book 9, Line 780. [Satan Tempting Eve] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


[29390] 

£120 

39. Book 3, Line 301. [Satan Viewing the Ascent to 

Heaven] 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 


Street, 1827. 


Mounted 



series. 


[29384] 

£120


Proof impression with some lettering. 


Condition: Slight foxing to sheet and the bottom of the 

platemark; the image is unaffected. 

[28587] 

£150 

40. The Prophet in the Wilderness 


John Martin 

1826 


Mounted 

Illustration to James Montgomery’s Elijah in the 

Wilderness. The poem was based on Kings 1:19, and 

published in The Amulet; or, Christian and Literary 

Remembrancer. 

The Amulet was one of several annuals which served as 

a lucrative outlet for engravers. Introduced in the 1820’s, 

these annuals were an outgrowth of earlier pocket-books 

or almanacs, and were usually published during festive 

periods in order to attract buyers. Amongst Martin’s literary 

friends were Alaric Watts of the Literary Souvenir and 

Samuel Carter Hall of The Amulet, so it was somewhat 

inevitable that Martin should participate in this fashionable 

and profitable form of publication. In addition to this print, 

Martin provided over twenty designs for annuals between 

the years of 1826 and 1837. 

Elijah, having fleed from the wrath of Jezebel, takes shelter 

and rest under a juniper tree. It is here that the angel visits 

him and Martin’s print shows this very act. The spirit, who 

illuminates the wilderness, brings Elijah bread and water in 

order to sustain his trip to Mount Horeb. 

41. Psalm CXXXVII 

Mezzotint 

John Martin 

London. Published May 1st, 1835, by John Martin, 30 



Mounted 

From John Martin’s Illustrations of the Bible. This print is 

a lettered proof from Part IX of the folio; companion print 

was Belshazzar’s Feast. 

Psalm CXXXVII is a hymn expressing the yearnings of the 

Jewish people in exile following the Babylonian conquest 

of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Rabbinical sources attributed the 

poem to the prophet Jeremiah. Martin’s print shows several 

women weeping by the waters of Babylon as the great 

Akkadian city-state rises and recedes in the distance. 

Lettered proof. 


Condition: Trimmed near platemark. Discolouration to 

bottom left corner of sheet, image not affected. 

[28710] 

£130

42. [The Crucifixion] 

Steel engraving 

Henry Le Keux after John Martin 

London, 1830. 


Mounted 

Originally published in The Amulet, 1830. The Amulet: A 

Christian and Literary Remembrancer was one of several 

annuals which served as a lucrative outlet for engravers. 

Introduced in the 1820’s, these annuals were an outgrowth 

of earlier pocket-books or almanacs, and were usually 

published during festive periods in order to attract buyers. 

Amongst Martin’s literary friends were Alaric Watts of 

the Literary Souvenir and Samuel Carter Hall of The 

Amulet, so it was somewhat inevitable that Martin should 

participate in this fashionable and profitable form of 

publication. In addition to this print, Martin provided over 

twenty designs for annuals between the years of 1826 and 

1837. 

Le Keux’s engraving of The Crucifixion which appeared in 

The Amulet was Martin’s first treatment of the subject. The 

illustration accompanied a seventeen stanza poem entitled 

‘Crucifixion’, by the Revd George Croly and shows the 

moment when the centurion pierces Christ’s side. The dark 

sky opens and illuminates the cross as a procession leading 

from the gates of the city climb a hill to the left in order to 

view the spectacle. 

43. The Repentance of Nineveh 



London, 1832. 


Mounted 

Originally published in The Keepsake, Page 159, 1832. The 

Keepsake was an English literary annual which ran from 

1828-1857. It was compiled by the engraver Charles Heath, 

and edited first by Frederic Mansel Reynolds, and later 

by the Countess of Blessington. The annual was initially 

published by Hurst, Chance and Company (1828-31), then 

Longman, Rees, Orme and Brown (1832-47), and lastly, 

by David Bogue (1848-57). Foreign editions were also 

published in Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, Leipzig and New 

York. The publication attracted high-profile writers such as 

Mary Shelley, Thomas Moore and William Wordsworth, 

and was renowned for the quality of its illustrations. 

Martin’s portrayal of The Repentance of Nineveh shows a 

large crowd of people in prayer beneath a stormy sky, as 

Jonah urges penitence to the masses, or risk the wrath of 

God. 

[28723] 

£45 

Henry Le Keux (1787-1868) was a British printmaker and 

engraver. He was born in Bocking, Essex, but was based in 

London for most of his working life. He was the brother of 

John Le Keux who was the engraver of the Memorials of 

Oxford. Henry also worked on topographical books such as 

John Britton’s Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain. 

Condition: Trimmed just outside of image. 

[28729] 

£30

44. The Seventh Plague of Egypt 



London, 1828. 


Mounted 

Originally published in Forget-Me-Not, 1828. The Forget- 

Me-Not was an illustrated annual published by Rudolph 

Ackermann. This was the first literary annual in English 

and it was edited by Frederic Shoberl from its launch in 

1822, until its denoument in 1847. The annual contained 

twelve engravings to commemorate each month. It also 

displayed a historical review of the previous year, the 

recent census, a family tree for the monarchy of Britain 

and a list of sovereign families and ambassadors for other 

kingdoms. 

