The Fifth Plague of Egypt (Liber Studiorum, part III, plate 16)
June 10, 1808
Medium
Etching and mezzotint; first state of three
Dimensions
plate: 7 1/16 x 10 1/4 in. (17.9 x 26 cm) sheet: 8 1/4 x 11 7/16 in. (21 x 29.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928
Accession Number
28.97.16
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking print, *The Fifth Plague of Egypt*, belongs to J.M.W. Turner’s ambitious *Liber Studiorum* series, a self-published project launched in 1807 to demonstrate the full range of landscape art. Turner designed the composition, while engraver Charles Turner translated it into etching and mezzotint. Issued on June 10, 1808, as part III, plate 16, the work exemplifies the “Historical” category within the series, blending biblical drama with the artist’s signature atmospheric effects. The scene depicts the fifth plague from the Book of Exodus, in which livestock perish amid a stormy land...
About the Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner|Charles Turner · 1775–1851
Joseph Mallord William Turner, born on 23 April 1775 in London's Covent Garden to barber William Turner and Mary Marshall, emerged as a child prodigy amid personal hardships. His mother suffered mental illness and died in Bethlem Hospital in 1804, while his father supported his early sketches by displaying them in his shop. Around age 10, Turner stayed with his uncle Joseph Mallord William Marshal...