Cornelis van Haarlem: Massacre of the Innocents (1590)

This immensely dramatic masterpiece was commissioned around 1590 by the States of Holland for Prince Maurits (1567–1625), son of the illustrious William the Silent, the official leader of the Dutch Revolt against Philip II, king of Spain. After a traitor shot down William in 1584, Maurits took over this responsible task from his father.
At first sight, the painting depicts the biblical story of the Massacre of the Innocents, the infanticide in Bethlehem ordered by Herod, the King of Judea, whose intention it was to kill the newborn King of the Jews, Jesus Christ.
But the artist, Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem (1562-1638), used the scene to convey a propagandistic message: it symbolizes the tyranny of Philips II, opposed by Maurits as commander-in-chief of the army, and the suffering of the Dutch people due to the barbaric behaviour of the Spanish soldiers. He shows us uncensored the aggressive approach of the perpetrators, but also the cruel revenge of the women on the left, who pull out the eyes of a soldier. Probably most horrific are the dead babies, whose pale skin colour comes across horribly real.
Cornelis made a second version of this painting, for Maurits’ Haarlem residence, now on show in the Frans Hals Museum in that city. The two resemble each other closely, but the later version is somewhat more subtle, suggesting that even Cornelis’ contemporaries might have felt that the painting was a little too gruesome.