The Massacre of the Innocents
The original, as its museum records it
Every line above is reproduced from the holding institution’s own catalogue entry, which is linked. Where their title, date or attribution differs from ours, theirs is the one printed here.
The file this print is made from
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View in the galleryAbout this painting
Look at the woman grieving in the snow. What lies in front of her is an array of hams and cheeses. The Royal Collection explains that the slaughtered babies were painted over very early, probably while the picture belonged to Rudolf II, with bundles, food and animals, so the massacre reads as plunder.
A pile of babies became livestock. A child torn from its mother became a bundle. The herald's Habsburg eagle became a simple decoration.
Every grief in the village is still there, aimed at objects that do not explain it.
Sources: Royal Collection Trust, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Massacre of the Innocents, RCIN 405787, read 2026-09-24 · Royal Collection Trust, 'Surprising revelations: Massacre of the Innocents', read 2026-09-24 · Royal Collection Trust, 'Massacre of the Innocents' (Google Arts & Culture story), read 2026-09-24
Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry: and sending killed all the menchildren that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
Matthew 2:16 · Douay-Rheims (Challoner)
Printed on demand. Public-domain masterwork, reproduced from a 6,770 px master of the original. The whole image is printed — never cropped to fit the sheet — so every sheet carries an archival margin, and the dimensions and resolution listed above are the ones you receive.