Study for the engraving 'The Massacre of the Innocents', 1860,0414.446

This composition study depicts several groups of muscular figures on a tiled floor arranged to suggest deep perspective. Soldiers are shown in dynamic, athletic poses as they struggle with mothers who are desperately attempting to shield their children or flee the scene. The work is executed in pen and brown ink over a stylus underdrawing, using precise cross-hatching to define the anatomical tension of the bodies.