J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > History Painting c.1799-1807 > Calais Pier Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Study for a Picture of the First Plague of Egypt c.1799-1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study for a Picture of the First Plague of Egypt’ c.1799-1805
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 22 Verso:
Study for a Picture of the First Plague of Egypt c.1799–1805
D04944
Turner Bequest LXXXI 42
Pencil on blue laid paper, 436 x 271 mm
Watermarks ‘1794’ and Strasburg lily
Inscribed by Turner in ink ‘Water turned to | Blood’ bottom centre, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘LXXXI–42’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject is continued on folio 23 recto opposite (D04945; Turner Bequest LXXXI 43). The water turned to blood was the first of the ten Biblical plagues visited by God on the Egyptians while the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt (Exodus 7: 19–25). There are studies relating to two other plagues in this book and later developed as paintings: The Fifth Plague of Egypt, which actually depicts the seventh, of hail and fire, shown at the Royal Academy in 1800 (Indianapolis Museum of Art);1 and The Tenth Plague of Egypt, the death of the first–born, exhibited at the same venue in 1802 (Tate N00470).2
Turner never executed a picture of the ‘First Plague’. See also folios 77 verso–78 recto (Tate D05054–D05055; Turner Bequest LXXXI 152–153).
1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.10–11 no.13, pl.10 (colour).
2
Ibid., pp.16–17 no.17, pl.13 (colour).
Technical notes:
There are blue, yellow and pink colour trials at the top edge.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Study for a Picture of the First Plague of Egypt c.1799–1805 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-study-for-a-picture-of-the-first-plague-of-egypt-r1178148, accessed 26 April 2024.