Destruction of Sodom and Gommorah Postcard

This is a reproduction of John Martin’s 1852 masterpiece, The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. This reknown English artist was born in 1789 in Northumberland. Apprenticed to the artist Boniface Musso, he moved to London when he was seventeen and married two years later. He supported himelf by giving drawing lessons and painting watercolors on china and glass. He began to paint landscapes, often with a Biblical theme until 1816 when his “Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still” gained acclaim. He largely retired from painting in 1827, but returned in 1839 and produced many paintings until his death in 1854, two years after the production of this masterwork. It, of course, portrays the destruction of Sodom and Gommorah as depicted in the nineteenth chapter of Genesis. The original measures 53.7 by 83.6 inches and is an oil on canvas housed in the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.