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Figures Seated by a Lake in a Wooded Landscape
by John Martin
About the Artwork
Before he became famous as a history painter, John Martin earned a living by teaching and painting watercolors. His so-called sepia drawings, landscapes in monochromatic wash, found an enthusiastic audience. The artist’s method for painting foliage in these drawings was idiosyncratic; form and texture were created almost entirely in negative spaces without the use of line. Highlighted leaves, bark, vines, and roots were delineated with the white of the paper, creating a peculiar, instantly recognizable, spongy effect.
Inscriptions
signed and dated, in brown ink, at lower right: J. Martin 1820; inscribed, in graphite, on verso, at center: William / No. 3
Provenance
1996: (sale, Christie's, London, July 9, 1996, no. 33) 1996-1997: (Kate Ganz Ltd., London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) 1997-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Nature Sublime: Landscapes from the 19th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 15-November 14, 2004). British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2013).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- John Martin (British, 1789–1854)
- Date
- 1820
- Medium
- brown wash and point of brush with graphite underdrawing
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 19.8 x 26.6 cm (7 13/16 x 10 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1997.38
More by John Martin in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011166
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