0203AresAthena_Tintoretto

WebGalleryOfArt
Homer, Iliad 5.825-909

Tintoretto, "Peace, Concord, and Minerva Driving out Mars," 1577, Palazzo Ducale, Venice

Homer calls both Ares and Athena "warlike" (πολεμηίος). But, clearly their approach to warfare is distinctly opposite: Athena is defensive, strategic warfare and Ares represents the bloodthirsty madness of violent war. Athena, as champion of civilization, employs wisdom to defend society from the ravages of war.

A dramatic painting of three armored figures and two partially nude women, one crowned, surrounded by swirling fabrics and weapons

Tintoretto, then about 50 years later Rubens, play this theme. Rubens surpasses Tintoretto in depicting the violence of Ares, the potential disaster if his approach is unchecked, and (above all) the rigor of Athena's intervention in humanity's behalf. Her facial expression here, though turned away, seems considerably more benign and corrective toward Ares, who allows the correction as a gentleman.

Compare Rubens' 1629 masterpiece.

Tintoretto was comissioned to paint a series of frescoes in Venice's Doges' Palace. The four allegorical subjects — this plus three others — extol the duke Gerolamo Pruili.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1400 – 1990’s, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.