Mars being disarmed by Venus

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Mars being disarmed by Venus is a painting accomplished by the French artist Jacques-Louis David in 1824.

At over 3 m (10 ft) high, this monumental painting was the last work of Jacques-Louis David in his exile in Brussels, before he died due to an accident in 1825.

The artist started working on it at the age of 73, and it took him three years to finish his work.

The setting is surrealistic, a temple floating in the clouds. Venus the Goddess of Love and her acolytes, the three Graces and Cupid, are taking away the armament of Mars the God of War.

Mars takes pleasure in being disarmed and succumbs to the charms of Venus.

This impressive and ambitious painting attempts to synthetise antiquity, idealism and realism. The aged artist sent this provocative and ironic work to an exhibition in Paris from his exile, knowing that at the time already the Romanticism was the fashionable movement in the Salon.

The painting is exhibited in the main hall of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, close to the entrance.

[edit] Source

• Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium