The Death of the First Born

This painting was a part of a series of nine surviving canvases probably made for the North Amherst Congregational Church, illustrating the plagues of Egypt. The scene is that of the tenth and last plague, in which "the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:29). After this final and most terrible plague, the pharaoh allowed the Israelites to leave Egypt. Field emphasizes the multiplicity of horrors, almost seeming to revel in the bloodiness of the divine vengeance through the nightmarishly harsh lighting, garish color, and distorted perspective. The artist's dramatic approach and biblical subject matter are derived from scenes by English painters such as Richard Westall and John "Pandemonium" Martin. The almost obsessive, closed atmosphere of the scene implies its intense personal significance for the artist. Field, an extreme abolitionist, may have intended the escape of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt as a metaphor for the abolition of slavery.