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Massacre of the Innocents

Maker

Circle of
(artist)
1590-1660

Formerly attributed to
(artist)
1601-1667

Formerly attributed to
(artist)
1600-1699

Title

Date of Production

1600 - 1699

Medium

black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash on laid paper, laid down

Dimensions

Height: 16.3 cm
Width: 19.8 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.2413

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Collectors of Spanish drawings greatly admired the works of Alonso Cano, which accounts for the incorrect attribution of this scene to him in the inscription. Instead, the composition, dominated by a strong diagonal, and the particularly aggressive rendering of the violent subject, showing a mother’s brave effort to protect her son from being murdered by a powerful soldier, is characteristic of the Valencian artist Esteban March, whose early biographers commented upon his furious temper and his preference for battle scenes.

Provenance

John Rushout, 2nd Earl of Northwick (1770-1859); his estate sale, Sotheby's (London), 1-4 November 1920, lot 309 (as Cano); Haldane Macfall, London (1860-1928); by descent to his wife; her sale, Sotheby’s (London), 12 June 1929, lot 37 (as by Cano and from the Northwick Collection); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

The Spanish Line - From Ribera to Picasso, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 13/10/2011-15/01/2012

Old Masters from the Witt Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 01/01/1943-01/05/1943

Literature

Véliz, Zahira, Spanish Drawings in the Courtauld Gallery: complete catalogue, London, 2011
no. 80
ill. on p. 231

Wethey, Harold E., Alonso Cano: painter, sculptor, architect, Princeton, New Jersey 1955
p. 233
under 'Copies and wrong attributions' to Cano

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto: lower left of centre edge, brown ink: “Alonso Cano”. Verso (backing sheet): lower right, graphite, same hand as D.1952.RW.106: “mo / 4” and crossed out “12a [“a” superscript] / mo / Let[..] //”.

Collector's mark: none.

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