“Massacre of the Innocents” by Pieter Brueghel the Younger

“Massacre of the Innocents” by Pieter Brueghel the Younger depicts the story from St Matthew’s Gospel. King Herod ordered the death of all children in Bethlehem under the age of two after hearing from the wise men of the birth of Jesus.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted the original theme and composition of this painting. His son Pieter Brueghel, the Younger, made numerous follow-up versions, including this painting.

Bruegel translated the scene to a 16th-century Netherlandish village. In this scene, the Flemish villagers are attacked by Spanish soldiers and German mercenaries, as a commentary on the occupying Spanish troops in the prelude to the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule, also known as the Eighty Years’ War.

Bruegel’s detailed painting is typical of his sophisticated narrative style, and the painting depicts numerous small story vignettes in the overall scene. Bruegel’s painting was a popular image.

Thus several oil-on-oak-panel versions of “The Massacre of the Innocent”s were painted by the 16th-century Netherlandish painters Pieter Bruegel the Elder and his son Pieter Brueghel the Younger.

What is now thought to be the only version by Bruegel the Elder (c.1565-67) is in the British Royal Collection. Many other variants are attributed to Pieter Breughel the Younger.

Art historians have listed as many as 7 or 14 versions, including leading examples in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and other leading museums and private collections.

Pieter Brueghel the Younger was a Flemish painter, known for numerous copies after his father Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s work as well as his original compositions.

The prodigious output of his studio contributed to the international spread of his father’s imagery.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder is referred to as “the Elder” to distinguish him from the many later painters in his family, including his son Pieter Brueghel, the Younger (1564-1638).

Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, dropped the ‘h’ from his name and signed his paintings as Bruegel from 1559 onwards.

Massacre of the Innocents

Title: Massacre of the Innocents
Artist: Pieter Brueghel the Younger
Year: 1566
Medium: Oil on panel
Dimensions: 116 x 160 cm
Museum: Kunsthistorisches Museum

“Massacre of the Innocents” by Pieter Brueghel the Younger

Pieter Brueghel the Younger

Name: Pieter Brueghel the Younger
Birth: 1564 – Habsburg Netherlands
Died: 1638 – Netherlands
Movement: Dutch and Flemish Renaissance

Pieter The Younger Brueghel

A Tour of the Kunsthistorisches Museum

Pieter Bruegel – A Sublime Artist and a Master Story-Teller

A Tour of European Museums

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“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.”
– Matthew 2:16-18

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Photo Credits: Pieter Brueghel the Younger [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons