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John Martin was a local boy made good. He was born in Northumberland not far from Newcastle in 1789 and he became one of the most famous painters of his day. He painted huge paintings and went on tour with the paintings around the country. There was an excellent exhibition of his work at Tate Britain in 2011, the first major exhibition of his work for many years. 'The Bard' is quite large but is dwarfed by his huge canvases with their vast, panoramic scenes. It is, however, a typical Martin painting with it's intense romantic subject matter.
Of course, the mountains of Wales are nothing like those in the painting and it's thought that these are based on prints of the Alps that Martin would have seen. Does that matter? Of course not. In the world of the painting this is an impossibly romantic scene and needs a suitable backdrop.
The army shows the power of the king, with all this might pitted against an old man with a harp but we know that old man has power too and he doesn't need an army to back him up. His powers are ancient and mystical and come from the land he stands on.
This is a painting to awaken the imagination of anyone who is open to it, who starts to wonder about what's going on in the painting in front of them and immerse themselves in the tale. John Martin didn't paint pretty pictures, he painted tales and flights of the imagination, taking the viewer on a journey to who knows where. Is it any surprise that this painting has stuck with me over the years?
I try to visit the Laing Gallery whenever I visit Newcastle. It has an interesting collection and changes its displays quite regularly so I'm almost always guaranteed to see some paintings I've never seen before. John Martin's great works are always on display. Take a look the next time you're in Newcastle, entry to see the collection is free and it's a great way to get some peace from the people and traffic outside on the streets.
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