Gerolamo Mocetto, 'The Massacre of the Innocents with Herod', about 1500-25

This panel is one half of a composition that was cut into two fragments before entering our collection. The bearded man wearing a crown is King Herod – he is overseeing the massacre of infants that he had ordered in an attempt to kill the newborn Christ. Herod regarded Christ as a threat to his rule because he was being called ‘the king of the Jews’.

The open structure in which Herod is seated is made of elements of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. It is a Renaissance version of an ancient temple, its walls lined with coloured marble, which is probably intended to represent Herod’s palace. This interest in antiquity reflects that of Mocetto’s predecessor Mantegna, who was also working in the Veneto. Herod is commanding his soldiers to kill the infants. The soldiers are dressed in Roman-style armour sculpted to match their athletic bodies. Herod is surrounded by a crowd of men and women; a man wearing a helmet wraps his arms around a woman holding a baby to protect them. The child’s fate is inevitable: in the foreground, a soldier plunges a dagger into a naked infant’s skull.

Several of these figures, including the soldier who gestures towards the violence at the centre of the scene, are directly copied from The killing of the Sow (British Museum, London), an engraving by Mocetto which is set in ancient Rome and seems to show a pagan ritual. The two women, one of whom has her hand on the other’s shoulder, wear loosely draped clothing and stand in the centre of the crowd. They also come from the engraving, where they watch the killing of the pig. Their placid expressions make more sense in the context of a religious ritual, whereas here, as witnesses to the slaughter of children, their indifference seems unusual. This may explain why, despite the drama of the scene, Mocetto’s figures do not show strong emotions through facial expressions or gestures.