id: 140248 accession number: 1964.23 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.23 updated: 2022-09-22 10:04:58.408000 The Massacre of the Innocents (Without the Fir Tree), about 1511–12. Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, 1470/82–1527/34), after Raphael (Italian, 1483–1520). Engraving; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1964.23 title: The Massacre of the Innocents (Without the Fir Tree) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: about 1511–12 creation date earliest: 1506 creation date latest: 1520 current location: creditline: Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland copyright: --- culture: Italy, 16th century technique: engraving department: Prints collection: PR - Engraving type: Print find spot: catalogue raisonne: Delaborde 296.2 ; Passavant VI.12.9 ; Bartsch XIV.21.20 --- CREATORS * Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, 1470/82–1527/34) - artist * Raphael (Italian, 1483–1520) - artist Raffaello Sanzio (Urbino, April 6, 1483-Rome, April 6, 1520), commonly known as Raphael, was one of the most admired Italian painters and architects on the High Renaissance. He was trained in his native city Urbino, a center of art and culture during the rule of the Duke Federico da Montefeltro. Around 1495, Raphael moved to Perugia and joined the master Pietro Perugino's workshop. He later sojourned to Siena, and then resided in Florence by the autumn of 1504. There, Raphael studied the works by Renaissance masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Fra Bartolomeo, and Masaccio. Raphael is best known for his paintings of Madonnas (from 1504 through 1507), and the frescoes that Pope Julio II commissioned to him in the Vatican Palace in Rome in 1514. The same year architect Donato Bramante died, and the pope appointed Raphael chief architect. Raphael's style was based on clarity of forms and harmonious compositions; after his death, his works were highly admired by both Mannerist and Baroque artists. --- measurements: state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review (1964) opening date: 1965-01-01T05:00:00 Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 1-31, 1965). title: Old Master Prints and Drawings opening date: 1966-07-29T04:00:00 Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-April 1, 1967). title: Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions opening date: 1980-10-21T04:00:00 Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 1980-February 15, 1981). title: When Angels Bent Near the Earth to Touch Their Harps of Gold: The Christmas Story opening date: 1981-12-01T05:00:00 When Angels Bent Near the Earth to Touch Their Harps of Gold: The Christmas Story. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 1, 1981-January 17, 1982). title: The Lessons of the Academy opening date: 1983-02-08T05:00:00 The Lessons of the Academy. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 8-May 29, 1983). title: Real Prints: Reproduction or Invention opening date: 1986-12-16T05:00:00 Real Prints: Reproduction or Invention. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 1986-May 17, 1987). title: Drawings: Discoveries in the Collection opening date: 1990-08-07T04:00:00 Drawings: Discoveries in the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 7-October 28, 1990). title: Drawn to the Body: The Human Figure and the Graphic Arts, 1500-1900 opening date: 1999-03-14T00:00:00 Drawn to the Body: The Human Figure and the Graphic Arts, 1500-1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 14-May 23, 1999). title: Early Italian Engraving: 1460's - 1530's opening date: 2002-08-25T00:00:00 Early Italian Engraving: 1460's - 1530's. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 25-October 27, 2002). title: Gods and Heroes: Ancient Legends in Renaissance Art opening date: 2017-08-26T04:00:00 Gods and Heroes: Ancient Legends in Renaissance Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 26-December 31, 2017). title: The Chiaroscuro Woodcut in Renaissance Italy opening date: 2018-06-03T04:00:00 The Chiaroscuro Woodcut in Renaissance Italy. Los Angeles County Museum of Art (organizer) (June 3-September 16, 2018); National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (October 14, 2018-January 20, 2019). title: Master/Apprentice: Imitation and Inspiration in the Renaissance opening date: 2019-10-13T04:00:00 Master/Apprentice: Imitation and Inspiration in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 2019-February 23, 2020). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: Raphael drew this composition to be engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi while working in the Vatican apartments adjacent to Michelangelo, who was then painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The emotive scene portrays a moment from the biblical Book of Matthew when King Herod, hearing of the birth of a savior, ordered the execution of all male children under two years of age. Known for the clarity and balance of his forms and compositions, the younger Raphael may have found inspiration for this composition in Michelangelo’s narrative intensity and active, twisting nude forms. wall description: Raphael’s choice of subject for this print may have been a deliberate strategy to promote himself as Michelangelo’s rival in the invention of complex compositions in the popular antique style. The scene depicts the aftermath of Herod’s order following the birth of Christ to slaughter all male children two years old or younger in the region of Bethlehem. A frequent subject in art, it offered artists a vehicle to invent a variety of active male and female figures, and to portray an array of emotions such as wrath, fear, and anguish. Working together in Rome, Raphael and Raimondi infused the engraving with local interest; in the background is Rome’s Pons Fabricius, the city’s oldest bridge, built about 62 BC, and still standing today. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Takahatake, Naoko, et al. The Chiaroscuro Woodcut in Renaissance Italy. Los Angeles : Los Angeles County Museum of Art ; Munich ; New York : DelMonico Books/Prestel, 2018. page number: Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 95-97, cat. 21. url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1964.23/1964.23_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1964.23/1964.23_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1964.23/1964.23_full.tif