Drei Hauptgruppen tragen die Handlung. Die mittlere führt den Betrachter von der Frau, die wie ein Denkmal der Verzweiflung eine blutige Windel zum Himmel reckt, zum Palast, des Herodes, der auf die Vollendung wartet.
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Peter_Paul_Rubens" class="extiw" title="w:en:Peter Paul Rubens"><span title="Flemish painter (1577-1640)">Peter Paul Rubens</span></a>
</bdi>
circa 1638 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1638-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div>
1. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Web_Gallery_of_Art" class="extiw" title="w:en:Web Gallery of Art"><span title="virtual art gallery for European fine art created before 1900">Web Gallery of Art</span></a>:  <a href="http://www.wga.hu/art/r/rubens/14religi/76religi.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Inkscape.svg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/20px-Inkscape.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="20" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/30px-Inkscape.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/40px-Inkscape.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="60" data-file-height="60"></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wga.hu/art/r/rubens/14religi/76religi.jpg">Image</a> <a href="http://www.wga.hu/html/r/rubens/14religi/76religi.html" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Information icon.svg" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/20px-Information_icon.svg.png" decoding="async" width="20" height="20" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/30px-Information_icon.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/40px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="620" data-file-height="620"></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wga.hu/html/r/rubens/14religi/76religi.html">Info about artwork</a><div style="display: none;">reference_wga QS:P973,"<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.wga.hu/html/r/rubens/14religi/76religi.html">http://www.wga.hu/html/r/rubens/14religi/76religi.html</a>"</div>  <br> 2. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.welt.de/kultur/history/article13782543/Der-Massenmoerder-Herodes-befahl-keinen-Kindermord.html"></a><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Welt" class="extiw" title="de:Die Welt">Die Welt</a>