The History of the Earth features grand landscapes and scenes of prehistory inspired by new research in geology and paleontology, in which Darwin himself was immersed. As scientists became convinced that the earth was far older than the Bible suggested, artists responded with imaginative visions of the natural forces that had been at work over millions of years. The existing world view which dated the origin of the world to Noah’s flood was still present in works by Thomas Cole and J.M.W. Turner. But a new vision soon emerged, that focused attention on the dynamic natural forces of erosion, through water, glaciers and volcanic eruptions that had gradually shaped and re-shaped the earth’s crust. William Dyce’s Pegwell Bay, a Recollection of October 5th 1858 (ca. 1858–60), John Brett’s stunning Glacier of Rosenlaui (1856) and Thomas Moran’s dazzling watercolours of geysers in the Yellowstone region (1872-3) are key examples of how artists began to re-focus their attention in the light of revelatory scientific discoveries.

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