The Massacre of the Innocents, Rubens

This piece depicts the biblical scene "The Massacre of the Innocents".
When Roman King Herod the Great, during the time of Jesus's birth, ordered the killing of all newborn Jewish boys to ensure the demise of the new king, the Messiah, about whom he had been warned. In response to this event, Jesus's foster father, Joseph, took Mary and the child and fled to Egypt.
According to the narrative, Bethlehem was extremely decimated, with all male children up to 2 years old being killed.

The execution of the work is impeccable; the anatomies, the movement, and the emotional charge of the characters are at a sublime level and is considered one of the most perfect paintings in history. This last statement is supported by the price that the work reached in 2001, the highest to date for a pre-Impressionist painting: 49.5 million pounds sterling, auctioned at Sotheby's House in London.