Death of the Pharaoh's Firstborn Son

Lawrence Alma-Tadema painted Death of the Pharaoh's Firstborn Son in 1872 as an oil on canvas work commissioned by his regular dealer, Ernest Gambart. The painting was immediately acclaimed, named the work of the year by the Pall Mall Gazette that same year, and later earned a gold medal at the 1878 Paris World's Fair and the Salon. In 1879, Alma-Tadema repurchased the piece from Gambart, retaining it as his personal favorite until his death. By the terms of his will, the artist bequeathed the work to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, expressing a desire that a masterpiece by the Dutch-born painter reside in his native country's collection. The work depicts the tenth plague of Egypt, utilizing authentic archaeological details such as a cartouche of Ramses II to situate the biblical narrative in the thirteenth century BCE.

The painting is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Alma-Tadema created it in 1872 for his regular dealer Ernest Gambart, and in 1879 he bought it back, keeping it as his favorite work for the rest of his life. By his will he bequeathed it to the Rijksmuseum, wishing at least one of his paintings to enter an important collection in his native Netherlands.

The work was shown at the Paris Salon of 1874, where it won a gold medal, and again at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878, where it received another gold medal. In the year of its creation the Pall Mall Gazette named it painting of the year.

Alma-Tadema’s *Death of the Pharaoh’s Firstborn Son* (1872) was praised at its debut, winning a gold medal at the Paris Salon of 1878 and being named painting of the year by *Pall Mall* in 1872. Critics such as Carel Vosmaer emphasized the work’s psychological depth, noting the restrained depiction of the pharaoh’s grief as a “silent horror.”

The painting aligns Alma-Tadema’s archaeological rigor with a rare biblical subject, grounding the scene in Exodus while populating it with authentic Egyptian artifacts he studied at the British Museum. His inclusion of Ramses II’s cartouche situates the Exodus in the thirteenth century BCE, reflecting his reliance on Wilkinson’s *The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians* and friendships with Egyptologists like Georg Ebers. Exhibited at the Salon of 1874, the work’s classical poise within a preraffaellite aesthetic positioned it within broader Victorian debates on realism and historical reconstruction.