Seventh Plague of Egypt, by John Martin (1789-1854). 1823. Oil on canvas. 144.1 x 214 cm (56 3/4 x 84 1/4 in.). Boston Museum of Fine Arts, accession no. 60.1157. Credit Line: Francis Welch Fund. Believed to be in the Public Domain. Image capture by Simon Cooke; formatting and text by Jacqueline Banerjee. Click on the image to enlarge it.
The Seventh Plague: Thunder and Hail
King James version, Ch. 9:
13 And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants and thy people; that thou mayst know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth....
Indeed, the threat is enacted with catastrophic result, for "fire mingled with the hail, very grievous" (v. 24), and people, animals, crops and trees were all destroyed, in the kind of doom that Martin captures so dramatically. The information provided by the museum website explains that "Moses and his brother Aaron are at the left upon the foreground balustrade while the anguished Egyptians, including the pharaoh, cower amidst the towering buildings of Thebes," and describes this as "one of Martin's grandest paintings."
Bibliography
Seventh Plague of Egypt by John Martin. MFABoston. Web. 5 June 2026.
Created 23 August 2021