Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Book of Hours
Belgium, perhaps Tournai, 1480s
MS M.234 fol. 86v

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Innocents: Massacre -- Two soldiers holding halberds stand behind Herod the Great (?), wearing hat and armor, holding scepter with right hand, all looking toward executioner holding nude bleeding infant with left hand and raising sword with right hand. Woman stands behind the executioner with her arms at his neck. Another man faces woman, wearing headdress, holding nude infant. Dismembered nude infant is in foreground.
Scene in landscape with castle in background.
Margins decorated with floreate border including dianthus and rose.