Herod – The Koboi Project

Matteo di Giovanni is of particular interest in the present series of posts (see links below) as his reputation as a significant Renaissance artist is based on his being the author of four monumental versions of the Massacre of the Innocents. The detail above is from the version painted for the Sant’Agostino Chapel in Siena. The foreground of this image (see the full image below) is filled with figures, entangled in the violence of the massacre. There are anguished mothers, resisting mothers; there are babies, both dead and dying; there are the soldiers, thrusting and slashing their way to fulfilling Herod’s sinister decree.

In the selected detail, which, judging from the lighting, is a focal point of the composition, a soldier is shown thrusting his sword into a baby’s mouth, its point exiting out the infant’s skull. As the soldier concentrates on his action, his expression and stance suggest that he recognizes the disproportionality of his weapon to his task. The baby is shown, with blank eyes, in the throes of a horrific death. The anguished mother looks at us in mute resignation. Behind the mother, is an odd figure who may or may not be attached to one of the disembodied weapon-wielding arms glimpsed through the mass of writhing humanity, stares out at the viewer, engaging with us in a manner that is not uncommon in the Rennaisance Istoria (History painting). He communicates with us as if to say, “you see” or perhaps, “you are a witness”, or even “you are complicit.”

In the contemporary massacre that is ongoing in the land of the very Book referenced in this image, the number of Palestinian children slaughtered in Gaza stands at 8,663 (UpdatedDecember 19), and we are all witnesses to this slaughter of innocents, as it happens on our screens.

See also:

Grace in the Face of Suffering

Netanyahu channels King Herod!

Le Massacre des Innocents

The Advance of Maleficence

Detail Image: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-massacre-of-the-innocents-detail-of-a-soldier-piercing-a-baby-with-his-sword-1482-matteo-di-giovanni-di-bartolo.html

Image: http://travelingintuscany.com/art/matteodigiovanni.htm

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker

In this fresco by Giacomo Borlone de Buschis in the Oratorio dei Disciplini in Clusone, we witness a profound and poignant presentation of the Biblical narrative of King Herod and the Massacre of Innocents. This is an archetypal image of infanticide (in the sense that the King or father figure, is killing his own infant subjects), in which innocent babes are mercilessly put to death by their sovereign. In this scene, the mothers are helpless and unable to escape. They are surrounded by armored troops, besieged even, within the literal enclosure of the pictorial frame. Their only recourse is to beg for the mercy of their indifferent King, and then to resign themselves to the tragedy. The central figure supplicates and presents her babe to Herod in hope. Others offer their babes up to the sword, holding and soothing them as they are murdered.

Meanwhile, Herod dispassionately instructs his minister who seems to feel the weight of the decree. The killers themselves seem rueful as thrust their swords in gently opening up lesions allowing the blood of the innocents to flow out. Laid on the floor, are the bodies of the dead children, some naked, some swaddled, and, as attested to by their varying hues, in different stages of mortification. This is a poignant image of finding grace in suffering. It is surely an anagogical or theophanic image rather than a literal or allegorical one, wherein the horror and helplessness of slaughter are sublimated into a symbol of submission to the Divine will. It is, after all, one of a cycle of images presenting the stort of Jesus Christ. To date, the number of Palestinian children slaughtered in Gaza stands at 8,663 (this figure is an estimate as of December 19). I offer prayers for Palestinian mothers who, at this very moment, are being challenged to find the grace to bear the murder of their innocent children.

Tag: Herod

Witness to Slaughter

Grace in the Face of Suffering

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