Massacre of the Innocents, Peter Paul Rubens (1610)
- 🎨 The Massacre of the Innocents is depicted in two paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, portraying the biblical episode from the Gospel of Matthew.
- 💰 The first painting, created around 1611–12, became part of the Liechtenstein Collection and was attributed to Rubens’ assistant Jan van den Hoecke in the 18th century.
- 🏛️ The first version is now housed in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, after being sold for £49.5 million in 2002 to Canadian businessman Kenneth Thomson.
- 🖼️ Rubens painted a second version between 1636 and 1638, now in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
- 🎨 The paintings demonstrate Rubens’ influences from Italian Baroque painters, including Caravaggio, with dramatic scenes and rich colors.
- 🌍 The context of the first painting is linked to the warfare in Antwerp, and it reflects the Counter Reformation thought as the city remained a Catholic stronghold.
- 🚧 In 2022, activists staged a demonstration at the Alte Pinakothek, resulting in damage to a Rubens painting’s frame, leading to fines for the individuals involved.
Available as a fine art print and as a stretched canvas panel (heavy fine art canvas stretched over 1.5 inch deep edge solid wood frame).
All prints are made using archival art stocks and UV pigment inks to give up to 200 years life. Prints are sold unframed and unmounted.