Martin’s portrayal of The Seventh Plague of Egypt shows 

a violent storm over a port. Viewed from a terrace and 

staircase in the foreground, Moses stands, aiming his staff 

in the direction of the tumult. 

as in John Martin’s earlier mezzotint for Henry Phillip 

Hope in 1831, differs from the original painting in that 

greater prominence is granted to the hanging gardens of 

Nebuchadnezzar and the attack of the Babylonian king in 

the foreground. 

James G. S. Lucas (1831-1834; fl.) was a British 

printmaker who specialised in the mixed method manner 

of mezzotinting. Lucas issued a series of mezzotint copies 

of Martin’s Illustrations of the Bible through Rittner 

and Goupil in Paris, as well as a similar series based on 

Martin’s plates for the French periodical L’Artiste. 


Condition: Small tear and creasing to the sheet not 

affecting image. Small creases affect image; two on the 

right amongst the hanging gardens, and one on the left, 

midway. 

[28589] 

£175 

[28725] 

£30 

45. Destruction De Babylone / The Fall of Babylon 

Mezzotint 

James G. S. Lucas after John Martin 

Paris, chez Rittner & Goupil, Boulevard, Montmartre, 15. 

c.1833-35 


Mounted 

Cyrus the Great defeated the Chaldean army at Babylon 

in 539/8 B.C, thus fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah and 

Jeremiah. In Martin’s print Cyrus’ armies have invaded the 

city and, assisted by divine tumult, are destroying the city 

and its inhabitants. John Martin first interpreted the biblical 

scene of the destruction of Babylon in a huge painting 

exhibited at the British Institution in 1819. Lucas’ print, 

46. Le Plaie Des Ténèbres / The Plague of Darkness 

Mezzotint 

James G. S. Lucas after John Martin 

Paris, chez Rittner & Goupil, Boulevard, Montmartre, 15. 

c.1833-35 


Mounted 

James Lucas’ print after Martin’s original shows the Ninth 

Plague that was visited upon Egypt in accordance with 

the Book of Exodus. A sphinx is shown in profile to the 

left. Huge colonnades rise behind it, then recede to the 

right with the centrally placed obelisks. Peaks of pyramids 

peer over vast structures. The last rays of light shine upon 

panicking crowds as the swirling vortex of cloud threatens 

to eclipse the sun.

Ex. Col.: Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd. 

Campbell, Visionary Printmaker, p.196. 

Condition: Sheet has been trimmed to just outside of the 

platemark. Light Vertical crease runs down the centre. 

[28593] 

£160 

is sent by the Sultan Amurath to collect the infamous, 

memory-destroying waters, in order to secure the release of 

Sadak’s imprisoned wife, Kalasrade. 

Edward John Roberts (1797-1865) was an engraver and 

print publisher who resided at 11 North Street, City Road, 

London. 

[28694] 

£45 

48. [The Resurrection] 


Robert Wallis after John Martin 

London, 1831. 


Mounted 

Originally published in The Amulet, page 49, 1831. 

Robert Wallis’ engraving of The Resurrection shows the 

Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and another discovering the 

empty tomb of Jesus. The guards beside them have fallen to 

the ground and the fortified city looms behind them. 

47. Sadak. In Search of the Waters of Oblivion 


E.J. Roberts after John Martin 

London, Oct. 1827, Published for the Proprietor by R. 

Jennings, Poultry 


Mounted 

Originally published in The Keepsake, November 1st, 

1828. 

Robert William Wallis (1794-1878) was an English 

engraver of topographical and historical subjects. Often 

employed in an illustrative capacity, Wallis engraved works 

for The Amulet as well as Charles Heath’s Picturesque 

Annual and Robert Jennings’s Landscape Annual. 

Condition: Trimmed just outside of image. 

[28733] 

£30 

The subject of Sadak is taken from a story in The Tales of 

Genii, a collection of interconnected Orientalist fantasies 

first published in England in 1764. The character of Sadak

49. The Last Man 

Mezzotint 

Alfred Martin after John Martin 

R. Ackermann, 96 Strand, London, 1836. 


Framed 

John Martin’s The Last Man is based on a short poem by Thomas Campbell first published in 1823. The poem, 

which bears the same name, narrates a vision of the end of the world as witnessed by a sole survivor who 

watches the sun set for the final time. Envisioning the apocalypse was a growing literary trend, and Martin created 

a succession of images which responded to this. He exhibited An Ideal Design of the Last Man with the 

Society of British Painters in 1826; the watercolour of which this mezzotint is based on in 1833; and a further 

watercolour of the same subject at the Royal Academy in 1839. This print is exceedingly rare. 

Alfred Martin (1835 - 1844; fl.) was an English printmaker; and son of the painter John Martin. He produced 

many engravings after his father’s designs, including those for Thomas Hawkins’s The Wars of Jehovah, Heaven, 

Earth and Hell, published in 1844. 

Campbell, Visionary Printmaker, p. 161. 

Condition: Very strong impression. Light surface dirt to sheet; otherwise excellent. 

[28691] 

£900

50. The Last Judgement 

Mixed method mezzotint 

Charles Mottram after John Martin 

Published Jan.y 1st 1857 by Thomas McLean, 26 Haymarket, London 

Image 698 x 1052 mm 

Framed 

The Last Judgment illustrates the central event of the Book of Revelation, and Martin compiled his scene from 

various passages in the narrative. The damned, on the right, include richly dressed women, notably Herodias’s 

daughter and the whore of Babylon. They are amongst lawyers and churchmen who have sought only worldly 

wealth and are all shown in attitudes of despair and physical pain in an atmosphere of destruction. Martin also 

includes a contemporary detail -a railway train, its carriages marked ‘London’, ‘Paris’, and etc. plunges into an 

abyss. The saved, located on the left of God, are anonymous figures of virtuous women and innocent children, 

true and pure lovers, martyrs, and philanthropists, and in the foreground, portraits of the famous. An engraved 

keyplate was published in 1855 by Leggatt, Haward and Leggatt which identified the principal figures, among 

whom are Thomas More, Wesley, Canute, Colbert, Washington, Copernicus, Newton, Watt, Chaucer, Tasso, 

Corneille and Shakespeare. 

