Joshua commanding the Sun to stand still

John Martin's Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still from around 1822 depicts the Old Testament miracle in which God halted the sun's movement so that Joshua could complete his military victory over the Amorites. Martin developed his signature compositional formula in the early 1820s—the tiny commanding figure dwarfed by vast celestial and natural forces, the landscape transformed by miraculous light effects—and this Joshua subject allowed him to deploy both the military drama of ancient battle and the cosmic spectacle of divine intervention in natural order. Martin's prints after his most celebrated compositions reached enormous popular audiences, and his Joshua subject was among those most widely disseminated through the engraving trade that made him one of the most recognized British painters of his era despite persistent critical reservations about his theatrical excess.

The vast panoramic composition dwarfs the human figures with dramatic geological formations and an expansive, supernaturally lit sky. Martin's meticulous rendering of architectural and geological detail creates a convincingly otherworldly setting.