Ares1.0067_Velázquez

Diego Velázquez, 1599-1660. "Mars," oil on canvas, ca. 1638, Prado, Madrid, P1208. Painted by commission for the Torre de la Parada.

The war god has laid aside nearly all his implements of war, though he still holds a staff and wears a helmet that shadows his face. His near nudity and posture on strewn bedclothes seems to suggest that he is in the company of his lover Aphrodite. Is this reminiscent of the theme that "love conquers all", ala Botticelli? Some see the image of Velázquez' own "Rokeby Venus" (Aphrodite1.0380_Velazquez) depicted in Mars' right clavicle.
Others see the subject's demeanor as melancholy, a "symbol of Spain itself, a country which had dominated the world, and was now beginning a period of political and military decline." (Prado Guide)

López-Rey, 1963, no. 61.

López Torrijos, 1985 331ff., pl. 143115- 29.

Prado 1985, pp. 743ff.

2016 exhibition (w/ catalog?)—— "El Siglo de Oro" at Gemäldegalerie Berlin