Charles Mottram (1807-1876) was a British printmaker who was equally adept at engraving in line, mezzotint, 

and stipple. He also worked frequently in the mixed-method style. Mottram exhibited at the Royal Academy 

from 1861 to 1877, but is probably best remembered for the plates that he executed after John Martin.

John Martin, Apocalypse, Tate, p. 175. 

Condition: Two inch repaired tear which goes into 

the clouds in the top right of the image. Three vertical 

strips of light discolouration which run from the top, 

to the bottom of the print. 

[29155] 

£1,500 

George Henry Phillips (1800-1852) was a painter, 

miniaturist, and mezzotint engraver. Talented in his field, 

Phillips reproduced a multiplicity of subjects including 

portraiture, genre scenes and landscape. He came to 

prominence in London between the years of 1819 and 

1825, during which time he collaborated with J.M.W 

Turner for The Rivers of England. Phillips would forge 

other notable alliances throughout his career; Thomas 

Lawrence and John Martin to name but a few. 


John Martin-Apocalypse , Tate, 2011, 27. Campbell, 

Visionary Printmaker, p.188. 

Inscription content: Contains a dedication to the Right 

Honourable John Fleming, Baron de Tabley. 

Condition: Slight foxing to the sheet. Image unaffected. 

The impression is worn and the etching shows through in 

areas. 

[28598] 

£800 

51. The Paphian Bower 

Mezzotint with ethcing 

George Henry Phillips after John Martin 

London, Republished Feby. 15, 1853, by Thomas Boys, (of 

the late firm of Moon, Boys & Graves) Printseller to the 

Royal Family, 467, Oxford Street. Paris, E. Gambart & Co. 

15, Rue Charlot,_Depose. Originally Published Decr. 1, 

1826. 


Mounted 

John Martin’s The Paphian Bower depicts three nymphs 

in the act of pursuing Cupid on a bank of roses. A classical 

temple is partially obscured by the sylvan landscape, and 

mountains rise in the distance. In 1822, G.H. Phillips was 

contracted to engrave Martin’s painting of Pan and Syrinx 

in mezzotint, but before the exhibition, Martin altered the 

composition by introducing the three Graces and the infant 

Cupid over the original figures and retitling the work The 

Paphian Bower. Given the flexibility of mezzotint, Phillips 

changed the plate accordingly. This print is a version of the 

final state from the re-worked plate, and the etched hair of 

Syrinx can be seen floating above the figures. The print was 

enduringly successful and attracted a number of imitators. 

In fact, the American painter Thomas Cole went so far as 

to exhibit a copy of the print alongside his painting of the 

Garden of Eden in 1828 in order to refute accusations of 

plagiarism. 

52. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an 

hundred and fifty days.

Etching 

William Bell Scott after William Blake 

‘William Blake: Etchings from his Works by W.B.Scott, 

with descriptive text,’ London, 1878, fol. 

Image 141x 112 mm, Plate 265 x 204 mm, Sheet 394 x 

311mm 

Framed 

An illustration from The Book of Genesis, vii, 24. Blake’s 

work, as the title informs, shows the destruction of the 

Great Flood upon the Earth. It is a desolate landscape 

which is heightened by the repetitive forms of the waves, 

and the mirroring of this pattern in the sky. The rainbow in 

the top left hand corner however introduces a positive note. 

The waters will soon abate, and Noah’s Ark will come to 

rest upon the mountains of Ararat. 

William Bell Scott (1811 - 1890) was a printmaker, 

draughtsman, critic and poet. A younger brother, and 

eventually the biographer, of the Romantic painter David 

Scott, he was born and trained in Edinburgh. In 1844, Scott 

was put in charge of the newly established Government 

School of Design in Newcastle upon Tyne. Scott was an 

intimate and faithful friend of Rossetti, who had written to 

him in 1847 expressing admiration of his poems. He was 

also a friend of Holman Hunt, and contributed two poems 

to The Germ in 1850; but he remained in Newcastle until 

1864, which prevented him from any close involvement in 

the affairs of the Pre-Raphaelite circle. 

William Blake (1757 - 1827) was an English poet, painter, 

and printmaker. Blake trained and worked as a commercial 

engraver under the initial tutelage of James Basire. After 

his apprenticeship, Blake went on to become a student at 

the Royal Academy. In 1784, Blake set up in business as 

a print seller in partnership with James Parker. Later in 

1788, at the age of 31, Blake began to experiment with 

relief etching, a method he would use to produce most of 

his books, paintings, pamphlets and poems. William Blake 

is regarded as one of the great geniuses in the history of 

art. He was largely ignored in his own lifetime, yet today 

is revered as a major reference point for British culture, 

appealing to a more universal audience than perhaps any 

other artist. 

[23242] 

£300 

53. The Passage of the Red Sea 


G.H. Phillips after Francis Danby 

London, Jan.1 1829 Published by M. Colnaghi No.23 

Cockspur Street, Charing Cross. 

