Francesco Caroto’s Massacre of the Innocents is an uncommonly charming rendering of a gruesome New Testament subject (Matthew 2:13–18). Three wise men from the East had foretold the birth of Jesus, whom they called the ‘King of the Jews’, and they spoke of this to Herod, King of Judea. Herod’s response was to order the massacre of all children under the age of two years in and around Bethlehem to ensure that the newborn ‘King of the Jews’ would be killed. Warned by an angel, the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary and Jesus, escaped by fleeing to Egypt. To some, the Innocents are the first Christian martyrs.

According to Giorgio Vasari, Caroto had the reputation of not being able to paint small figures. Whether or not there is justice in this claim, in the Massacre the foreshortening of the forms of the dead babies, the executioners and the women fighting to save their children is not always successfully realised. To the right of the melée the Holy Family leaves in the traditional manner of representations of their Flight into Egypt. The painting is brilliantly coloured in a non-naturalistic way that is predictive of the extraordinary colour palette employed by Mannerist artists like Pontormo.[1]

Caroto was first a pupil of Liberale da Verona, then Mantegna and along the way was influenced by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and other artists in Lombardy.[2] He lived until the age of seventy-five, travelled incessantly and seems to have found no difficulty in securing patronage. In his Lives Vasari devotes a comparatively long and surprising biography to the artist whom he knew. Caroto must have been a charmer to have survived so many courts. According to Vasari, after working for the collector Anton Maria Visconti in Milan, where he became acquainted with the followers of Leonardo, he was asked by Guglielmo IX Paleologo, Marquis of Monferrato, to visit Casale Monferrato in Piedmont, a town about 60 kilometres east of Turin.[3] The date of Caroto’s arrival coincides with Guglielmo’s marriage to the French princess Anna d’Alençon. Caroto remained at Casale Monferrato from 1508 to 1518, recognised by the Marquis as his court artist to whom he gave many honours.

Vasari describes a considerable number of works by Caroto while he was at Casale Monferrato, including paintings for a chapel where the Marquis heard Mass: Old and New Testament subjects that were especially fine.[4] During that time the Massacre was painted. The setting is a city with the Piedmontese countryside as landscape; and it is possible that the composition repeats one of the frescoes that Caroto made for the chapel. He decorated not only the chapel but the castle as well, painted the portraits of the noble family, designed their medals and decorated their tombs. When Guglielmo died, Caroto returned to Verona where he remained for the rest of his life.

Jaynie Anderson

[1] Jacopo Carucci (1494–1557), known as Jacopo daPontormo,or Pontormo.

[2] Liberale da Verona (1441–1526); Andrea Mantegna (1430/1431–1506); Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519); Raphael (1483–1520).

[3] A. Vesme, ‘Giovan Francesco Caroto alla corte del Monferrato’, Archivio storico dell’arte, vol. 1, 1895, pp. 33–42.

[4] ‘… storie del Testamento Vecchio e Nuovo, lavorate con istrema diligenza’:
Giorgio Vasari, Le vite de più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori, Florence: Giunti, 1568, p. 570.