Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still Upon Gibeon (Joshua: 10: 12–14)

John Martin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The British painter and printmaker John Martin made his reputation with sublime scenes of vast spaces overwhelmed by classical architecture and countless figures. He made this drawing in preparation for the painting that launched his future successes: Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1816, reproduced in lithograph and two mezzotints in 1827). It shows Joshua, the Old Testament commander of the Israelite armies, standing on the rocky outcropping in the foreground. He commands the sun and moon to stop in their courses so that the Israelites may destroy their fleeing enemies-the Amorites, who had been attacking the city of Gibeon-in the prolonged daylight (Joshua 10:12-13).

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art