Fallen Angels in Hell

Martin's Fallen Angels in Hell from 1841 belongs to his late Miltonic trilogy and depicts the damned host after their defeat at the hands of the Heavenly armies—the most extreme expression of his catastrophic visual language. Milton's description of Hell in Paradise Lost—its physical features, the fallen angels' assembly, Satan's throne—provided Martin with a literary source of enormous visual ambition, and his interpretation translates Milton's verbal grandeur into sweeping architectural and geological visions of terrible beauty. The fallen angels, reduced to tiny figures against a landscape of volcanic grandeur and infernal architecture, embody the Miltonic theme of sublime intellect reduced to damnation. Martin's trilogy was among the most technically ambitious series of paintings produced in nineteenth-century Britain, and its public exhibition as a panorama after his death demonstrated the enduring appeal of his visionary program.

The infernal scene creates overwhelming scale through the contrast between tiny falling figures and vast, flame-lit caverns. Martin's handling of fire and smoke creates dramatic atmospheric effects that dominate the composition.