The recent rediscovery of Rubens’s Massacre of the Innocents (bought by Lord Thomson for £50 million in 2002) offers an important opportunity to reassess the painter’s early career. Of Rubens’s works immediately following his return to Antwerp in 1608, it is the most assured, achieving a remarkable complexity both compositionally and emotionally.

 

David Jaffé, Senior Curator at the National Gallery, London, considers the work in its context, discussing the numerous sources and influences – both visual and literary – from which Rubens drew. He also compares it to contemporary works by the artist, such as the London National Gallery’s Samson and Delilah, and publishes new research illuminating the career and profile of the Massacre’s first owner, the Milanese merchant resident in Antwerp Jacopo Carenna.

 

In association with the Thomson Collection, the Art Gallery of Ontario and Skylet.