John Martin, Pandemonium, mezzotint, 1825, 10 1/10 x 14 2/5 in. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, The Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts. View in Scrapbook
The English artist John Martin created mezzotint illustrations for John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost (1667). Martin's Pandemonium was the basis for Robert Burfurd's painting of the same name, which Cole saw in London in 1829. Cole's Destruction shows similar compositional elements, such as the grand architectural scheme, the large figure in the corner, and the swirling clouds. 1