Pandemonium is based on the mezzotint of the same subject, published in 1824, which Martin produced as one of a series of illustrations to Paradise Lost. It depicts the passage from Book 1 beginning: Anon out of the earth a fabric huge Rose like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet, Built like a temple, where pilasters round Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid with golden architrave... Despite the thoroughly nineteenth century character of the architecture as a whole (as it were, Carlton House Terrace crossed with Fonthill Abbey), Martin closely follows Milton’s description of the Palace of Hell, including the starry lamps and blazing cressets fed / With Naptha and Asuphaltus.
Benjamin Hick of Bolton, purchased from the artist; his sale, 1843 to: George Whiteley Captain Sir Maurice Huntington-Whiteley Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, (on loan) 1952 Sir H. B. Huntington-Whiteley
London, Royal Academy, 1841, number 570 Germany, Zwei Jahrhunderte der Englischen Malerei, Arts Council exhibition, section VIII, number 366 London, The Council of Europe, The Romantic Movement, Arts Council, 1959, number 247 Milan, Palazzo Reale, British Painings 1660-1840, 1975 London, Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, John Martin, Loan Exhibition, 1975, number 18
Thomas Balston, John Martin; his Life and Works, Duckworth, London 1947, pages 206 & 280 Richard James, Two Paintings by John Martin, Burlington Magazine, volume XCIV, August 1952, page 234, illustrated figure 25. Christopher Johnstone, John Martin, Academy Editions, London and St Martin's Press, New York 1974, page 92 illustrated