The Consequences of War by Pieter Paul Rubens
Video in Italian | Much more than the representation of a historical event.
Rather than being the representation of a historical fact,The Consequences of War by Pieter Paul Rubens is first of all a concept.
The painter summons the gods of Olympus to state how terrible the horror of war is and to represent the suffering of people during conflicts along with the consequent nullification of culture, progress, arts anbd beauty. A very topical subject in his time's Europe, torn apart by the Thirty Years War, which allegorically shows us the disasters brought about by war events in general and in any time. Even without the description of destroyed cities, battles or fighting armies, the painting masterly succeeds in making the viewer reflect on the consequences of war on a broader scale.
The court painter of the Medici family, Justus Suttermans, asked his colleague and friend Rubens to realize this work in 1637: the painting was later sent by Rubens to Suttermans with a letter dated 12 March 1638.
The work was subsequently sold to Grand Prince Ferdinando de' Medici in 1691 and is now preserved in the Palatine Gallery of Pitti Palace.
