Viewers were struck by the contemporary rendering of the subject.

This dramatic Biblical theme, the largest work Danby ever painted, was intended to re-establish the artist’s reputation when he returned to England in 1840 after an absence of eleven years on the Continent.

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported).

By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Comprising thirty three different panels in all, it is the central section of nine panels, depicting the story of Genesis which lie at the heart of the ceiling; and which could be considered Michelangelo's masterwork. Like JPG. If you consider that any of the materials violates your rights, and you do not want your material to be displayed on this website, please get in touch with us via "contact us" page and your copyrighted material will be immediately removed. Other articles where The Deluge is discussed: Western painting: United States: “The Deluge” (1804; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City) is a typical macabre invention, with bodies in a raging tempest swept ashore to where wolves and serpents lurk. In the lower right hand corner, an angel weeps over the death of a child.

This apocalyptic painting was produced by Winifred Knights as a competition entry for the final of the 1920 Prix de Rome scholarship in Decorative Painting.

While Knights initially conceived the Biblical Flood scene with a frieze of figures and animals calmly entering Noah's ark in the foreground and placid, horizontal tracts of landscape in the distance, the final design was altogether more dramatic. The subject is from the Old Testament book of Genesis. The Deluge is the second of these panels, and tells the story of the Great Flood, when God drowned the Earth, save the occupants of Noah's Ark; which is visible here in the background, floating away on the rising waters. This furious, stormy blankness is the perfect backdrop for the vivid flesh tones of his people as they attempt fruitlessly to escape. Unlike Martin, Danby has chosen to encompass the whole drama in one work. The Subsiding Of The... 1200x896 0 0. In the painting, Martin mingled religion with science as well as Romantic literature, drawing inspiration from Lord Byron’s drama Heaven and Earth (1821). Knights continued to work on Biblical and religious subjects for the rest of her career, drawing inspiration particularly from Italian quattrocento painting which she discovered during her studies in Rome.

The subject is from the Old Testament book of Genesis. As well as such meteorological portents as lightning, a comet, and a blood-red setting sun, Danby has also extended his theme by the use of symbolic references to destruction, in particular the juxtaposition of the serpent and the drowning lion, and the angel weeping over the dead giant.

In the foreground, people flee the rising waters towards the high ground, while Noah's ark floats calmly in the distance to the right.

God sends a flood to punish mankind’s wickedness but allows Noah and his family to be saved. The reviewer in the Athenaeum compared the figures in the foreground to the ‘frantic exaggeration’ of those in the ‘great green “Deluge”’ by Girodet in the Louvre. This was his last. The painting was acquired in a black painted simple L-section frame. Further Reading:Winifred Knights 1899-1947, exhibition catalogue, The British School at Rome, Rome 1995, reproduced p.27 in colourSam Smiles and Stephanie Pratt, Two-Way Traffic: British and Italian Art 1880-1980, exhibition catalogue, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter 1996, pp.10-15. Noah’s ark is in the background, illuminated by a shaft of moonlight. 66 1/4 x 101 3/4 inches (168.3 x 258.4 cm), Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, Jean Léon Gérôme, Dieu le Père soutenu par des anges (God the Father Supported by Angels), John Flaxman, The Creation of the Heavens, http://collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/1669250. Knights began working on the canvas on 5 July 1920. cit., p. 317), the artist completed this work in France before returning to England in the spring of 1840.

All the materials are intended for educational purposes only.

The Deluge Oil Paint... 600x414 0 0. Like JPG. Lit: Athenaeum, 1840, p.476; 1852, p.657; Blackwoods Magazine, XLVIII, 1840, p.386; Frazer’s Magazine, 1840, p.420; The Times, 30 May and 18 June 1840; The Art Journal, 1861, p. 118; E. W. Adams, Francis Danby (Ph.D. thesis, London University), 1969, pp.210-19, 317-18, No. Comprising thirty three different panels in all, it is the central section of nine panels, depicting the story of Genesis which lie at the heart of the ceiling; and which …

On his return to the United States, however, his work assumed a quieter, more pensive aspect.….

The scene is so despairing, and the destruction so obviously imminent, that the viewer is bound to question the rightness of such vengeance.

This giant may have been included by Danby on account of the references to venerable giants and heroes that occur in Genesis vi, 4, at the beginning of the account of the Deluge. All the best Deluge Painting 34+ collected on this page.

We collected 31+ The Deluge paintings in our online museum of paintings - PaintingValley.com.

The only ones to be saved are those on the Ark, which can be seen here still being frantically worked upon, God's retribution perhaps coming a little earlier than Noah expected.