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Nov 20, 2007

The Massacre of the Innocents (Without the Fir Tree)

about 1511–12

Marcantonio Raimondi

(Italian, 1470/82–1527/34)

after Raphael

(Italian, 1483–1520)

Italy, 16th century

Engraving

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1964.23

Catalogue raisonné: Delaborde 296.2 ; Passavant VI.12.9 ; Bartsch XIV.21.20

Location

not on view

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.

Artist biography

Raphael

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.

Citations

Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 39 no. 03, March Mentioned & reproduced: 2 archive.org

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. Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 95-97, cat. 21.

Exhibition history

Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1964-January 31, 1965).

Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-February 28, 1967).

Connoisseurship in Italian Figural Compositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 1980-February 15, 1981).

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).

The Lessons of the Academy. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 8-May 29, 1983).

Real Prints: Reproduction or Invention. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 7-May 17, 1987).

Drawings: Discoveries in the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 7-October 28, 1990).

Drawn to the Body: The Human Figure and the Graphic Arts, 1500-1900. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 14-May 23, 1999).

Early Italian Engraving: 1460's - 1530's. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 25-October 27, 2002).

Gods and Heroes: Ancient Legends in Renaissance Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-December 31, 2017).

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).

Master/Apprentice: Imitation and Inspiration in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 2019-February 23, 2020).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=The Massacre of the Innocents (Without the Fir Tree)|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1964.23|author=Marcantonio Raimondi|year=about 1511–12|access-date=28 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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The Massacre of the Innocents (Without the Fir Tree)

The Massacre of the Innocents (Without the Fir Tree)

Marcantonio Raimondi

after Raphael

Location

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Description

Raphael

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