Jean Bourdichon and Giovanni Todeschino
The Slaughter of the Innocents

1501-1502
Manuscript illumination
Hours of Fredrick I of Naples
Bibliothèque Nationale, MS. Latin 10532, fol. 168v

As customary, Herod figures prominently in this Slaughter of the Innocents image, speaking with crown and sceptre to his soldiers from a throne on a dais. The pointing gesture usually signifies his order to the soldiers, but in this case they seem to have completed their mission, laying the sacrificed babies before him. In most images of this type the soldiers use swords to do their work, but this one intensifies the horror by picturing a naked boy impaled on a lance in the background.

About the artists and dates: The Bibliothèque Nationale gives primary credit to Todeschino and dates the manuscript as 1501-1502. The Italian Wikipedia's page for Todeschino says he and Bourdichon collaborated on various manuscripts for Fredrick I of Naples during those years.

Read more about images of the Slaughter of the Innocents.

• Home Page
• Iconography of the Holy Innocents
• This Picture

Source: this page at Wikimedia Commons.