The Last Man, 1849, by John Martin. Oil on canvas. 137.8 cm x 214 cm. The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Reproduced under the terms of Creative Commons. Click on image to enlarge it.
This painting adds a melancholy, reflective note to Martin’s vision of a doomed world. Instead of his usual, dynamic compositions, which show the apocalypse at the moment of the world’s demise, this image depicts an aged man – literally the last man standing. The palette, with its combination of a blue sky, a washed-out earth and a lurid sun, conveys a deep sadness as the final day comes to a close; the fluid contours of the landscape likewise suggests a descent into formlessness, freed from human intervention or the impact of human thought. Martin is characteristically concerned with the bang that finishes life on Earth, but here he envisages a final, enervating whimper that seems far from traditional Victorian notions of endless improvement and evolution and prefigures the dim dystopias of the end of the century.
[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. Image capture by Simon Cooke
Created 23 August 2021