Inspiration 3

I 'accidentally' discovered the inspired Victorian artist, John Martin whilst researching William Blake in the Tate Gallery in London in March 1991. Or perhaps I was guided to learn about this great painter whose life, I was to discover, cross connected in so very many ways with my own. 

He was born on Tyneside in 1789 and died in Douglas, Isle of Man in 1854. He is very much under-rated as an artist today, but in his day he drew larger crowds to exhibitions of his paintings than did Turner. Of course, Turner has always been the darling of the art world establishment, but to me, John Martin was really inspired, in contrast to Turner who was quite pedestrian. Just compare the two artist 's versions of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Turner's could be any old earthquake, but one is left in no doubt of the subject in John Martin's version. His painting  The Destruction of Sodom  And Gomorrah is currently in the Laing art gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Incidentally I first saw that painting in Newcastle on 15th September 1991. The next day a strange coincidence gave me  the idea of assassination in connection with Prince Charles and Princess Diana. You may think there is no connection between these two experiences, but there is, because there is a very significant painting by John Martin in the Royal Collection. And another painting by John Martin related to the Windsor Castle fire and it relates to to the future of the House of Windsor

As a railway enthusiast, I had never been impressed by Turner's 'Steam and Speed', his attempt to portray a Great Western Railway express at Maidenhead.  There  are copious quantities of steam but little detail of a train.  Monet makes a much better job with his studies around Paris, St Lazare in 1877. 

We were  staying in a hotel by St Lazare station in fact when we had our  Madeleine experiences. The lesson I read in that great church in November 1991 was  warning of the signs preceding the End of the World. And it was precisely this topic that occupied the last three years of John Martin's life in three enormous canvases. The three paintings illustrated below, his Judgement Triptych were painted between 1851 and 1853.

.They were his final works. They were put on exhibition in Newcastle-on-Tyne on 10th February 1854. Seven days later, he was himself called to God's Judgement. He died in the Isle of Man.

There is a whole web of intricate, interconnecting coincidences linking me to John Martin, to Tyneside, Oxford and sewage treatment but it would take too long to discuss them here.  Most of these coincidences appear to have been woven into my life since that day in March 1991.  But I can now see that the first link was put in place in June 1966 in Oxford and the second in July 1966, in Douglas, on the Isle of Man.  For another Oxford link to John Martin see Oxford and the Last Days

I was quite heartened in about 1993 to discover that, like me, John Martin, could not accept the vicious, unjust and partisan god of a significant part of the Old Testament, particularly parts of the Pentateuch and Joshua, as being truly God. Much of the Old Testament can only be a corruption by generations of priests or scribes of one hue or another.

But, that John Martin himself was inspired by the same God who weaves the Web of Destiny, I have no doubt and John Martin certainly figures prominently in the Enigma Codes.  John Martin's Judgement triptych happens to illustrate Mary Magdalen's warning very well indeed. 

The book shown in the right hand column played a significant part in our decision to emigrate to New Zealand in 1984.  It brought us literally to the World's End!! And John Martin's Judgement triptych and this book in particular were shown to have a great relevance to the Prince of Wales and his 'wife', by several very meaningful coincidences between February and May 2005.

To learn more about the significance of this book read on.....