The Children of Amphion and Niobe Shot by the Arrows of Apollo and Diana c. 19th century

Curator: This is "The Children of Amphion and Niobe Shot by the Arrows of Apollo and Diana" by Gaetano Bonatti, currently residing at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It’s a scene of absolute carnage rendered with such precision—almost…clinical. It gives me the chills. Curator: An odd blend, right? Bonatti clearly aimed to capture this mythic slaughter with a cool detachment, evidenced by the engraving technique itself. Editor: Absolutely. The clean lines, the almost obsessive detail – it’s all about the *making*, the skilled hand mimicking stone relief... a copy of a copy. I’m thinking about the labor involved, all those tiny lines etched in… Curator: Perhaps he's reflecting on the sheer ruthlessness of the gods, portraying their actions with a kind of removed, craftsmanlike attention. What do you think? Editor: I suppose. But maybe it’s about control, about turning raw emotion, even terror, into a commodity. Either way, it's haunting.