Massacre of the Innocents

Ludovico Mazzolino painted this Massacre of the Innocents around 1520, depicting Herod's command to kill all male children under two years old in Bethlehem in a multi-figure scene of violent horror that tested painters' compositional skills. Mazzolino's small-format panels treat even this most violent of subjects with his characteristic combination of vivid color and compressed spatial arrangement. The Massacre of the Innocents was a subject that allowed painters to display virtuosity in depicting violent action, grieving mothers, and the dramatic contrast between innocent victims and brutal soldiers. Mazzolino's version has the intense visual density that characterizes his work—the figures packed into a tight architectural setting, the palette of hot and cold colors creating visual tension that matches the subject's emotional charge.

The panel displays Mazzolino's signature compressed, energetic composition with vivid color and the agitated figure groups that characterize his most dramatic narrative scenes.