Exhibiting his first work at the Royal Academy at the age of 15 in 1790, J. M. W. Tuner showed several pieces at the Academy before being elected as a member in 1802. Like many of his early works, the motive behind The Fifth Plague of Egypt may have been to impress and display his talent to the academy. It was the twenty-four-year-old’s first historical painting and the largest canvas he had attempted, measuring at four feet by six feet. 

The Fifth Plague of Egypt was the extermination of Egyptian livestock, sparing the cattle that belonged to the Israelites, depicted at the bottom of the canvas. Turner’s portrayal has led several people to believe that it has been mis-titled because it contains elements of the sixth and seventh plague. The sixth plague, Plague of Boils, involves Moses taking two handfuls of soot and spreading them into the sky, which seems to be depicted at the bottom-right of the painting. Turner’s stormy sky could also hint to the seventh plague, hail. 

Many arguments have been made, both sides using the Bible as evidence. The light which spots the cattle at the bottom center of the painting helps the argument that the piece is titled properly, that the fifth plague is coming to a close and the sixth plague, where Moses spreads soot, prepares to take place, while the stormy sky acts more as a foreshadowing of the hail to come.