The Massacre of The Innocents . Francis Joseph Navez ( Belgian 1787-1869) oil on canvas c 1824

This unusual depiction of the ' Massacre of The Innocents ' is one of a series of religious paintings Navez executed following his return from Rome in 1821 . Here the slaughter of children of two years of age and under ( as King Heron sought to rid himself of the Christ Child ) is depicted only in a frenzied vignette in the upper left . Rather than mayhem Navez chose to explore the personal and intensely emotional dimensions of the tragedy .

Francois-Joseph Navez ( 1787-1869 ) was a Belgian neo classical painter . A pupil of Jacques-Louis David , he spent five years in Italy between 1817 and 1822 . He was a very successful portrait painter . He also painted many mythological and historic subjects . The orientalist painter Jean-Francois Portaels was his pupil ( and son-in-law )