Figures Seated by a Lake in a Wooded Landscape

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

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. John Martin's biographer believed that his early landscapes, such as this one, were inspired by classical texts by Ovid.