Valckenborch created a landscape in which he juxtaposed the fantastic creation and the reproduction of nature in a detailed and hetereogeneous composition. From the 80's onwards there was a change in his style owing to the influence of Brueghel, as this work is an example. The Biblical theme of the massacre of the innocents serves as a pretext to develop a magnificent nocturnal landscape. Given his condition as a persecuted Protestant, experts have seen in this work a reference to the excesses committed by the Spanish Infantry regiments in Holland.
