Georges Alexandre Lucien Boisselier King Herod, Massacre of the Innocents

An original 1894 oil painting, Georges A.L. Boisselier, King Herod, Massacre of the Innocents.

A dramatic and emotive oil painting by the French artist Georges Alexandre Lucien Boisselier (1876–1943). The scene depicted is the biblical Massacre of the Innocents by King Herod the Great, king of Judea—a recurrent subject in Western art, explored by artists such as Guido Reni, Peter Paul Rubens and Nicolas Poussin. Recounted in the Gospel of Matthew, the incident—in which Herod orders the execution of all male children two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem—is generally held to be legendary, but the unparelled emotive power of infanticide has provided compelling subject for artists throughout the ages.

This painting, one a pair on the same subject by Boisselier that we have for sale (see stock number JW-852), dates from early in the artist's career when he was a student of William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905) at the Académie Julian in Paris (1892 to 1895). The painting shows influence of Bouguereau's academic style and also his modern interpretation of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female human body. Boisselier's style here displays elements of a dreamlike symbolism, where the emotion of the scene is evoked through the contorted bodily poses, along with a sense of anguish and movement conveyed through the blurring of colours and forms.

Oil painting on Sennelier canvas on stretchers. The canvas is stamped on the verso with the artists' supplier's stamp: 3 Quai Voltaire, Paris, Gustave Sennelier. The famous Maison Sennelier was founded by the chemist and artist Gustave Sennelier in 1887 at 3 Quai Voltaire, on the Left Bank facing the Louvre. Artists such as Cézanne, Gauguin, Monet, Bonnard, Picasso, Modigliani, Kandinsky and Dali all frequented the shop.