1640, Museo del Prado, Madrid
Baroque painting Painting by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez “Mars, God of War”. Picture size is 179 x 95 cm, oil on canvas. This painting by Velazquez was part of a series of paintings (portraits of Aesop, Menippus and others), intended for decoration of royal hunting castle, Torre de la Parada, located close to Madrid. In old Italian mythology Mars was the god of wild nature, and was considered to be the father of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, so he was worshipped as the guardian of the city. Spear of Mars was in the house of the ancient kings - regia, there were twelve panels, one of which, according to legend, fell from the sky, and the rest of the boards were an exact copy, made by order of the King Numa Pompilius, because a hypothetical attacker could not recognize and damage the original panel. Commander, went on the war, shook Mars’ spear and shield, appealing to the deity. In the later period mythogenesis, functions of Mars as the guardian god of the Rome community put on the backburner. In Roman poetry, which actively developed Greek stories of Ares, Hephaestus and Aphrodite, Mars was identical to the Greek god of war, Ares.
image: Public domain
Submitted by: Nikki
Return to section: mythology and poetry (1-150)
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Tags: male portrait, dark background, naked body, helmet, moustache, muscles, wooden spear, blue loincloth, red satin ribbon, white plaid, iron products
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