| Artist | Guido Reni |
|---|---|
| Year | 1611 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 170 cm (67 in) |
| Location | Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna |
Massacre of the Innocents is a painting by the Italian Baroque painter Guido Reni, now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna.
The painting is based on the biblical episode of the Massacre of the Innocents, described only in the Gospel of Matthew. The composition shows a series of episodes at the same time, creating in this way a sense of confusion and agitation.
Two killer soldiers, one portrayed from behind while rushing on a screaming woman, and one kneeling towards the mothers with their children, hold knives in the right hand. The mothers are reacting in different ways: one is screaming and attempting to escape the soldiers who has grabbed her hair, another is fleeing towards the right while embracing her child, while another, in the lower left corner, is holding her child on her shoulders; another mother tries to stop a soldier with her left hand, and a kneeling woman is praying towards the sky above the children which has been already slaughtered.