# Mars Vanquishing Ignorance

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/claeissens-antoon-r356717dfec4502/mars-vanquishing-ignorance-rfe826f2c173de4>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [CLAEISSENS, Antoon](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/claeissens-antoon-r356717dfec4502>)
- Date: 1551-1600
- Technique: Oil on canvas, 197,5 x 279 cm

## Commentary

Antoon Claeissens painted this allegory in 1605, probably for the Town Hall in Bruges. Its principal meaning can be deciphered easily, but it probably also contained a further political significance which has yet to be found. The painting is entitled Mars, surrounded by the Liberal Arts, vanquishing Ignorance. Ignorance may have stood here for Protestantism.

## Related artworks

- [Banquet](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/claeissens-antoon-r356717dfec4502/banquet-ra42447faa442f2>)
- [The Judgment of Solomon](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/claeissens-antoon-r356717dfec4502/the-judgment-of-solomon-r9800d60b95ae0e>)
- [Virgin and Child with St Anne](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/claeissens-antoon-r356717dfec4502/virgin-and-child-with-st-anne-rd35ba23b045115>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)