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JOHN MARTIN The Fall of Nineveh.
Mezzotint and engraving, 1829-30. 673x912 mm; 26 1/2x36 inches, small margins. A superb, richly-inked and dark impression of this tour-de-force work, with little to no sign of wear.
The apocalyptic vision represented in this engraving is unparalleled for its time. This is the English printmaker Martin's (1789-1854), the 19th century's master of visual melodrama, most spectacular engraving in terms of size and subject matter. It depicts the accomplishment of the scriptural prophecy foretold in the Book of Nahum, that God will wreak vengeance on the wicked city of Nineveh through natural disasters and erase it from the face of the earth. Nineveh was the capital of the ancient Assyrian Empire (modern-day Iraq) and was fabled for its magnificence, but it was also referred to in the Bible as a "bloody city . . . all full of lies and robbery."
Destruction befell Nineveh when violent floods caused the river to rise and eventually tear down the city's walls, allowing the Medes and Babylonians to infiltrate the capital. The invading armies are shown in the background of the print as they approach via the river and enter the city through the collapsed fortifications. Under a convulsive sky the doomed Ninevites scatter like ants while their decadent king, Sardanapalus, orders the construction of the immense funeral pyre on which he will burn to death with his concubines and treasures. Campbell/Wees 82.