Image 760 x 480 mm, Plate 855 x 585 mm, Sheet 

1017 x 686 mm 

Framed 

By the late 1820’s, sublime history works were very 

much in vogue. This trend had been firmly established 

by the works of John Martin, and as Michael Campbell 

notes, Danby’s debt to Martin is apparent in this 

mezzotint. Not only does the composition trace Martin’s 

Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon 

Gibeon, but the distant pyramids and the gesture of 

Moses reflect those in Martin’s painting of the Seventh 

Plague of Egypt, which was exhibited at the Society 

of British Artists in the preceding year. Nonetheless, 

Danby’s work is spectacular, and if it is indeed a composite, 

it brings together the beguile of several Martin 

works as well as the individual components. Moses, 

pictured on a rock in the centre, raises his staff and 

sends the waters tumbling to the left. The Israelites, 

gathered at the far rocky shore of the Red Sea, and in 

the left foreground, assume a myriad of praiseful poses 

as they thank God for their passage. 


miniaturist, and mezzotint engraver. Talented in his 

field, Phillips reproduced a multiplicity of subjects 

including portraiture, genre scenes and landscape. He 

came to prominence in London between the years of 

1819 and 1825, during which time he collaborated 

with J.M.W Turner for The Rivers of England. Phillips 

would forge other notable alliances throughout his 

career; Thomas Lawrence and John Martin to name 

but a few. 

Francis Danby (1793 - 1861) was an Irish born painter 

of landscape. He settled in Bristol in 1813. Though he 

was beginning to establish a positive reputation in the 

South West, it was not until his move to London, and 

subsequent exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1824, 

that Danby truly rose to prominence. The Passage of 

the Red Sea was one of the most spectacular mezzotints 

of Danby’s work and was based upon an oil 

painting entitled The Delivery of Israel out of Egypt, 

which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in the 

summer exhibition of 1825.


[29326] 

£1000

efore a triumphant Christ. It is from this work that this 

print derives. A clause in Doré’s contract stipulated that he 

would also make a watercolour version of the picture for 

an engraver to work from, and that he would receive fifteen 

percent of the entrance fees, engraving and catalogue sales. 

In Doré’s work, the image is bisected into broad planes 

of light and dark. The figure of Christ is the source of 

this light. He carries his cross and is surrounded by a 

host of angels, who form a great circle, and bare swords 

and shields as they prepare to attack. In the shadows 

below them, a host of pagan deities scatter. Jove and his 

thunderbolt heads a cast of the Roman pantheon of Gods. 

To his right, helios can be seen in his chariot, though his 

shining aureole is extinguished in the darkness. Elsewhere, 

serpents, cows and human-faced chimera abound. In the 

centre, a crown is dislodged and falls to the floor. 

Herbert Bourne (1820 - 1907) was a British line engraver 

who worked in London. He exhibited from 1831 to 1855, 

and then at the Royal Academy from 1859 to 1885. 

54. The Triumph of Christianity over Paganism 


Herbert Bourne after Gustave Doré 

London. August 2nd 1880, Published by Fairless & 

Beeforth, Dore Gallery, 35 New Bond Street. Entered 

according to the Act of Congress in the Year 1871 by 

William T. Blodgell in the Office of the Librarian of 

Congress at Washington. (1872) 

Image 830 x 554 mm, Plate 948 x 643 mm, Sheet 1117 x 

850 mm 

Mounted 

Paul Gustave Doré (1832 -1883) was a French artist, 

engraver, illustrator and sculptor. Doré was born in 

Strasbourg and began work as a literary illustrator in 

Paris. He won commissions to depict scenes from texts by 

Rabelais, Balzac, Milton and Dante. This was followed by 

work for British publishers. Amongst these commissions, 

Doré was charged with the task of producing a new 

illustrated English Bible. The English Bible, published in 

1866, was a great success. Playing upon this popularity, 

Doré had a major exhibition of his work in London in 

1867; a show which subsequently laid the foundations for 

the Doré Gallery in Bond Street. 

Condition: Artists proof with signatures of Doré and 

Bourne in pencil. Small tears to the extremities of the sheet; 

image and plate unaffected. 

[29418] 

£500 

From 1865 onwards, Doré began to regularly submit largescale 

religious works to the Salon. He depicted Biblical 

stories such as Moses in the Bulrushes, Christ Leaving the 

Tomb, and The Flight into Egypt. These works, however, 

do not appear to have been the result of a theological 

conviction, but motivated by commercial considerations. 

Such is the case with The Triumph of Christianity over 

Paganism. To honour the launch of the Doré Gallery 

in 1868, the managers of the institution, Fairless and 

Beeforth, commissioned Doré to paint a ten feet high 

canvas displaying a multitude of Pagan deities reeling

55. [Book I, Lines 344-345] 

Lithograph 

Adolphe Gusman after Gustave Doré 

London: Cassell, Petter and Galpin; And 596, Broadway, 

New York. c.1870. 


Mounted 

From The Doré Gallery; a work containing two hundred 

and fifty engravings illustrating subjects from sources such 

as The Bible, Paradise Lost, Dante’s Inferno, Don Quixote 

and Fontaine’s Fables. 

An illustration from Milton’s Paradise Lost. Lines 344-345 

state: 

“So numberless were those bad angels seen, 

Hovering on wing, under the cope of Hell.” 

Adolphe Gusman (1821 - 1905) was a French woodengraver, 

draughtsman and poet. Gusman was born in 

Paris and although he is best known for his prints after 

Gustave Doré, he also produced some interesting work for 

L’Univers Illustré. 

