''Mars'' or ''Resting Mars'' (''Descanso de Marte'', literally ''The Rest of Mars'') is a 1640 painting by

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...

. It is now in the

Prado Museum The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

. The painting was inspired by ''Il Pensieroso'', one of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

's sculptures for the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...

in the new sacristy of the Basilica of San Lorenzo. This painting is a satirical depiction of the god

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

. It is thought to have been finished around 1639–1640.

External links

''Velázquez ''
exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on this painting (see index) 1640 paintings Paintings by Diego Velázquez in the Museo del Prado Mythological paintings by Diego Velázquez Paintings of Mars (mythology) {{17C-painting-stub