The Water Turned Into Blood–The Boils and Blanes, from "Dalziels' Bible Gallery"

Art Historical Context

This striking wood engraving belongs to *Dalziels’ Bible Gallery*, a monumental Victorian publishing project that brought together leading artists and the renowned Dalziel Brothers firm to illustrate key scenes from Scripture. Created between 1865 and 1881, the print depicts the first and sixth plagues of Egypt—the Nile waters turning to blood and the outbreak of painful boils and blains—emphasizing the widespread human suffering that accompanied these divine judgments. Men and women alike are shown in postures of distress, underscoring the biblical narrative’s theme of collective affliction. Executed as a wood engraving on delicate India paper, the work exemplifies the high level of technical refinement achieved by the Dalziel Brothers. Their painstaking engraving process translated the original designs into crisp, expressive lines capable of capturing both dramatic action and emotional nuance. Although the imagery is small in scale, the fine printing method allowed for remarkable detail, making these illustrations suitable for both lavish gallery folios and wider public distribution. As part of the Metropolitan Museum’s collection of prints, the sheet offers modern viewers a window into nineteenth-century religious art and the era’s fascination with biblical storytelling through mass-reproduced imagery.

About the Artist

Camden Press|Scribner and Welford|Dalziel Brothers|Thomas Dalziel (British|American|British) · 1857 |1800 |1839 –1893 |1899 |1893

British, London|New York, NY|British, active 1839–93