[29231] 

£30 

56. [Book II, Lines 1-2] 

Lithograph 

Adolphe François Pannemaker after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 





An illustration from Milton’s Paradise Lost. Lines 1-2 state: 

“High on a throne of a royal state, which far 

Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind. ” 

Adolphe-François Pannemaker (1822 - 1900) was one of 

the leading wood engravers of the nineteenth-century. He 

was born in Brussels and attended their Royal School of 

engraving in 1836. In 1843, he went to Paris where he 

completed his training. It was here that he illustrated the 

novels of Erckmann-Chatrian and Jules Verne and where he 

began reproducing the work of Gustave Doré. 

[29205] 

£30

57. [Book III, Lines 739-741] 

Lithograph 

Paul Parcel Jonnard after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 






state: 

“Towards the coast of earth beneath 

Down from the eliptic, sped with hoped success, 

Throws his steep flight in many an aëry wheel. ” 

Paul Parcel Jonnard (Died: 1902) was a French woodengraver 

who was active in Paris between the years of 

1863-1902. He worked on English and French publications, 

including the Magazine of Art, and was well known for his 

work after Gustave Doré. 

[29221] 

£30 

58. [Book VI, Lines 406] 

Lithograph 

Ad Ligny after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 





An illustration from Milton’s Paradise Lost. Line 406 

states: 

“Now Night her course began. ” 

Ad Ligny (1855 - 1876; fl) was a French wood-engraver 

of book-illustrations, notably after Gustave Doré. He also 

produced prints for Théophile Gautier’s Le Capitaine 

Fracasse, Jules Janin’s Histoire de la Révolution Française, 

for Bernardin de Saint-Pierre’s Paul et Virginie and for 

Charles Blanc’s Histoire des Peintres. 

[29223] 

£30

59. [Book VI, Lines 410-412] 

Lithograph 

Ad Ligny after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 






state: 

“On the foughten field 

Michaël and his angels, prevalent 

Encampment, placed in guard their watches round. ” 

[29222] 

£30 

60. [Book VI, Line 871] 

Lithograph 

Adolphe Gusman after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 





An illustration from Milton’s Paradise Lost. Line 871 

states: 

“Nine days they fell.” 

[29230] 

£30

61. [Book VI, Lines 874-875] 

Lithograph 

Laurent Hotelin after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 






state: 

“Hell at last, Yawning, received them whole. ” 

Laurent Hotelin (1836-1884; active) was a French engraver. 

From 1844, he worked with Adolphe Best and established 

the engraving firm ‘Best, Hotelin and Leloir.’ Together they 

illustrated magazines such as Le Musée des familles, Tour 

du Monde and Le Magasin Pittotesque. 

62. [Book IX, Lines 74-75] 

Lithograph 

Paul Parcel Jonnard after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 






state: 

“In with the river sunk, and with it rose, Satan. ” 

[29220] 

£30 

[29228] 

£30

63. [Canto III, Lines 76-78] 

Lithograph 





Mounted 





An illustration from Dante’s Inferno. Lines 76-78 state: 

“And, lo! toward us in a bark 

Comes an old man, hoary white with eld, 

Crying, “Woe to you, wicked spirits!” “ 

64. [Canto VII, Lines 118-119] 

Lithograph 

Antoine Alphée Piaud after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 






“Now seest thou, son! 

The souls of those, whom anger overcame. ” 

Antoine Alphée Piaud (1837 - 1852; active c.) was a French 

copyist who was especially skilled in wood-engraving. 

[29218] 

£30 

[29207] 

£30

65. [Canto VIII, Lines 39-41] 

Lithograph 





Mounted 






“My teacher sage 

Aware, thrusting him back: ‘Away! down there 

To the other dogs! ” 

[29201] 

£30 

66. [Canto IX, Line 46] 

Lithograph 

Antoine Alphée Piaud after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 





An illustration from Dante’s Inferno. Line 46 states: 

“Mark thou each dire Erynnis.” 

[29216] 

£30

67. [Canto IX, Lines 29-31] 

Lithograph 

Félix Jean Gaughard after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 





An illustration from Dante’s Purgatorio. Lines 28-29 state: 

“There both, I thought, the eagle and myself 

Did burn; and so intense the imagined flames, 

That needs my sleep was broken off. ” 

[29226] 

£30 

68. [Canto X, Lines 40-42] 

Lithograph 

Héliodore Pisan after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 






“He, soon as there I stood at the tomb’s foot, 

Eyed me a space; then in disdainful mood 

Address’d me: “Say what ancestors were thine.” ” 

Héliodore Pisan (1822 - 1890) was a French painter and 

wood-engraver. He was born in Marseille and exhibited 

at the Salon in Paris from 1849. Along with Adolphe 

François Pannemaker, he is best known for his engravings 

after Gustave Doré. He was also a major component in the 

development of colour engraving. 

[29214] 

£30

70. [Canto XIV, Lines 37-39] 

Lithograph 

Trichon Monvoisin after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 

69. [Canto XII, Lines 1-3] 

Lithograph 

Antoine Valérie Bertrand after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 










“Unceasing was the play of wretched hands, 

Now this, now that way glancing, to shake off 

The heat, still falling fresh.” 

[29232] 

£30 

An illustration from Dante’s Purgatorio. Lines 1-3 state: 

“With equal pace, as oxen in the yoke, 

I, with the laden spirit, journey’d on, 

Long as the mild instructor suffer’d me.” 

