Allegory of Peace by Peter Paul Rubens was created in 1630/32 and is in Alte Pinakothek München. The size of the work is 231 x 340 cm and is made of oil on canvas.
About the Artwork
Rubens’s diplomatic missions sought to bring about peace during times of war. As such, his political allegories had a very real background. Here, the subject is the antagonism of war and peace: The god of war, Mars, still rules the right-hand section of the painting, even though—at Minerva’s behest—he is on the point of leaving. The vulnerable nudity of Pax, the personification of peace, contrasts with Mars’s martial armour. Architectural fragments and a burning city symbolise the horrors of war.