Massacre of the Innocents (Rubens)
This was bought in 1902 by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels as a work by Antoon Sallaert.[11] It is widely regarded as a demonstration of the artist's learnings from his time spent in Italy between 1600 and 1608, where he observed first-hand the works of Italian Baroque painters like Caravaggio.At the time of Rubens' first painting on the subject Antwerp had been involved in warfare only a few years before – a conflict temporarily frozen by the truce of 1609.In one year alone over 8,000 citizens had been killed by Calvinists and Catholics alike as the Spanish forces ruling the Netherlands sought to repel Protestant armies.Massacres were a reality in Antwerp; 160 kilometres (100 mi) north of the city the Protestant rebel leader Prince Maurits commissioned Cornelis van Haarlem to paint the same scene for Haarlem's town hall,- propaganda intended to tell of Spanish atrocities against the Dutch people.