285. ELIAS MARTIN. "John the Baptist preaches in the desert".

Watercolor on paper, 21 x 18.3 cm. A verso signed Martin.

Related to Elias Martin's large painting "Johannes Döparen Predikar i eknen", painted towards the end of his stay in England, 1768-1780, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1779 ( Nationalmuseum, Stockholm NM2664) ( R. Hoppe, Elias Martin, 1933, p. 186 -87. p. 296, no. 132), illustrated p. 184; M. Ahlund, Landskapets vosterer. Studies In Elias Martin's picture world, 2011, pp. 96-100, illustrated in color) Hoppe, considers this image to be one of the artist's foremost landscapes. The painting may well have been seen by the Swedish sculptor Johan Tobias Sergel (1760-1814) during his visit to Elias Martin's studio in London in the spring of 1779, when he returned to Sweden after his 10-year stay in Italy (Nationalmuseum 625) /1875 ) (Fig. 2).