Antoine Valérie Bertrand (Born:1823) was a French wood 

engraver. He was a pupil of Henry Brown, and later, of 

Henry Harrison’s. 

[29229] 

£30

71. [Canto XIV, Lines 96-97] 

Lithograph 

Charles Laplante after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 





An illustration from Dante’s Paradiso. Lines 96-7 state: 

“Christ Beam’d on that cross; and pattern fails me now ” 

Charles Laplante (Died: 1903) was a French lithographer 

and wood engraver. He was a pupil of Fagnion’s and 

produced work for publications such as the Magasin 

Pittoresque. 

[29209] 

£30 

72. [Canto XVI, Lines 32-35] 

Lithograph 





Mounted 





An illustration from Dante’s Purgatory. Lines 32-35 state: 

“Long as ‘tis lawful for me, shall my steps 

Follow on thine; and since the cloudy smoke 

Forbids teh seeing, hearing in its stead 

Shall keep us join’d.” 

[29200] 

£30

73. [Canto XIX, Lines 10-11] 

Lithograph 





Mounted 





74. [Canto XXII, Lines 125-126] 

Lithograph 

Herbert after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 






“In pursuit he therefore sped, exclaiming, “Thou art 

caught.” ” 

[29235] 

£30 


“There stood I like the friar, that doth shrive 

A wretch for murder doom’d. ” 

[29202] 

£30

75. [Canto XXXI, Lines 1-3] 

Lithograph 





Mounted 





An illustration from Dante’s Paradiso. Lines 1-3 state: 

“In fashion, as a snow white rose, lay then 

Before my view the saintly multitude, 

Which in his own blood Chrsit espoused. ” 

[29204] 

£30 

76. [Canto XXXI, Lines 133-135] 

Lithograph 

after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 






“Yet in the abyss 

That Lucifer with Judas low ingulfs, 

Lightly he placed us.” 

[29234] 

£30

77. The Angel Showing Jerusalem in Ruins to St. 

John 

Lithograph 





Mounted 





An illustration from The Book of Revelations, XXI,10. 

[29211] 

£30 

78. Babylon Fallen 

Lithograph 





Mounted 





An illustration from The Book of Revelations, XVIII, 2. 

[29212] 

£30

79. Death of Samson 

Lithograph 





Mounted 





An illustration from Judges XVI, Lines 28-30. 

[29208] 

£30 

80. The Deluge 

Lithograph 





Mounted 





An illustration from The Book of Genesis, VII, 20-24. 

Some children, as well as a tigress and her cubs, take 

refuge from the advancing tide on a small fragment of rock, 

the only piece of solid ground visible in the wide waste of 

waters. A few figures desperately strive for safety, but are 

half submerged by the rolling waves. 

[29167] 

£30

81. The Dove Sent Forth from the Ark 

Lithograph 





Mounted 





82. The Plague of Darkness 

Lithograph 





Mounted 





An illustration of Exodus X, Lines 22-23. 

[29206] 

£30 

In Doré’s print, the enormous bulk of the ark rests on 

the broken summit of Mount Ararat. Below, the land is 

destroyed and the water steams. Heaps of drowned humans 

combine with the corpses of animals. 

[29195] 

£30

83. The Strange Nations Slain by the Lions of 

Samaria 

Lithograph 

Charles D. Rodolphe after Gustave Doré 




Mounted 





An illustration from The Book of Kings XVII, 25, 26. 

[29227] 

£30 

84. The Vision of Death 

Lithograph 





Mounted 





An illustration from The Book of Revelations, VI, Line 8. 

[29210] 

£30

85. The Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones 

Lithograph 





Mounted 





An illustration from Ezekiel XXXVII. 

Charles Laplante (Died: 1903) was a French lithographer 

and wood engraver. He was a pupil of Fagnion’s and 

produced work for publications such as the Magasin 

Pittoresque. 

[29196] 

£30 

86. [Tempt not the Lord thy God, he said and Stood. 

But Satan with Amazement Fell.] 

Woodcut on velum 

Démétrius Emmanuel Galanis 

London : Cresset Press, 1931. 


Framed 

From a series of illustrations for John Milton’s Paradise 

Lost and Paradise Regain’d which were published by the 

Cresset Press. Milton’s work was the last, and arguably 

greatest act of the publishing house, which operated 

between the years of 1927 and 1931 under the direction of 

Dennis M. Cohen and A. I. Myers. The prints are regarded 

as some of the most ornate illustrations of Miltonic verse; 

they are printed on vellum, and were created by Galanis, 

who at the time was close to the apex of his careers 

popularity. The printing was done by Bernard H. Newdigate 

whilst the title page and initials were designed by Anna 

Simons. 

Démétrius Emmanuel Galanis (1879-1966) was a Greek 

illustrator, printmaker, and designer. He studied under 

Nikiforos Lytras at the Higher School of Fine Arts in 

Athens and later under Fernand Cormon at the Ecole des 

Beaux-Arts in Paris. Galanis earned a number of important 

commissions as an illustrator for private press books in

France and elsewhere during the first few decades of the 

twentieth-century. 

[10910] 

£700 

Nikiforos Lytras at the Higher School of Fine Arts in 

Athens and later under Fernand Cormon at the Ecole des 

Beaux-Arts in Paris. Galanis earned a number of important 

commissions as an illustrator for private press books in 

France and elsewhere during the first few decades of the 

twentieth-century. 

