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Creator:
Etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851
Engraved by William Say, 1768–1834
after Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851
Title:
Tenth Plague of Egypt
Part Of:

Collective Title: Liber Studiorum

Date:
1816
Materials & Techniques:
Etching and mezzotint, printed in brown ink; first published state on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 11 7/8 × 17 inches (30.2 × 43.2 cm), Plate: 8 1/4 × 11 3/8 inches (21 × 28.9 cm), Image: 7 × 10 1/4 inches (17.8 × 26 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed in graphite, lower left: "61. I"; lower right: "DVC XII"; inscribed on verso in graphite, lower left: "61.1."; lower center: "Cotswold Gallery, 1924, ex. G.E.Blood"

Collector’s mark: G. E. Blood (Lugt 265c)

Lettered above imgage: "H"; below image: "Drawn & Etched by I.M.W.Turner Esq.R.A. | Engraved by W.Say Engraver to H R H the Duke of Gloucester | TENTH PLAGUE OF EGYPT | Published Jan 1. 1816 by I.M.W.Turner: Queen Ann Street West."

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.8178
Classification:
Prints
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
branches | cityscape | death | mourning | Old Testament | people | plague | religious and mythological subject | sons | stairs | the ten plagues (Exodus 7:14 - 11:10, 12:21-30) | towers | walls
Access:
Accessible in the Study Room [Request]
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:30580
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According to Turner, all landscapes belong to one of six fundamental categories: Architectural, Historical, Marine, Mountainous, Pastoral, and Elevated Pastoral. These prints are part of a systematic publication, the Liber Studiorum (“Book of Studies”), containing examples from each of these categories. This work provides further testimony to the enduring influence of Claude Lorrain. Claude made sepia ink and wash drawings to record all his authentic compositions and brought them together to form his celebrated Liber Veritatis (“Book of Truth”). These drawings came to be seen as the epitome of the art of landscape and were later reproduced as fine mezzotints. They inspired Turner to make his own, even more ambitious equivalents. Though imitating the format and sepia coloring of Claude’s drawings, Turner’s plates were intended not as a record of his paintings but to illustrate his own original theory of landscape art. Although never completely finished, the Liber Studiorum is among the artist’s most personal and pioneering contributions to the practice of printmaking.

Gallery label for J. M. W. Turner: Romance and Reality (Yale Center for British Art, March - 29, 2025 - July 27, 2025)

Egypt - The Legacy (Sarah Lawrence College Art Gallery, 1990-02-13 - 1990-04-22) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Turner and the Sublime (British Museum, 1981-05-15 - 1981-09-20) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Turner and the Sublime (Yale Center for British Art, 1981-02-11 - 1981-04-19) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Turner and the Sublime (Art Gallery of Ontario, 1980-11-01 - 1981-01-04) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]


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