Object Image

The Massacre of the Innocents

When Herod, the King of Judea, learned that a child destined to become ‘King of the Jews’ would be born in Bethlehem, he ordered the slaughter of all boys under the age of two. The painter portrayed the massacre as a gruesome nightmare. Horror follows upon horror: at lower left a soldier slits a child’s throat, while above them a woman gouges out a soldier’s eyes....
1590
Oil on canvas
SK-A-128
Image and text courtesy of Rijksmuseum, 2019

Where you'll find this

Rijksmuseum
Permanent collection

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