[11262] 

£650 

88. Les Naufragés de la Méduse [The Raft of 

the Medusa] 

Mezzotint 

Samuel William Reynolds after Théodore Géricault 

A Paris chez Schroth Md.de Tabl. et de Dessins 

Brevite de S.A.R. Madame Duch.de Berry, Rue St. 

Honore No.353 bis./ London, Published January 1829 

by Rittner, 8 Surrey Street, Strand. 


Framed 

87. [The World] 

Woodcut 

Démétrius Emmanuel Galanis 

London : Cresset Press, 1931. 


Framed 

From a series of illustrations for John Milton’s Paradise 

Lost and Paradise Regain’d which were published by the 

Cresset Press. Milton’s work was the last, and arguably 

greatest act of the publishing house, which operated 

between the years of 1927 and 1931 under the direction of 

Dennis M. Cohen and A. I. Myers. The prints stand as some 

of the most ornate illustrations of Miltonic verse; they are 

printed on vellum, and were created by Galanis, who at the 

time was close to the apex of his careers popularity. The 

printing was done by Bernard H. Newdigate whilst the title 

page and initials were designed by Anna Simons. 

Démétrius Emmanuel Galanis (1879-1966) was a Greek 

illustrator, printmaker, and designer. He studied under 

Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa is generally 

regarded as an icon of Romanticism, and when it 

was exhibited at the Salon in 1819, the horror and terribilità 

of the subject fascinated the critics. Géricault’s 

work extolls the story of the Medusa; a French Royal 

Navy frigate that set sail in 1816 to colonize Senegal. 

It was captained by an officer of the Ancien Régime 

who had not sailed for over twenty years and who 

ran the ship aground on a sandbank. Due to a shortage 

of lifeboats, the one hundred and fifty men who 

were stranded decided to build a raft. Brutality and 

cannibalism ensued as the float drifted for thirteen 

days. Only ten people survived the odyssey. Géricault 

represents the vain hope of the shipwrecked sailors. 

A rescue boat is visible on the horizon, but sails away 

without seeing them. Some of the bodies writhe in the 

elation of hope, while others are unaware of the passing 

ships as they bewail their own fates. 

Samuel William Reynolds (1773-1835) was a painter, 

mezzotinter and later in his life, a landscape gardener. 

Reynolds studied at the Royal Academy where he 

was taught engraving by John Raphael Smith. His 

first engraved portrait, a study of George III when still 

Prince of Wales, is dated 1794. Reynolds’ talent was 

regally acknowledged and he was appointed engraver 

to the King in 1820. He is also known to have trained 

Samuel Cousins and David Lucas.

Théodore Géricault (1791-1824) was a French painter and lithographer who exerted a seminal influence on the 

development of Romantic art in his country. He was born in Rouen, and from 1808 trained in Paris with Carle 

Vernet. Géricault was influenced by the military subjects of Baron Gros and by works in the Louvre, notably 

those by Rubens and Renaissance Venetian painters. He is known to have copied works from the Musée Napoléon 

and mastered classicist figure construction and composition under the academician Pierre Guérin. A visit 

to Italy in 1816-7 intensified Géricault’s admiration for classical art, and on his return to Paris he painted his 

most famous work, Les Naufragés de la Méduse. The painting was first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1819. It 

then traveled to England in 1820, accompanied by Géricault himself, where it received much praise. Weakened 

by chronic tubercular infection, Géricault died in Paris in 1824 after a long period of suffering. 

[26875] 

£3,500

Henry Howard (1769-1847) was an English portraitist and 

history painter. He was born in London and after being 

educated at a school in Hounslow, he was apprenticed to 

Philip Reinagle. He was elected to the Royal Academy 

in 1808; became the secretary in 1811; and the Professor 

of Painting in 1833. Throughout his career he exercised a 

steady production of book illustrations and executed some 

decorations in collaboration with Thomas Stothard. 

Condition: Trimmed just outside the image and below title 

line. 

[28736] 

£45 

89. Good Angels 


Chrles Rolls after Henry Howard 

London, 1832. 


Mounted 

Originally published in The Keepsake, 1832. The Keepsake 

was an English literary annual which ran from 1828- 

1857. It was compiled by the engraver Charles Heath, and 

edited first by Frederic Mansel Reynolds,then later by the 

Countess of Blessington. The annual was initially published 

by Hurst, Chance and Company (1828-31), then Longman, 

Rees, Orme and Brown (1832-47), and lastly by David 

Bogue (1848-57). Foreign editions were also published 

in Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, Leipzig, and New York. The 

publication attracted high-profile writers such as Mary 

Shelley, Thomas Moore, and William Wordsworth and was 

renowned for the quality of its illustrations. 

Henry Howards’ Good Angels shows an angel in the act of 

rescuing an infant from a serpent beast with many heads. 

The deity passes the child to a figure in the clouds above 

whilst forks of lightning flash at its side. 

Charles Rolls (1799-Unknown) was a British engraver. 

He specialised in the format of book-illustrations and in 

addition to his submissions to The Keepsake, was known to 

have worked for J S Virtue & Co, the publisher of The Art 

Journal. 

90. Destruction of Sodom. Gen.19, 24. 

Engraving with original hand colouring 

George Baxter after George Jones 

London. Chapman & Hall, Strand. 1837. 

Image and Plate 140 x 100 mm 

Mounted 

This print derives from George Baxter’s Pictorial Album; 

or Cabinet of Paintings, for the Year 1837. 

