Studien zum Kindermord in Bethlehem

About the Work

The drawing served as a study for Farinati’s painting of the Massacre of the Innocents in S. Maria in Organo in Verona, completed in 1556. For this project the artist fashioned little wax and clay models (manichini) which he studied and sketched from all angles. In the process, however, he paid little attention to bodily structure and anatomy. Rather, Farinati experimented with the interplay between light and shade likewise found in the painting. The dramatic quality of the artistic expression and the consummation of the figural composition have thus been carefully rehearsed in the drawing.