The bible in Matthew 2:16 describes a massacre of babies on order of King
Herod after hearing of the birth of a new king, Jesus, in his realm. This
incident, known as the massacre (or slaughter) of the innocents,
exemplifying the horror of harming children with the power of the state, has
inspired artists over many centuries. Here are a few of their works.
Clicking on the image brings a larger version.
anonymous
Mosaic of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Vatican, Rome,
created AD 432-440, restored in 1593 and the 1990s.
artist unknown
From the Egbert Codex, created AD 980-993 for Archbishop Egbert
of Trier, and still stored in that city.
unknown artist 1125-1150
Wall-painting in the Church of Raasted, Denmark.
anonymous
Detail of St. Michael altarpiece, church of St. Nicholas,
Burgos, Spain. Built before 1163 AD, restored 1910.
Photographed on site by Richard Stracke.
anonymous
Picture Bible from the Monastery of St Bertin, France. Created
ca 1200. National Library of the Netherlands.
ca 1275
Tympanum of Strasbourg Cathedral.
unknown artist
from f.15v of MS K.26, one of a sequence of 46 Biblical
illustrations (c.1270-80) inserted at the front of a
fourteenth-century Psalter (English). St John's College,
Cambridge.
Giotto di Bondone, c1267-1337
Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, completed ca 1305.
Giotto di Bondone, c1267-1337
Fresco at Assisi
Giovanni Pisano, c1250-1314
Pisa Cathedral, 1302-11.
Giovanni Pisano, c1250-1314
Sant'Andrea Cathedral, Pistoia
Duccio di Buoninsegna, c1255-1319
created 1308-11.
Kariye-Camii
Fresco at Kariye-Camii, Istanbul, Byzantine Church restored
1316-1321.
Jean Pucelle c 1300-1355
Illuminated prayer book created ca 1324 "The Hours of Pucelle",
located in the Cloisters in New York City. The depiction is
similar to that of Pisano.
Giusto di Giovanni Menabuoi, c1320-1391
Fresco, Baptistry of the Cathedral, Padua
Hugo van der Goes, c1440-1482
Artist uncertain, part of a larger work at the Hermitage Museum,
St Petersburg.
Fra Angelico, c1387-1455
Painted 1451-53.
unknown provenance
Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript created ca 1460, Euing
Collection, Glasgow University
Sano di Pietro, 1406-1481
painted ca 1470
Matteo da Sienna, c1435-1495
Created 1482.
Domenico Ghirlandaio 1449-1494
Fresco at Cappella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence,
created 1486-90.
Jean Poyet, active 1483-1503
From the Hours of Henry VIII (Latin), illuminated by Jean
Poyet ca 1500. At the Pierpont Morgan Library.
Marcantonio Raimondi, c1475-1534
Created 1510, now at the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
Gerolamo Mocetto, 1458-1532
Created 1500-25, now at the National Gallery, London. They are
believed to be fragments from a single work.
Amico Aspertini
Created 1510-1520.
Domenico Campagnola, c1500-1564
Created 1517, now at the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
Giovanni Angelo del Maino, c1475-c1525
wood, created ca 1520. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Bonifazio Veronese, 1487-1553
Painted ca 1533
Andreas Oslander, 1498-1552
From the book Harmoniae Eulangelicae libri quator, published
1540.
Daniele da Volterra, 1509-1566
Life in a group home. Oil on canvas, now at Galleria degli
Uffizi, Florence.
Pieter Bruegel, c1525-1569
Painted 1567, oil on wood. This painting was copied by his son
Pieter Bruegel the younger. The identity of the original is in
dispute.
Jacopo Robusti Tintoretto 1518-1594
Painted 1582-87.
Giacomo Paracca
Sacro Monte di Varallo Italy, created ca 1587.
Cornelis Van Haarlem, 1562-1638
Painted 1590, now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Cornelis Van Haarlem, 1562-1638
Painted 1591. Oil on canvas, now at the Frans Halsmuseum,
Haarlem.
Guido Reni, 1572-1642
Painted 1611, now at Pinacoteco Nazionale, Bologna.
Alessandro Turchi
Painted ca 1620.
Pietro Testa, 1611-1650
Painted 1630-40, now at Galleria Spada, Rome.
Charles LeBrun, 1619-1690
Created 1647.
Sébastien Bourdon, 1616-1671
Painted early 1640's, Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
Nicholas Poussin, 1594-1665
Social worker apprehends baby from abusive mother. Musée
de Condé, Chantilly.
Nicolas Chevillard, no biography
Painted 1657. Notre-Dame de Baune.
Valerio Castello, 1624-1659
Created 1656-58. Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640
Painting created 1611-12. In July 2002 this became the most
expensive painting ever sold when Sotheby's in London auctioned
it for £49.5 million.
Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640
A less notorious painting by Rubens, painted 1636-38.
Francois Joseph Navez, 1787-1869
Painted 1824.
Leon Cogniet, 1794-1880
While medieval and renaissance painters showed mayhem and
murder, Cogniet shows only fear. Painted 1824, Musée des
Beaux-Arts, Rennes.
Middlestone
From a US Civil War collection, in imitation of Cogniet
Carl Bloch, 1834-1890
Created 1875.
Gustave Doré, 1832-1883
no details
Gustave Doré, 1832-1883
Same subject and artist, this time a pen and ink drawing created
1869-72. Dahesh Museum of Art, New York.
Antoni Gaudí, 1852-1926
Detail of the Joseph Portal, Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada
FamÃlia, Barcelona
Eric Gill, 1882-1940
Wood engraving created 1914, or 1929.
Faroe Islands stamp, 2001
Scream of Rama, mothers react to the senseless murder of their
babies by King Herod's soldiers
