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Victorian Dioramist + mad Bro
May. 13th, 2009 09:11 amI would LOVE to go back in time and visit a Victorian Diorama in one of the fabulous buildings that housed these and their precursors the Panoramas and moving Panoramas. They seem like a worthy continuation of the contrivances of Doctor Dee!
This painting by John Martin hints at the sort of grand scale dramatic effects he achieved in his 1820s events. It depicts the Wrath of Heaven.
BUT......
Art copies Nature copies Art : -
John Martin had a mad brother Jonathan known as Mad Martin who on 1st Feb 1929 climbed onto the roof of York Minster and set fire to it.
A rival Dioramist, Clarkson Stanfield, capitalised on this by creating a Diorama to depict the blaze, incorporating a dramatic illusory paint+chemical effect known as Safe Fire.
It ran for 4 weeks that Spring then - calamity - the Safe Fire caught fire and destroyed all of Stanfield's dioramas including those he had stored in the building.
.
This painting by John Martin hints at the sort of grand scale dramatic effects he achieved in his 1820s events. It depicts the Wrath of Heaven.
BUT......
Art copies Nature copies Art : -
John Martin had a mad brother Jonathan known as Mad Martin who on 1st Feb 1929 climbed onto the roof of York Minster and set fire to it.
A rival Dioramist, Clarkson Stanfield, capitalised on this by creating a Diorama to depict the blaze, incorporating a dramatic illusory paint+chemical effect known as Safe Fire.
It ran for 4 weeks that Spring then - calamity - the Safe Fire caught fire and destroyed all of Stanfield's dioramas including those he had stored in the building.
.
