Massacre of the Innocents

Due to minimal errors and omissions as well as an age test conducted on the wood, and despite its high quality, this picture is considered a copy made by the artist’s son of a picture by the father. Both examples were previously to be found in the collection of Emperor Rudolph II. The biblical subject of the infanticide ordered by Herod is relocated by Bruegel to a snowy Flemish village. The event is brought up to date to resemble a contemporary penal expedition due to the clothing, as the troops on horseback with their red tunics were a kind of police unit. Inv.-Nr. GG 1024