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The Massacre of the Innocents
Giuseppe Piamontini (Italian (Florence), 1663–1744)
Italian
about 1710
Object Place: Italy
Medium/Technique
Bronze
Dimensions
Overall: 66.7 x 83.8 cm (26 1/4 x 33 in.)
Mount (Aluminum wall cleat / space bar): 15.2 x 92.1 cm (6 x 36 1/4 in.)
Mount (Aluminum wall cleat / space bar): 15.2 x 92.1 cm (6 x 36 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund, European Decorative Arts Curator's Fund, and museum purchase with funds donated by Randolph Fuller and John Goelet
Accession Number1974.606
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsSculpture
These two masterpieces of bronze casting present scenes of cataclysmic violence. The Fall of the Giants shows figures crushed by boulders in a torrent of stone and flesh, while the Massacre of the Innocents stresses the brutality of the soldiers, the pliability of the babies' bodies, and the wrenching terror and grief of the mothers. The sculptures seem to have been intended as a pair, and perhaps share the theme of the violence involved in momentous shifts from one religion to another; the Fall of the Giants marks the rise of the Olympian gods in Greek mythology, and the Massacre of the Innocents the beginning of the Christian era.
DescriptionCast in high relief against an architectural background of columns and arches. Soldiers slaughtering and carrying off young children while agitated mothers attempt to save them. Figures extend into space around edges.
Provenance1724, exhibited at the church of SS. Annunziata, Florence [see note 1]. Sir Naylor-Leyland, Nantclwyd Hall, Ruthin, North Wales. By 1965, Mr. and Mrs. George Farrow, England [see note 2]; November 28, 1968, Farrow sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 36, to Heim Gallery, London; February 20, 1969, sold by Heim Gallery to Angus W. T. Hood, England; 1974, sold by Angus Hood to Heim Gallery; 1974, sold by Heim Gallery to the MFA. (Accession Date: May 8, 1974)
NOTES:
[1] This relief can be identified with the plaque exhibited by the artist at SS. Annunziata during the Festival of St. Luke in 1724, described in the catalogue as "Un Basso Relievo di Bronzo che rappresenta la Strage degl'Innocenti di mano del Sig. Giuseppe Piamontini" (A bronze bas-relief that represents the Massacre of the Innocents, by the hand of Mr. Giuseppe Piamontini). It was exhibited with its pendant, a bronze relief representing the Fall of the Giants (MFA no. 1974.607). See "Works of Art and a Collection of Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes," Sotheby's, London, November 28, 1968, lots 36-37. [2] Hugh Honour, "Florentine Baroque bronzes in an English private collection," Connoisseur 159, no. 640 (June, 1965), pp. 86, 89.
NOTES:
[1] This relief can be identified with the plaque exhibited by the artist at SS. Annunziata during the Festival of St. Luke in 1724, described in the catalogue as "Un Basso Relievo di Bronzo che rappresenta la Strage degl'Innocenti di mano del Sig. Giuseppe Piamontini" (A bronze bas-relief that represents the Massacre of the Innocents, by the hand of Mr. Giuseppe Piamontini). It was exhibited with its pendant, a bronze relief representing the Fall of the Giants (MFA no. 1974.607). See "Works of Art and a Collection of Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes," Sotheby's, London, November 28, 1968, lots 36-37. [2] Hugh Honour, "Florentine Baroque bronzes in an English private collection," Connoisseur 159, no. 640 (June, 1965), pp. 86, 89.