Rijksmuseum

De kindermoord in Bethlehem

Date

1590

Medium

canvas, oil paint (paint)

Institution

Rijksmuseum

When Herod, the King of Judea, learned that a child destined to become ‘King of the Jews’ would be born in Bethlehem, he ordered the slaughter of all boys under the age of two. The painter portrayed the massacre as a gruesome nightmare. Horror follows upon horror: at lower left a soldier slits a child’s throat, while above them a woman gouges out a soldier’s eyes.

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