
The Massacre of the Innocents (Rubens 1)
1612 · Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Herod's soldiers and the mothers of Bethlehem lock into one knot of muscle. Overlooked for centuries, it sold in 2002 for a record price.
★ 7.2

Herod's soldiers and the mothers of Bethlehem lock into one knot of muscle. Overlooked for centuries, it sold in 2002 for a record price.

Rubens came back to the subject nearly thirty years later with the same fury and a much broader, more fluent hand.

Herod gestures from a balcony while soldiers pull babies out of their mothers' arms. Giotto carries the horror on the mothers' faces alone.