Floor plan

Style galleriesGeorgian Britain

Georgian Britain

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.
The image displays a man in a portrait from the waist up, in a three-quarter view. He is facing slightly to the right and looking into the distance with a calm expression. The man has fair skin, light reddish-brown hair, sideburns, a defined nose, and a slightly upturned chin. He is wearing a black double-breasted coat with a high collar, a dark waistcoat, a white shirt, and a medal on his chest with an insignia and ribbon. The background is plain and deep brown.
The image shows a pheasant with vivid green and blue plumage and intricate golden patterns on its wings. The bird has long, patterned tail feathers extended to the right. The background includes palm trees, rocky outcrops, and distant hills.
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.”
The image shows a landscape with a rolling hill in the foreground sloping downward. The horizon is high, providing a view over fields and sky. Sheep graze on the hill, tended by a person. A large, dark tree is on the right. Brushstrokes vary in the sky and land, with broad strokes for clouds and finer ones for grass and foliage. The color palette is mainly black, white, and shades of grey, highlighting light and shadow.
A work made of oil on panel.

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Portraits, conversation pieces and watercolour landscapes from Hogarth to Constable.

Section 1, north wall

  1. 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
  2. The image displays a man in a portrait from the waist up, in a three-quarter view. He is facing slightly to the right and looking into the distance with a calm expression. The man has fair skin, light reddish-brown hair, sideburns, a defined nose, and a slightly upturned chin. He is wearing a black double-breasted coat with a high collar, a dark waistcoat, a white shirt, and a medal on his chest with an insignia and ribbon. The background is plain and deep brown.
    Francis Charles Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of HertfordThomas Lawrence, c. 1822/1823Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. The image shows a pheasant with vivid green and blue plumage and intricate golden patterns on its wings. The bird has long, patterned tail feathers extended to the right. The background includes palm trees, rocky outcrops, and distant hills.
    Phasianus VersicolorWilliam Home LizarsCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 1, south 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. The image shows a landscape with a rolling hill in the foreground sloping downward. The horizon is high, providing a view over fields and sky. Sheep graze on the hill, tended by a person. A large, dark tree is on the right. Brushstrokes vary in the sky and land, with broad strokes for clouds and finer ones for grass and foliage. The color palette is mainly black, white, and shades of grey, highlighting light and shadow.
    NoonDavid Lucas, 1830Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. A work made of oil on panel.
    The Sand Pits, Hampstead HeathJohn Linnell, 1834Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Section 2, south wall

  1. Portrait of Catherine Grey, Lady Manners, by Thomas Lawrence, 1794
    Portrait of Catherine Grey, Lady MannersThomas Lawrence, 1794Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. Weymouth Bay, by David Lucas, 1830
    Weymouth BayDavid Lucas, 1830Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. A work made of engraving in black ink with opaque and translucent watercolor on cream laid paper.
    May, from Twelve Months of FlowersHenry Fletcher, n.d.Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. Shown from the waist up, a young, pale-skinned woman with her gray hair piled high atop her head is lit starkly against a dark background in this vertical portrait painting. The woman’s shoulders are angled to our left. Her face is square to us, but she looks off to our right from the corners of her eyes, which are gray rimmed with golden brown around the pupils. She has a thin face, smooth cheeks, a bow-shaped pink mouth, and a narrow chin. Her hair is mostly swept up high under a bank of pearl-white feathers and some sparkling ornaments. A few ringlets hang down the back of her neck. The bodice of her white dress scoops low across her chest and sits just above her sloping shoulders. The dress is adorned with pearls on the sleeves and around the neckline, and the fabric shimmers from silvery white to pale gold. The background is earth-brown around her face and deepens to almost black in the corners.
    Mrs. Paul Cobb MethuenThomas Gainsborough, c. 1776/1777Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 2, north wall

  1. Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island, Northumberland, by Thomas Girtin, 1796–97
    Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island, NorthumberlandThomas Girtin, 1796–97Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Descent into the Plain of Granada, by David Roberts, 1834
    Descent into the Plain of GranadaDavid Roberts, 1834Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. This drawing depicts multiple figures in a forest setting. An angelic figure hovers at the top with wings outstretched. The forest below is filled with intricately detailed trees. Figures on the ground are in dynamic poses, one showing surprise or fear, and another reaching upwards. The composition is detailed with flowing garments and textured foliage, evoking tension and animation.
    The Death of Saint Peter MartyrJohn Baptist Jackson, 1739Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 3, north wall

  1. Portrait of the Ladies Amabel and Mary Jemima Yorke, by Joshua Reynolds, c. 1761
    Portrait of the Ladies Amabel and Mary Jemima YorkeJoshua Reynolds, c. 1761Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. Bray Church Yard, by John Varley, 1807
    Bray Church YardJohn Varley, 1807Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. The image displays a landscape with a high vantage point. The horizon is low, with a row of trees. A church tower is off-center to the left. The church is surrounded by trees and buildings. A line of trees is on the right side. The sky has large, expressive clouds. A monochromatic palette of gray is used. A path winds through the scene, with two figures: one person working and another walking.
    Stoke-by-NeylandDavid Lucas, 1830Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington