The Massacre of The Innocents

mid- to late 15th century

Bernardino Jacopi Butinone Italian, ca. 1450-1510

On View

European: Medieval and Renaissance, Level 2, West Wing

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.

About the Artwork

This painting depicts the horrifying slaughter undertaken on the order of Herod, King of Judea, and described in the Bible's Gospel of Matthew. Alerted to the birth of Jesus, Herod ordered the death of all male babies under the age of two. In Bernardino Jacopi Butinone's depiction, the massacre is already underway. Bodies lie maimed on the ground; a soldier with sword upraised pursues a woman fleeing with her child. Butinone employs a strategy new to his time called linear perspective to create an illusion of depth on a flat surface. All parallel lines converge on a single vanishing point located roughly behind the head of the seated King Herod, observing the terror he unleashed.

Title The Massacre of The Innocents

Artwork Date mid- to late 15th century

Artist Bernardino Jacopi Butinone

Life Dates ca. 1450-1510

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Italian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Tempera on poplar panel

Dimensions Image: 9 7/8 × 8 5/16 inches (25.1 × 21.1 cm) Framed: 15 × 13 9/16 × 1 1/2 inches (38.1 × 34.4 × 3.8 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 64.81

Markings

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

Claude Lafontaine (Paris, France)

until 1962, Madame Bes de Berc (Paris, Franc)

April 11, 1962, sold by (Palais Galliera, Paris, France) lot 19 [as by Mantegna]

until 1964, (Heim Gallery, Paris, France)

1964-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

The Institute Collects: A Selective Survey of Additons to the Collection, 1959-1964. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Art. Detroit, 1964, p. 14.

"Appendix VI: Accessions January 1 to December 31, 1964." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 44, no. 2 (1965): p. 37; p. 39 (ill.)

Paintings in the DIA: A Checklist of the Paintings Acquired Before June 1965. Detroit, 1965, p. 19.

Richardson, E.P., ed. Treasures from the Detroit Institute of Arts, 3rd ed. Detroit, 1966, p. 79 (ill.).

Fredericksen, B. and F. Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972, p. 38.

Brigstocke, Hugh. Italian and Spanish Paintings in the National Gallery of Scotland. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Scotland. Edinburgh. 1978, pp. 25-26.

Dunbar, B.L. and E. Olszewski., eds. Drawings in Midwestern Collections: A Corpus. Columbia, MO, 1996, p. 17 (fig. 3-A).

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

Bernardino Jacopi Butinone, The Massacre of The Innocents, mid- to late 15th century, tempera on poplar panel. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund, 64.81.