The Fifth Plague of Egypt

J. M. W. Turner, The Fifth Plague of Egypt, oil on canvas, 1800, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis.

At twenty-four-years-old, Turner submitted this large-scale painting to the annual Royal Academy exhibition in London. His virtuosity in landscape painting is evident particularly in the turbulent sky. The particularities of the plagues were less important to this young painter who includes evidence of the fifth plague in the center front as well as indicating the seventh plague of hail and fire in the background.