The Bard

c. 1817

Oil on canvas, 127 × 101.6 cm. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven

From a crag high above a river, a white-bearded harper curses the English army winding below. The scene comes from Thomas Gray's ode of 1757 about the last Welsh bard, who then leaps to his death.

Martin painted another, much larger version, over two meters tall, now in the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Look at the tiny soldiers at lower left, dwarfed by the cliffs, torrent and peaks that climb out of the top of the frame.
The castle across the river has been identified as Conwy, in North Wales.
A lone poet stands against an army in a sublime mountain setting. The artist as prophet, defying worldly power, became a favorite Romantic hero.

Sublime: The awe mixed with fear felt before something vast or overwhelming, such as mountains, storms or great height.

Image: Yale Center for British Art (open access) · CC0