Description
The Massacre of the Innocents is a stunning painting by renowned Baroque artist, Peter Paul Rubens, featuring richly detailed figures in an epic 10-foot-wide composition. With realistic emotion and vibrant color, it evokes a powerful storytelling experience.
The painting depicts the biblical story of Roman soldiers executing newborn males in Bethlehem on King Herod's orders. It was painted in the early 17th century after Rubens returned from an eight-year stay in Italy, which he spent observing the works of the artists like the Italian baroque master Caravaggio. The painting became the most expensive Old Master work ever sold when businessman and art collector Canadian Kenneth Thomson bought it for £49.5 million at Sotheby's auction in 2002, before being donated to the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2008, where it still stands on display today.
The Massacre of the Innocents has always been a popular subject in the visual arts, particularly during the Renaissance, when artists rediscovered antiquity and reinterpreted mythological and biblical narratives. The gruesome depiction of infanticide ordered by King Herod to prevent the prophesied new King of the Jews from assuming the throne was performed by numerous masters from different eras, including Giotto di Bondone , Nicolas Poussin , Pieter Brueghel the Elder , and Guidi Reni .
Flemish Baroque artist Peter Paul Rubens made two versions of the biblical story about 25 years apart.
The first The Massacre of the Innocents can be seen here . Towards the end of his life, between 1636 and 1638, Rubens painted the second version of the Massacre of the Innocents. This version was acquired by the Alte Pinakothek, Munich in 1706, where it remains to this day.