The Bard
John Martin
ca. 1817
Based on a dramatic poem by Thomas Gray, The Bard was painted by John Martin around 1817, at the height of the romantic period. Amid a powerful landscape with ominous clouds, a raging river, and gnarly walnut trees, the castle’s stony architecture parallels the peaks around it, making this emblem of English power a seemingly indestructible part of the landscape. Awestruck by the scene, the viewer must take care to notice the figure of the last remaining Bard, defiant after Edward I ordered all the bards to be put to death when he conquered Wales.
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven · Image: Yale Center for British Art, Public domain · Text: Yale Center for British Art, CC0