George Frederick Watts, O.M., R.A. (1817-1904)

The wife of Heber the Kenite, Jael plays an important role in the story of Israel’s wars with the Canaanites, described in the Book of Judges. In the narrative about the military heroine Deborah, Jael kills Sisera, the Canaanite general of King Jabin, after he escapes from the battle, by stabbing him with a tent peg whilst he sleeps.

Watts's widow dates Jael to around 1862-3 and remarks that it was painted when biblical scenes were uppermost in Watts', and several of his contemporaries, minds whilst they worked on the commission from the Brothers Dalziel for an illustrated Bible Gallery, eventually published in 1881.