When referring to painting masterpieces that have immensely powerful grief and significance that could be interpreted in multiple ways “Massacre of the Innocents” by Peter Paul Rubens, 1612 is one to fit the description immensely. When viewing “Massacre of the Innocents” what meanings are exemplified, shown, and reasons behind all the violence throughout the graphic painting. A treasure in art like “Massacre of the Innocents” by Peter Paul Rubens has many meanings and messages, including dealing with deep injustice, dealing with ignorance and mothers caring towards their toddlers.
I concluded that the painting resembles a biblical story with meanings of injustice and greed of the leaders and how the world is not fair, and how even innocent children are not safe in the world of evil leaders. The meaning of “Massacre of the Innocents” could be because of Peter Paul’s portrayal of warfare, war and the vicious taking of innocent lives in this case infants. Even though “Massacre of the Innocents” by Peter Paul Rubens is a painting masterpiece, emotions of graphic warfare are what the painting is really about.
I believe that themes and meanings of injustice resemble “Massacre of the Innocents” more than a paintings depicting warfare and a war situation because only infants are being killed and there isn’t many armor and weapons involved. My first source is an offline source and it is the painting itself because just viewing it without knowing and backstory is frightening and caused many meaning interpretations.
First glancing closely at the “Massacre of the Innocents” the viewer is treated to an emotional roller coaster from all angles of the painting. The meaning I was able to receive after first mpression is that this is a picture of warfare because of all the violence surrounding these people. After looking closer I was able to come up with a new theory that the victims in the painting that were targeted were women and children because they are the ones getting abused and killed throughout the painting. The sight of little toddlers being put to death by older men so viciously against their mother’s will is what I believe Peter Paul tried to exemplify. What made me believe this was warfare is because there was a man holding a spear and was another man with a warfare headgear helmet.
The meaning behind this piece of art is shown throughout its violence. Meanings and themes of unfairness, violence, aftermath of warfare, and injustice are what I believe the meanings behind Peter Paul’s painting. The painting was released in 1612 and in the 17th century the time there was a slight rebellion against religion because advancements in other fields. The “Massacre of the Innocents” showed meaning of unfairness because young male toddlers were being brutally killed in front of their mothers because they couldn’t defend themselves. The second meaning | received is violence and how graphic this painting actually was.
The reason I choose the actual painting to be my first resource is because it left me with so many meanings to what actually could be happening and why. I realized that meanings like violent injustice ignorance were the end results of my viewing. The second resource lincluded is Peter Paul’s online biography, because I believe knowing somewhat about the author’s upbringing and influences will allow me to find the more exact meaning behind “Massacre of the Innocents. ” Peter Paul’s was born on June 28, 1577, in Siegen, Westphalia which is now known as Germany.
After Peter Paul’s father being pronounced dead he was raised by his mother as a Catholic and was well aware of the bible’s content. He excelled in Baroque style and 17th century arts. He then moved to Italy in 1600 and saw inspiration in paintings throughout Venice that caught his attention. He learned Roman and Greek art with taking what he could from Italian paintings. He learned from many Italian greats like Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo who shaped his painting style. He was considered one of the most influential baroque painters ever.
Peter Paul’s most famous works include: The Judgement of Paris, Raising of the Cross, and Massacre of the Innocents. All of Peter Paul’s most known and most impressive work all contain some sort of religious backgrounds and stories. Peter Paul was renowned as one of the leading voices in the Catholic style of artistry and in specific paintings. Peter Paul Rubens paintings are mostly influenced by his religious upbringing and growing up as a Catholic therefore his illustrations, mostly have a religious background story to them like in “Massacre of the Innocents.
Having a deep religious background influenced Peter Paul to write about biblical stories and learning different techniques from artist he looked up to like the Italian greats and other artists in the renaissance period. This helped prove the meaning of “Massacre of the Innocents” because this is Peter Paul’s biography and life and what allowed him to accomplish what he did in Baroque painting. The third source I will be choosing to define the specific meaning of “Massacre of the Innocents” is an online video | found explaining the painting done by BBC Bible mysteries. This video was aired on television (BBC) back in the year 2003.
The video is titled “Bible Mysteries Herod and the Bethlehem Massacre English documentary on BBC” and it explains the story of King Herod. King Herod was the king of a piece of land we refer to now as Jerusalem and was a fair leader for the most part according to the video bringing in new architecture and such. The video then explains the story behind Peter Paul’s painting and how the massacre of the male children ended up occurring. King Herod was let known by wise men that there would be a male child that would be born in the town of Bethlehem that would overtake him being king.
The story goes on saying that King Herod then ordered these wise men to bring him the child. When King Herold’s men weren’t aware of the child’s location or weren’t capable of bringing the child to the King he was so outraged of the incapability of his orders being followed that he ordered every male child under 2 years old to be killed. According to the video in the bible King Herod is planning to kill Jesus which is only referred to within one verse throughout the entire bible. This story helped me realize some more evidence to what the meaning of “Massacre of the Innocents” really is.
This video explained the story behind the meaning of “Massacre of the Innocents. ” It also made me realize more of why Peter Paul’s painting was so graphic and unapologetic, because the crime was so evil the only way to depict it is a heart wrenching painting, it also made me realize how clear the meaning was in the title. Massacre refers to mass killings and innocent was used because none of the children did anything wrong to deserve death neither were they able to t themselves from death. I was able to trust this source because the BBC is one of the most trustworthy and credible news sources out.
The four source I picked was an online article from The Guardian that was titled “End of innocence” by Jonathan Jones. The Guardian boldly explains that the painting meaning is an act of graphic violence and that the violence within it really shows many meanings throughout. The Guardian asks its audience “why was he so fascinated by bloody scenes of horrifying violence? ” The article explains that warfare pictures and paintings executed so well that they were considered a pleasure for the Kings of the land. The article also embodies the change in Peter Paul’s work, because he started painting more relaxed paintings with less blood of graphic
