Massacre of the Innocents 1715

Bernard Picart created this ink on paper work, "Massacre of the Innocents," sometime between the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Picart, who was French, made his mark in a period shaped by religious and political tensions. This piece captures the biblical story from the Gospel of Matthew, where King Herod orders the execution of all young male children in an attempt to kill the infant Jesus. What you see is not just a depiction of violence, but a window into the anxieties about power, religious persecution, and the vulnerability of the innocent. Notice how Picart renders the emotional chaos of the event, the mothers’ despair, and the soldiers’ brutality. It’s as though he is asking us to consider the human cost of political paranoia. The engraving serves as a reminder of the cyclical nature of violence and the abuse of power throughout history. It is a visual echo of personal loss and the broader societal tragedies.