Hyde Park

Hyde Park from 1815 by John Martin depicts another of London's royal parks, showing the young artist painting from the familiar surroundings of the capital. The urban park provided accessible landscape subjects for a painter just beginning his career. Martin's apocalyptic subjects resonated with an era of industrial transformation; his vast canvases toured Britain and America and were reproduced as mezzotints, reaching a public far beyond what galleries could accommodate.

The park scene demonstrates Martin's early ability to capture atmospheric effects within a gentler register than his later dramatic compositions.