Research
Crayon on paper. Old repairs.
Provenance:
The personal collection of Eugene Thaw.
This extraordinary drawing depicts The Destruction of the Cities of the Plain, and is certainly a preparatory drawing for the print of the same title by English artist James G. S. Lucas (fl. 1831–1834). Though little about the artist is known, Lucas was clearly influenced by the works of John Martin, issuing “a series of mezzotint copies of Martin’s Illustrations of the Bible through Rittner and Goupil in Paris, as well as a similar series based on Martin’s plates for the French periodical L’Artiste.” Lucas “appears to have been particularly inspired by Martin’s panoramas illustrating the spectacular convulsions of nature…[in many of his works] the dramatic sky was vigorously scratched in with a drypoint needle after the engraver had completed the carefully detailed architecture.”
Full research report available on request.