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Reading the Bible with the Dead

The Fifth Plague of Egypt

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The Fifth Plague of Egypt Joseph Mallord William Turner painted the Fifth Plague of Egypt in 1800. J. M. W. Turner was

born early May of 1775 in LondonEngland, he later passed away on the 19^th of December 1851 at the

age of 76. Turner used pencil sketches on location and would later paint in another location. Early

sketches done by Turner were architectural, this was an exercise in perspective, Turner worked for

many architects and referred to Thomas Malton as “My real master”. Turner entered the Royal

Academy of Art schools in 1789 at the age of 15. In his early years at the academy, Turner was

interested in Architecture but was advised by Thomas Hardwick , the president of the academy, to

continue to pursue painting.In Turner’s elder years he was considered eccentric, it was during this

point in his life that he painted the Fifth Plague of Egypt. Turner was known to get inspiration from

natural disasters, storms and other natural phenomena in view of this it is not surprising that

Turner found inspiration in the plagues of Egypt. When this painting was painted romanticism was

becoming more prominent in the art. The art of the 1800s romanticized nature often, romantics

were said to be fascinated by both the “purity” of nature and its “omnipotence’”. Nature was often

found to be the focus paintings, landscapes that glorified beauty or emphasize its power.

Paintings in the 1800s often had an air of mystery and used bold or dark colors; this is reflected in

Turner’s work. In the Fifth Plague of Egypt, this romanticism of nature is shown through the use of

dark colors and the focus on the landscape and not the death of the animals.