Description
Pyramids stand along the distant horizon in The Fifth Plague of Egypt, designed and etched by J. M. W. Turner. People and bodies occupy the low foreground beneath a vast pale sky. The lightly worked upper space gives the suffering below an exposed setting, while the etched lines establish a landscape that has not yet received the darker tones of later impressions.
Dated 1808, this source is an etching-only impression from before the first published state of the Liber Studiorum plate. The absence of later tonal engraving gives it a material character distinct from a completed etching-and-mezzotint version. Turner offers the scene through the linear foundation of the design, allowing a working phase to retain its own visual interest. The image preserves an encounter with structure taking shape before another printed surface changes the experience of the subject.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the J. M. W. Turner collection.
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