Reflections on "Massacre of the Innocents"

What is it about the people and places written of in the bible that capture the artist’s imagination? Based on the prolific production of art imitating life, at least life in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, there is something about bringing these texts to life, visually that appeals to the creative spirit. For me, the study of works depicting various aspects of the Judeo-Christian tradition enhances the understanding of it. I agree with the authors of my textbook, Hauer and Young when they connect the presentation of biblical themes in pop culture, in this case the high culture of art, as contributing to the meaning of the Bible itself. One of the paintings that have personalized the meaningfulness of the Bible is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Francois Joseph Navez’s Massacre of the Innocents.
Every time I make a trip to the Museum, I visit this painting. The stunning quality of the work never fails to stop me in my tracks. The portrayal of the devastation of King Herod’s tyranny is summed up in this vibrant masterpiece. The intensity of the color and the detail of each individual down to the hair ornaments and jewelry pull the observer in to the moment. The despair felt by the forlorn mother as she holds her slaughtered child in her arm and the fear of the woman behind her in anxiously trying to quiet a miraculously unharmed infant. The innocence of the victims depicted by the alabaster tones of their skin, while in the background there is some suggestion of the evil that continues on. This symbolic scene could be one of thousands that occurred during King Herod’s paranoid attempt to prevent the fulfilling of a prophesy. The power of this portrait is that whenever the story of King Herod is discussed this “snapshot” has become the reference image that comes to mind
In seeing the results of the Biblical influence in the great world masterpieces, I can only think that the power of the art is a direct result of the artist’s ability to transfer the power of the text to canvass.