De kindermoord te Bethlehem

About this artwork

oil on canvas

Art Historical Context

In the dimly lit galleries of the Rijksmuseum Alessandro Magnasco's *De kindermoord te* (The Massacre of the Innocents in), painted between 1715 and 1740, captures a harrowing biblical episode from the Gospel of Matthew This oil-on-canvas work depicts King Herod's brutal order to slaughter infant boys in a desperate bid to eliminate the infant, a motif that has inspired artists from the Renaissance through the Baroque era. Magnasco, aoese master of the late Baroque, infuses the scene with his signature tenebrism—intense contrasts of light and shadow that heighten the chaos and tragedy. Measur...

About the Artist

Alessandro Magnasco · 1667–1749

Comment on works: Religious