Massacre of the Innocents Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Peter Paul Rubens – Massacre of the Innocents
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Painter: Peter Paul Rubens
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The period from 1600 to 1608 in Rubens’ oeuvre is closely associated with Italy and Spain. It was here that he plunged headlong into classical art and especially the Renaissance. Returning to Antwerp, under the influence of the genius creations of Italian authors, the artist creates a number of paintings of mythological and religious themes. Today the National Gallery in London exhibits one of the most famous and expensive paintings in the world, "The Slaughter of the Innocents," which depicts a scene from a biblical legend - the soldiers of King Herod exterminate the infants. As is known, this masterpiece voluntarily gave the gallery (temporarily) of its owner David Thomson, who bought it at one of the auctions for 49.5 000 000 pounds.
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Description of Peter Rubens’ painting The Massacre of the Innocents
The period from 1600 to 1608 in Rubens’ oeuvre is closely associated with Italy and Spain. It was here that he plunged headlong into classical art and especially the Renaissance. Returning to Antwerp, under the influence of the genius creations of Italian authors, the artist creates a number of paintings of mythological and religious themes.
Today the National Gallery in London exhibits one of the most famous and expensive paintings in the world, "The Slaughter of the Innocents," which depicts a scene from a biblical legend - the soldiers of King Herod exterminate the infants.
As is known, this masterpiece voluntarily gave the gallery (temporarily) of its owner David Thomson, who bought it at one of the auctions for 49.5 000 000 pounds. According to the administration of the museum, this canvas by Rubens for at least three years will be able to see many viewers.
The painting depicts a garden near the palace of King Herod. There are many warriors here with their swords drawn, ripping babies from their mothers by force. The mothers are sobbing with grief, wringing their hands in despair and trying to resist the violence. And the ground around them is already covered with the dead bodies of children. Innocently murdered at the whim of the overlord.
The artist has managed to convey particularly vividly on a fairly large-scale canvas all the horror and fear of what is happening. The faces of the mothers are disfigured with horrific grimaces, and the warriors have the stamp of cruelty even on their movements. Rubens not only conveys the story, he invites the viewer to reflect on such unspeakable cruelty, to remember its causes and further consequences.
The background of this canvas is quite bleak, executed in dark shades, brightly lit only warriors, mothers and children, above whom gentle angels are frozen with horror - a symbol of baby innocence and purity. They are perplexed and afraid, they do not understand such cruelty to children.
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The picture has something of this: people, group, many, woman, baroque, man, Renaissance, crowd, god, wear, saint, disorder, military, mammal.
Perhaps it’s a painting of a group of people standing in front of a crowd of people with arms in the air.