Yale Center for British Art

Creator:: John Martin, 1789–1854, British
Title:: The Bard
Date:: ca. 1817
Materials & Techniques:: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:: 50 × 40 inches (127 × 101.6 cm)
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:: Public Domain
Accession Number:: B1981.25.439
Gallery Label:: 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. Gallery label for Art in Focus: The British Castle - A Symbol in Stone (Yale Center for British Art, 2017-04-07 - 2017-08-06)