The Massacre of the Innocents
The scene is about the massacre of the innocents ordered by Herod.
Commissioned and financed by the Duke of Savoy, Carlo Emanuele I, who visited the Sacro Monte of Varallo in 1583.
It was built at the beginning of 1586, by the d’Enrico brothers from Alagna. The painted decoration was created in 1590 by the brothers Giovanni Battista and Giovanni Mauro della Rovere, known as the Fiammenghini.
It depicts Herod's Hall crowded with people. The painted figures are closely integrated with the terracotta statues, traditionally attributed to Giacomo Paracca Bargnola from Valsolda, and were completed in 1591.
In 1595, Bishop Carlo Bascapè asked the sculptor Michele Prestinari to add the canopy of Herod's throne and thirty innocent children, then painted by Domenico Alfano from Perugia.
On the vault you can see a series of frescoes: the birth of Jesus, the Wise Men travelling, then visiting Herod, and finally in adoration of the Child. As well as, an angel warning them to change their road on their way back, avoiding Herod. Finally, an angel appears in a dream to Joseph and urges him to flee into Egypt; the flight into Egypt; and the death of Herod.