Floor plan

Time and place19th-century Britain

19th-century Britain

Armies of men march and battle along a rocky outcropping set among huge rock formations and massive buildings under a stormy sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The people we can see all have pale skin. Sheets of rain fall from flint-gray clouds on our left into a valley, though hints of peach brighten the clouds along the mountainous horizon there. In the right half of the sky, light pours down from a brilliant white sun that breaks through white clouds to reveal topaz-blue patches of sky. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition and is lined with rugged white, pale pink, and olive-green mountains on our left and silvery-white buildings along the right half. These structures include two domed buildings and a colosseum among many others. The buildings are all enclosed within city walls buttressed with towers. The land dips precipitously from the rocky cliffs supporting the buildings, to sweep down toward us. A huge outcropping angles up like a ramp between us and the buildings in the distance. A road runs from the walled town toward us, down along the ridge and in front of the outcropping. Countless warriors march in rows of four or five across on the road past a man wearing a feathered helmet and armored breastplate. This man, Joshua, stands on a rocky precipice facing away from us with his right hand raised. He wears a scarlet-red toga under his breastplate, and a royal-blue cape flutters at his left side. He holds a round, copper-colored shield and a spear in his other hand. Two men with gray beards stand near Joshua with their backs to us. Both gesture up to the sky. One holds a slender staff and the other a curling horn. They and another pair of men, who stoop to hold poles used to carry a chest, all wear long, ivory-white robes, cherry-red drapery, and white turbans. The column of soldiers on foot and horseback pass in front of Joshua to a massive battlefield to our left. The fight takes place in a valley that leads back to a river. A bolt of lightning zigzags from the storm clouds and strikes a city in the deep distance. The artist signed the painting in the lower right, “J. Martin.”
A work made of oil on canvas.
A work made of watercolor and gouache, heightened with white gouache, over graphite selectively gum varnished on cream wove card.
The painting depicts an equestrian scene with people and horses in a green landscape. There are several people on horseback, and others standing by horses. Some people are also sitting in horse-drawn carriages. The horses are in a variety of colors, and the people wear formal clothing like suit jackets, top hats, vests, or colorful dresses. People fill the middle of the scene and the green hills that rise to the left, while a wide path is marked off on the right, bordered by fences. There are some tall trees around the area, with people gathering below them. In the distance, a large white building with columns and blue roofs can be seen. There is also a white tent partially behind a hill on the left. The sky above is blue and filled with white and gray clouds.
GEORGE JAMES DRUMMOND'S ROOM AT OXFORD, 1853

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Works made in Britain in the 19th century.

First room, north wall

  1. Armies of men march and battle along a rocky outcropping set among huge rock formations and massive buildings under a stormy sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The people we can see all have pale skin. Sheets of rain fall from flint-gray clouds on our left into a valley, though hints of peach brighten the clouds along the mountainous horizon there. In the right half of the sky, light pours down from a brilliant white sun that breaks through white clouds to reveal topaz-blue patches of sky. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition and is lined with rugged white, pale pink, and olive-green mountains on our left and silvery-white buildings along the right half. These structures include two domed buildings and a colosseum among many others. The buildings are all enclosed within city walls buttressed with towers. The land dips precipitously from the rocky cliffs supporting the buildings, to sweep down toward us. A huge outcropping angles up like a ramp between us and the buildings in the distance. A road runs from the walled town toward us, down along the ridge and in front of the outcropping. Countless warriors march in rows of four or five across on the road past a man wearing a feathered helmet and armored breastplate. This man, Joshua, stands on a rocky precipice facing away from us with his right hand raised. He wears a scarlet-red toga under his breastplate, and a royal-blue cape flutters at his left side. He holds a round, copper-colored shield and a spear in his other hand. Two men with gray beards stand near Joshua with their backs to us. Both gesture up to the sky. One holds a slender staff and the other a curling horn. They and another pair of men, who stoop to hold poles used to carry a chest, all wear long, ivory-white robes, cherry-red drapery, and white turbans. The column of soldiers on foot and horseback pass in front of Joshua to a massive battlefield to our left. The fight takes place in a valley that leads back to a river. A bolt of lightning zigzags from the storm clouds and strikes a city in the deep distance. The artist signed the painting in the lower right, “J. Martin.”
    Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon GibeonJohn Martin, 1816Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A work made of oil on canvas.
    The FestivalSir John Edward Poynter, 1875Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

First room, south wall

  1. A work made of watercolor and gouache, heightened with white gouache, over graphite selectively gum varnished on cream wove card.
    The Hall, Levens, WestmorelandJoseph Nash, n.d.Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. The painting depicts an equestrian scene with people and horses in a green landscape. There are several people on horseback, and others standing by horses. Some people are also sitting in horse-drawn carriages. The horses are in a variety of colors, and the people wear formal clothing like suit jackets, top hats, vests, or colorful dresses. People fill the middle of the scene and the green hills that rise to the left, while a wide path is marked off on the right, bordered by fences. There are some tall trees around the area, with people gathering below them. In the distance, a large white building with columns and blue roofs can be seen. There is also a white tent partially behind a hill on the left. The sky above is blue and filled with white and gray clouds.
    Heaton Park RacesJohn Ferneley, 1829Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. GEORGE JAMES DRUMMOND'S ROOM AT OXFORD, 1853
    George James Drummond's Room at Oxford, 1853George Pyne, 1853Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Second room, south wall

  1. Large marine landscape of boats on rough waves, storm clouds.
    Fishing Boats with Hucksters Bargaining for FishJoseph Mallord William Turner, 1837–38Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. Bray Church Yard, by John Varley, 1807
    Bray Church YardJohn Varley, 1807Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Loggia of the Ducal Palace, Venice, by John Ruskin, 1849–50
    Loggia of the Ducal Palace, VeniceJohn Ruskin, 1849–50Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Second room, north wall

  1. Lear and Cordelia, by Richard Hatfield, 1845
    Lear and CordeliaRichard Hatfield, 1845Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. Noah: The Eve of the Deluge, by John Linnell, 1848
    Noah: The Eve of the DelugeJohn Linnell, 1848Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. A work made of oil on panel.
    The Sand Pits, Hampstead HeathJohn Linnell, 1834Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Third room, north wall

  1. Descent into the Plain of Granada, by David Roberts, 1834
    Descent into the Plain of GranadaDavid Roberts, 1834Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. We look out onto a landscape with low, grassy hills to the left, a lake to the right, and a brick building in the center distance below a sky filled with towering white clouds in this horizontal painting. A wooden fence closer to us crosses the landscape from the lower left corner and disappears where the land slopes down to meet the water at the center of the painting. Several black and white cows graze in the field beyond the fence to our left. Two men in a wooden boat pull in nets on the lake to our right near a pair of swans. The lake crosses the composition in the near distance, disappearing into a culvert farther back. A donkey pulls a small carriage with two people near a bridge that crosses the lake in the distance to our left. The brick manor house is visible through a break in the full, deep green trees that line the horizon, which comes halfway up the composition. The clouds cast noticeable shadows in the brightly sunlit scene.
    Wivenhoe Park, EssexJohn Constable, 1816Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. Whalers, by Joseph Mallord William Turner, ca. 1845
    WhalersJoseph Mallord William Turner, ca. 1845Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Third room, south wall

  1. Weymouth Bay, by David Lucas, 1830
    Weymouth BayDavid Lucas, 1830Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Portrait of Charlotte and Sarah Carteret-Hardy, by Thomas Lawrence, 1801
    Portrait of Charlotte and Sarah Carteret-HardyThomas Lawrence, 1801Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art