Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion

The man struggles to surmount a rocky outcrop beside a pool and waterfall; more jagged cliffs and peaks loom in the background, vastly receding.

"[2] (At the time, Martin had left his £2-per-week job as a glass painter in a china factory, and was attempting to establish himself as an independent artist.)

The artist's anxiety was unnecessary; displayed in the Royal Academy exhibition at Somerset House, the picture was a popular success.

[4] "What makes the work so remarkable is its persuasive combination of science and fantasy: while the scale seems beyond terrestrial experience, the attention given to geological and meteorological phenomena is that of the knowledgeable observer.

"[5] Critics who accept the conventions of Romanticism in art have appreciated Martin's Sadak; those who do not have regarded the picture as lurid or puzzling.

Due to this interpretation, Sadak is drawn to a much smaller scale than the landscape that surrounds him, revealing that he stands no chance against the power of nature.

Sadak endures a range of trials — a tempest at sea, a plague, evil genii, a subterranean whirlpool — before he attains his goal.

(Ridley's tale was popular in its era, and was adapted into a play by Thomas John Dibdin, titled Sadak and Kalasrade, which was staged in 1797.