The subject is from Matthew II, 16-18: having learnt from the wise men of the birth in Bethlehem of the King of the Jews, Herod ordered that the young children of the city be put to death. The picture was begun in 1647, or shortly after, but was left unfinished probably until the mid-1660s, when it was completed for Gédéon du Metz, keeper of the Royal Treasury. There are several preliminary drawings in the Louvre.
