Overview

In this epic, densely populated work, John Martin depicts the biblical battle at Gibeon, part of the conquest of Canaan. Joshua, as leader of the Israelites, asks God to cause the moon and the sun to stand still so that he and his army might continue fighting by daylight. God further assists Joshua by calling up a powerful storm to bombard the Canaanites with rain and hailstones. Following this battle, Joshua led the Israelites to several more victories, ultimately conquering much of Canaan. Martin combines the genres of history and landscape painting in this work by giving equal compositional space and artistic attention to both the human narrative and the dramatic natural surroundings.