The Massacre of the Innocents

c. 1585-1586

Hendrik Goltzius

Associated Names
Hendrick Goltzius

Artist, Dutch, 1558 - 1617

This is a drawing featuring a group of muscular figures, some wielding weapons and others displaying intense emotions. The figures are engaging in a dynamic and chaotic scene, with some holding infants or small objects. The composition is detailed and in a classicist style, reminiscent of works from the Renaissance or Baroque periods.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 47.6 × 37.1 cm (18 3/4 × 14 5/8 in.) (trimmed)

  • Accession Number

    2002.157.41

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    New Hollstein 1996, no. 15, State ii/iv

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(C.G. Boerner, New York); Ruth Kainen, Washington, D.C., purchased 1998; Gift to NGA, 2012.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2004

  • The Unfinished Print, The Frick Collection, New York, 2004.

2013

  • Northern Mannerist Prints from the Kainen Collection, NGA, 2013 - 2014.

Bibliography

1921

  • Hirschmann, Otto. Verzeichnis des graphischen Werks von Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) mit Benutzung der durch E.W. Moest hinterlassenen Notizen zusammengestellt. Leipzig: Verlag von Klinkhardt und Biermann, 1921. Reprint. Braunschweig: Klinkhardt &Bie: no 17, i/iii

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Hendrick Goltzius, Marjolein Leesburg, author). Rotterdam: Sound & Vision Interactive, 1996-, no. 15, i, ii/iv

Inscriptions

monogrammed at lower right: HG

Wikidata ID

Q76342175

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