
Peter Paul Rubens
1638
Painted by Peter Paul Rubens in 1638 toward the end of his life, 'The Consequences of War' is a complex allegorical indictment of the Thirty Years' War. Mars, torn from the arms of Venus by the Fury Alecto, tramples on figures representing love, music, motherhood, and the arts — an emblem of the destruction of civilisation by unleashed violence. The picture is one of the signature works of the Galleria Palatina at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons