The Massacre of the Innocents with Herod

Girolamo Mocetto painted this Massacre of the Innocents with Herod around 1512 for the National Gallery. Mocetto was a Veronese painter and printmaker whose dramatic subjects required the complex multi-figure compositions that challenged artists to demonstrate their narrative and anatomical skills. The 1510s were a decade of extraordinary artistic achievement across Europe, shaped by the mature works of Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and the Venetian masters.

The panel handles the violent subject with energetic figure groupings and dramatic action, demonstrating the Veronese school's approach to narrative painting with clear spatial organization and vivid color.