The subject matter for Baxter’s print is taken from the story 

of Sodom and Gomorrah which appeared in The Book of 

Genesis, The Hebrew Bible, as well as Deuterocanonical 

sources. Burning sulfur rains down upon the five cities of 

the Jordan river plain in the distance. In the foreground, and 

in stark contrast to the scenes of devastation, Lot and his 

two daughters repose under a great rock. 

George Baxter (1804 - 1867) was a British wood-engraver, 

colour printer and lithographer. He conducted various 

experiments in printing procedures and in 1834, secured 

a patent for a method of colour printing for which he sold 

licences. The Baxter process involved the application of an

initial metal keyplate. This provided the main lines of the 

image and much of the tone, light and shade. It was usually 

printed in a neutral hue, such as light grey or terracotta. 

From here, Baxter would use upwards of twenty relief 

blocks to apply each individual colour; all of which was 

done with hand pressing. Despite his technical excellence 

and the general popularity of his prints, Baxter’s business 

was never profitable. His process was laborious and it 

seems likely that his perfectionism prevented him from 

completing many of his commissioned works on time. 

George Jones (1786 - 1869) was a British painter and 

draughstman. Son of the engraver, John Jones, George was 

noted for his militaristic, historical and biblical painting. He 

joined the Royal Montgomery Militia in 1812, and was 

part of the army of occupation in Paris after the Battle of 

Waterloo. Jones became a Royal Academician in 1824; and 

would later become the librarian and keeper of the institute. 


[29415] 

£180 

miniaturist, and mezzotint engraver. Talented in his field, 

Phillips reproduced a multiplicity of subjects including 

portraiture, genre scenes and landscape. He came to 

prominence in London between the years of 1819 and 

1825, during which time he collaborated with J.M.W 

Turner for The Rivers of England. Phillips would forge 

other notable alliances throughout his career; Thomas 

Lawrence and John Martin to name but a few. 

James Henry Nixon (1802-1857) was a painter of genre, 

history and literary subjects. He was a pupil of John 

Martin’s, and in addition to his Shakespearean scenes, he is 

known to have illustrated Walter Scott’s works. Nixon also 

produced a series of watercolours depicting the Eglinton 

Tournament of 1839 which were lithographed by Day and 

Hague and published by Colnaghi and Puckle in London, 

1843. 


Condition: Trimmed inside of platemark. Contains small 

imprint to the top left hand corner of the sheet; image 

unaffected. 

[28690] 

£250 

91. Macbeth. Act 4th, Scene 1st. 

Mezzotint 

G.H. Phillips after J.H. Nixon 

Published by John Kendrick, 54 Leicester Square, February 

1st, 1831. 


mounted 

Nixon’s view depicts a rocky landscape, with a group of 

witches encircling a fire. They deliver the prophecy that 

Banquo will be father to a line of kings. A vision seen in 

background in the sky. The figure of Macbeth, facing them 

on a rock at the right, is incredulous. 


92. The Deluge 

Mezzotint 

John P Quilley after J.M.W Turner 

Image 382 x 577 mm, Plate 457 x 630 mm, Sheet 585 

x 875 mm 

1828 

Mounted 

J.M.W Turner’s work vividly conveys The Flood of 

the Old Testament. The Ark can be seen in the distance 

withstanding the buffeting of the elements. The trunk 

of a tree juts diagonally in the great wind its foliage 

blown almost at a right angle to its shaft. Ships are 

gnarled and snakes coil in the surf. The artist, so often 

criticised for his figurative work, brilliantly represents 

the characters as they are swept up in a wave. Some 

thrash around in the water; others cling to loved ones; 

further bodies drift limply amongst floatsam.

Turner had released a version of The Deluge between the years of 1813-1823 in the Liber Studiorium, or the 

Book of Studies. In his 1828 landscape of the Biblical subject, it was an altogether different scene and was 

invested with far more horror and spectacle than the earlier version. The publication of Quilley’s print coincided 

with Martin’s mezzotinted treatment of the same subject. This proved unfortunate for Turner, for it was 

the latter that received the greater critical acclaim in the Gentleman’s Magazine. 

John P Quilley (1812 - 1842; fl) was a British reproductive engraver who is known to have produced portraits 

after Sir William Beechey and William Artaud, as well as landscapes after Joseph Mallord William Turner. 


Condition: 

[29416] 

£1,200

93. Is Sebastopol Armageddon? 

Daniel Nihill 

London: Piper, Stephenson & Spence, and Houlston & 

Stoneman, 1855. 

Duodecimo: 170 x 118 mm 

unmounted 

Inscription below title reads: The Place Spoken of 

Revelation XVI cap. 16 v. 

Rev. D. Nihill’s tract forms a response to a letter which 

appeared in the Eddowes’s Shrewsbury Journal on the 24th 

January, 1855. The letter draws a comparison between the 

apocalyptic prophecy of the gathering of the grapes and 

the Crimean War; or rather, the Hebrew term for vineyard 

which translates as Crim. Reverend Nihill’s text attemps 

to subjoin this letter by linking aspects of the siege of 

Sebastpol to the Book of Revelations and the potential 

onset of armageddon. 

The Reverend Daniel Nihill (1791-1867) was a British 

scholar and theologian. He was the Rector of Fitz, 

Shropshire and published works such as Angels: An 

Investigation of What Is Taught in Scripture concerning 

Them, as well as Prison Discipline in its relations to society 

and individuals, as deterring from crime, and as conducive 

to personal reformation. 

Condition: Trimmed at the bottom of the sheet. 

[29377] 

£35

1131_Revelations Catalogue.pdf

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?