Oil paint on canvas
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/john-martin-371" aria-label="More by John Martin" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">John Martin</a>
Great Day His Wrath
Purchased 1945
adults
Apocalypse
Bible: New Testament
crowd
damnation
destruction
earthquake
emotions, concepts and ideas
figure
figure
fire
gorge
groups
Judaeo-Christian imagery
landscape
Last Judgement
lightning
natural phenomena
nudes
people
religion and belief
Revelation
rocky
smoke
storm
universal concepts
weather
<p>American filmmaker and stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen (1920 – 2013) was inspired by Martin’s dramatic works. He called this painting ‘an incredible, visionary masterpiece, depicting catastrophe and conveying an overwhelming sense of destruction … it resembles a frame from a movie – this time, perhaps, a blockbuster disaster movie’.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2019</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
8 October 2001 – 25 July 2004
2004-07-25
8 October 2001 – 25 July 2004
2004-07-25
2001-10-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-10-08
John Martin and Visions of the Apocalypse
Collection based display
25 July 2005 – 26 July 2009
2009-07-26
25 July 2005
2005-07-25
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-07-25
Romantic Painting in Britain
Collection based display
18 August 2009 – 14 November 2010
2010-11-14
18 August 2009 – 14 November 2010
2010-11-14
2009-08-18
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-08-18
Sublime
Collection based display
5 March 2011 – 15 January 2012
2012-01-15
5 March 2011 – 5 June 2011
2011-06-05
2011-03-05
Laing Art Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/
22 June 2011 – 4 September 2011
2011-09-04
2011-06-22
Millennium Gallery (Sheffield, UK)
http://www.sheffieldgalleries.org.uk
21 September 2011 – 15 January 2012
2012-01-15
2011-09-21
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2011-03-05
John Martin
Exhibition
5 March 2011 – 15 January 2012
2012-01-15
5 March 2011 – 5 June 2011
2011-06-05
2011-03-05
Laing Art Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/
29 June 2011 – 1 September 2011
2011-09-01
2011-06-29
Millennium Gallery (Sheffield, UK)
http://www.sheffieldgalleries.org.uk
13 September 2011 – 15 January 2012
2012-01-15
2011-09-13
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2011-03-05
Tate Touring John Martin
Loan-out
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
2012-11-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-11-05
Gallery 9
Collection based display
26 June 2017 – 12 November 2017
2017-11-12
26 June 2017 – 12 November 2017
2017-11-12
2017-06-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2017-06-26
Ray Harryhausen
Collection based display
19 October 2019 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
19 October 2019 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
2019-10-19
Kunsthalle Bremen (Bremen, Germany)
2019-10-19
Icons
Loan-out
The Great Day of His Wrath
support: 1965 × 3032 mm
frame: 2400 × 3470 × 175 mm
Purchased 1945
<p>This is the third picture in Martin's great <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/t/triptych" title="Glossary definition for 'Triptych'"><span>triptych</span></a>, known as the Judgement Series.  Along with the other two vast panels, <i>The Last Judgement </i>and <i>The Plains of Heaven</i> (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/martin-the-last-judgement-t01927" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T01927</span></a> and <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/martin-the-plains-of-heaven-t01928" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T01928</span></a>), it was inspired by St John the Divine's fantastic account of the Last Judgement given in <i>Revelation</i>, the last book of the New Testament. Martin's aim in producing this series was highly <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/romanticism" title="Glossary definition for 'Romanticism'"><span>Romantic</span></a>: to express the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sublime" title="Glossary definition for 'Sublime'"><span>sublime</span></a>, apocalyptic force of nature and the helplessness of man to combat God's will. Of all Martin's biblical scenes, this presents his most cataclysmic vision of destruction, featuring an entire city being torn up and thrown into the abyss.

</p><p>The Book of Judgement is sealed with seven seals.  As each seal is broken, mysterious and terrifying events occur, culminating in the breaking of the sixth seal:

</p><p>and, lo, there was a great earthquake' and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; | And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. | And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.         (<i>Revelation </i>6:12-14)

</p><p>Martin follows the biblical description closely, but adds his own sensational effects.  A blood-red glow casts an eerie light over the scene. The mountains are transformed into rolling waves of solid rock, crushing any buildings that lie in their wake.  Lightning splits the giant boulders which crash towards the dark abyss, and groups of helpless figures tumble inexorably towards oblivion.  

</p><p>The three pictures in the triptych became famous in the years after Martin's death and were toured throughout England and America. They were described as 'The most sublime and extraordinary pictures in the world valued at 8000 guineas' (quoted in Wilson, p.76).  Many <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/mezzotint" title="Glossary definition for 'Mezzotint'"><span>mezzotints</span></a> of the pictures were sold, but the vastness and theatricality of Martin's visions now appeared outmoded to the mid-<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/v/victorian" title="Glossary definition for 'Victorian'"><span>Victorians</span></a>, and the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> themselves failed to find a buyer. By the twentieth century, Martin's work had fallen into obscurity and he became known as 'Mad Martin'. In 1935 the triptych was sold for seven pounds and the separate panels dispersed.  It was reunited by the Tate in 1974.

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>Simon Wilson, <i>Tate Gallery - an illustrated companion</i>, London 1990,<i> </i>p.76.<br/>Christopher Wood, <i>Victorian Painting</i>, London 1999, pp.19-20, reproduced p.20, in colour.

</p><p>Frances Fowle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div><p><span>The paintings of John Martin were extremely popular with the public. This artwork is part of series of three Martin painted depicting the end of the world, as prophesied in the Biblical Book of Revelation. The pictures were continually on tour for 20 years in a paying exhibition that travelled to galleries, theatres and music halls all over the UK and even travelled as far as Australia. As many as eight million people saw the pictures around the world.</span></p></div>
Online caption
2024-04-22T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
adults Apocalypse Bible: New Testament crowd damnation destruction earthquake emotions, concepts and ideas figure figure fire gorge groups Judaeo-Christian imagery landscape Last Judgement lightning natural phenomena nudes people religion and belief Revelation rocky smoke storm universal concepts weather