The Massacre of the Innocents
c. 1585-86
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 48.8 × 37.3 cm (19 1/4 × 14 11/16 in.); sheet: 51 × 39.6 cm (20 1/8 × 15 5/8 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
268777
Art Historical Context
In the Prints and Drawings department of the Institute of Chicago hangs Hendrick Goltzius's masterful engraving *The Massacre of the Innocents* (c. 1585-86), a dramatic depiction of the biblical tragedy the Gospel of Matthew. Here, King Herod's soldiers ruthlessly slaughter the infant boys of Bethlehem in a futile attempt to eliminate the newborn Christ. Goltzius, a pioneering Dutch Mannerist engraver from Haarlem, captures the chaos and pathos with swirling figures and expressive poses, drawing from classical influences and his own innovative "swelling line" technique—a method of varying line...
About the Artist
Hendrick Goltzius · 1558–1617
Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617) was the most celebrated engraver of the Northern Renaissance and a pivotal figure in Dutch Mannerism. Born near the German-Dutch border, Goltzius transformed printmaking into a virtuoso art form through his revolutionary 'swelling line' technique, where the burin was manipulated to create lines of varying thickness that produced unprecedented tonal effects and three-d...