Mars Resting

Here Mars, the god of war, has been thoroughly dragged to Earth. This is not the muscular young hero we usually see: He is older. He has passed his best. He is deflated in spirit. This is the weakened aftermath of all those godly triumphs. And, rather unusually, the god is on his own, contemplating his own pitifulness. He seems to look out at us from somewhere deep at the back of his eyes, as if slightly adrift or bewildered or ashamed. 

How did he come to such an unpretty pass as this? Well, it is in fact quite a pretty pass; the way in which that abundant pink drape laps up into his groin is quite coyly fetching, though also slightly humbling and perhaps even inappropriate in its prettiness. His aloneness here seems to be emphasised by the featureless, blankly enveloping, greenish-brown surround at his back. 

The painting was inspired by "Il Pensieroso," one of Michelangelo's sculptures for the Medici in the sacristy of the Basilica of San Lorenzo. Why did Velásquez decide to depict Mars like this? No one knows. 

Happy Saturday everyone!