Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Circle, The Massacre of the Innocents

The Massacre of the Innocents takes place in a snowy winter landscape under a dark sky. Bethlehem is depicted as a contemporary Flemish village, with brick houses or simple, clay-plastered half-timbered houses. The path through the village winds its way down to the horizon in the centre of the picture. The dark trunks of leafless trees organise the vertical plane of the picture. The bare, partly snow-covered branches stand out against the sky. The biblical events are depicted in various individual scenes. To the left of the centre, two armed horsemen await the execution of Herod's command. At the front centre, mothers lament over their murdered infants lying lifeless in the snow. Next to them, two mothers are beating one of the murderers who is lying on the ground. On the left, a mother and her child are fleeing across a frozen pond and her pursuer has broken through the ice.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder created a version of the biblical story in 1565/1567 with his version of the Infanticide of Bethlehem (Royal Collection London), which had a lasting effect on many artists. In contrast to Bruegel, who depicted a clear, light blue sky, the artist of the present painting chose a gloomy, cloudy day. Oil on wood, 72 × 99 cm