Samuel Colman (1832-1920) was an English painter, based in Bristol for most of his career. In about 1815 Colman moved from Yeovil to Bristol, where he lived until around 1840. He worked as a portrait painter and drawing-master in the city, as well as painting minutely detailed Romantic, Biblical and genre scenes. He was loosely associated with the grouping of artists known as the Bristol School which flourished from the Regency era onwards.

This is a dramatic scene from the Old Testament. The tiny figure of Moses (top left) raises his staff to summon the waters of the Red Sea to pour down upon the Egyptian army. God is concealed in the pillar of cloud and fire and Pharaoh is silhouetted at its base, horrified at the mayhem. Samuel Colman painted a number of apocalyptic scenes like this, a popular taste in British art at the time. Divine intervention is shown unleashing nature's forces to destroy evil.