Massacre of the Innocents in Munich
Art changes the way I see and understand history and human nature. Peter Paul Rubens with his Baroque renderings of biblical images has captured my heart. He’s undoubtedly my favourite painter of all time. I’ve had the fortune to see a wide collection of his works in the Old Master’s Gallery in Dresden and in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
The first time I came into contact with his art was when I was in Toronto for my history tour of the War of 1812. I visited the Art Gallery of Ontario following a recommendation of Andre, a local wine reviewer, where I first saw the Massacre of the Innocents. The gallery had done justice to the painting by placing it in its own dark room with a single bench in front of it where visitors could just focus on that one painting and contemplate on its meaning.
The low bench had no back so I felt rather uncomfortable sitting up straight and looking up at the painting. It was placed at a height where neither standing nor sitting would be suitable for looking at the painting for a long period of time. Uncomfortable looking at soldiers taking babies from their mothers and maiming them. King Herod’s fear and misunderstanding of the birth of Jesus Christ has blinded him to the truth and led him to commit terrible acts of murder.
Massacre of the Innocents in Toronto
The second time I saw the painting was in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, this one also painted by Rubens. Although several other artists of the 16th and 17th century created works of art on the same theme, I found Rubens’ the most chilling and realistic. The weeping mother, the uncaring soldiers acting on orders, the lifeless bodies of newborn children…he captured it all.
Although the two paintings used to be hung beside each other in Vienna, one now has to travel across the Atlantic to experience both pieces. An unsettling reminder that power should be used very carefully.
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