Massacre of the Innocents - SOLD

The Massacre of the Innocents is a biblical episode narrated in the Gospel of Matthew (2:1-16), more precisely, it is the epilogue in which Herod, King of Judea, "sent and killed all the children who were in Bethlehem and in all its territory from the age of two years and under." This story, fundamental to Christian tradition, was a subject depicted and repeated by artists over the centuries: the episode taught the "ignorant" unable to read the holy scriptures how the thirst for power of a single man could be dangerous. And the events that have gone through the different eras sadly confirm the basic concept. The author of the painting is Vincent Malò, about whom little is still known today: the biographer Raffaele Soprani in Le vite de’ pittori, scultori, ed architetti genovesi tells us that he trained in Antwerp at the workshop of the painter Davide Teniers but "later falling in love with the manner of Rubens passed to his school" (p. 467). Like many Flemish painters, he came to study in Italy between 1625 and 1629, hosted in Genoa by his compatriots Lucas and Cornelis de Wael: after 1634 he opened his own workshop there and painted works mainly of "small formats" in which "he acquired no ordinary credit: so many were those who commissioned them for the decoration of their halls" [Soprani/Ratti, 468]. He passed on his Rubensian style to his best pupil Anton Maria Vassallo (Genoa 1620 – Milan 1664) before moving first to Florence and then to Rome where he died. Our unpublished canvas can be placed in the category of "sketched paintings" [Longhi, Paragone n. 159, 1966, pp. 25/29] final drafting that the painters did before the final work from which they usually differed in size. At the Galleria di Palazzo Bianco, coming from the oratory of San Silvestro of Genoa which was razed to the ground during the Second World War, is preserved the painting Massacre of the Innocents 90x120 cm by the Flemish painter (inv PB 494). With the same subject, another version is known (Orlando, Dipinti genovesi, Allemandi, 2010, p. 142) confirming the success that the painting had so that it was replicated by the painter at the request of the clients. Dimensions: 48 x 73 cm