John Martin's many influential works brought him huge popularity in his lifetime and his paintings have gone on to inspire film-makers, designers and artists in Europe and America. This beautifully illustrated book makes an important contribution to the revival of national and international interest in him and will complement a forthcoming touring exhibition. Establishing the context of Martin's youth in rural Northumberland, his career in London and subsequent national and international fame, Morden captures the apocalyptic mood in England from the 1790s to the 1840s and examines Martin's central position as a painter of the "sublime". The distinctive character of his work is explored through key paintings in terms of his techniques, devices and subject matter and their relationship to the culture and of popular entertainment of the time. Influencing 19th century railway and public architecture, Martin's reputation spread to Europe and America, going on to determine the course of early 20th century cinema and anticipate inter-active mass media in the 21st century. This book establishes John Martin as an important figure in cultural history, shaping the way we view and respond to our modern world.

Laura Knight (1877-1970) was one of the most distinguished women artist of the early 20th century with an international reputation. This highly readable and objective biography covers her early years in Nottingham, her relationship with her husband Harold, life in the artists colonies of Staithes on the North Yorkshire coast, her immersion in the world of ballet, the circus and theatre and her travels in Europe and America. It also examines her role as Official War Artist during World War II and recorder of the Nuremberg Trials in 1945-46. This revised and updated book offers so much more than just an account of an artist's work, it allows the reader to experience the vibrant personality of the artist as well as the darker shades of her personality. It gives this portrait of an artist depth and perspective.

THE LIFE OF MARK AKENSIDE has an inter-disciplinary nature, linking literature with medicine and the visual arts. It is not only for students of history, literary history, art history, poetry, modernity, gender relevance and education, it is also for the general reader - anyone with an interest in the history of ideas. Born the son of a butcher in Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1721 Mark Akenside was awarded a degree in medicine from Edinburgh and Leyden Universities. He settled in London in 1743 where he was successful both as a doctor and in medical research. Above all, he was the author of The Pleasures of Imagination 1744, an epic length poem in blank verse which broke many conventions of the time, exploring ideas about human perception and the natural world. Akenside had a European reputation and became a national celebrity. He was a major influence on first- and second-generation Romantic poets such as Wordsworth, Keats, Coleridge, etc. He also made an impact on the development of landscape painting in the early 19th century through his influence on J.M.W. Turner. This book examines these issues, as well as the controversy and speculation about Akenside's relationship with his origins, his sexuality, and changing political affiliations in a period of economic crisis and great social change.